Tool Box..

Today we created a 'Tool Box' to use in choreographing our duets.. It was really helpful to go back over all the strategies and improvisational scores we have previously undertaken.

Duet Process..

Me & becky had our first few rehearsals in the studio :).. We are working with Steve Paxtons theory on the 'unconscious'.

"The consciousness can easily turn off to the experience of these reflexive moments... Could the conscious learn to see these gaps of awareness?... If a gap of consciousness occurs at a critical moment, we lose an oppurtunity to learn from the moment..."

Paxton, S. Contact Quarterly. 1993.

We started to explore the idea of the unconscious taking over while we undertake contact improvisation by improvising with each other and then trying to remember it. We tried this a few times and every time we tried to repeat ourself it changes. This was a great example of the gaps in consciousness.

From this we decided to use a lot of repetition in our duet. 

This is what came of our improvisation.

Big Choreographic Score..

We had a choreography lesson with Florence Peake based around our duets and creating a score to choreograph from.. We taped a large piece of paper to the floor and one person danced on it while their partner drew around them the shapes, mood, patterns, atmosphere they could see coming from their improvisation..

This score was drawn with colours of the dancers choice. These pieces of paper were then stuck to the wall for us to create a motif from. I really enjoyed working this way as the paper was directly infront of us for us to keep refering back to. It was also easier to find patterns and rhythms drawn on the paper at a larger scale. 

I also found it quite bizzare that I really didn't want to rip or tear the paper. Most other partnerships were scrunching up and making holes in the paper whereas I worked slowly and delicately so ensure it stayed in one piece.

I think this is something I definately need to work one. I need to stop being careful and just go for it. 

Choreography Sound-Scape...

So today in Choreography we were focusing upon music accompaniment & how different music completely changes the atmosphere, mood and rhythm of the piece...

String Music (Kathe Matthews):

• Layers.
• Brash.
• Whirling.
• Swarm.
• Siren (connotations of war).
• Organised chaos.
• Continuous.
• Pressure.
• Climax.
• Glow.
• Wave.
  
  
  How do you experience music?
  Always there.     Comfort.     Enjoy.
  Imagination creates some kind of music.
  Uncomfortable in silence.          Breathe it in.
  Don't have to think.

What can you hear now?

Pens on paper.    Distant talking.
Walking.   Rustling.

Creaky floor.           Clinking of pens.

Shuffling.
Creaky floor.

How do you experience sound?

Don't notice it until it comes to my attention
then it is all that I can hear!

Have to notice it.

Ambient.          Everyday noises.

I hate repetative noises!!

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Relationship between music and dance.

It may be part of the choreographic process.

Steer away from popular music/lyrics can colour the audiences idea of the dance.

Lyrics are not a starting point of dance - but may be integral for the making process.

Find rhythm through what you experience moving in the space.

Can use sound in research/rehearsal and not have to use it in the performance.

____________

Me & Becky have decided that we would like to perform our duet to music/sound

as we both feel uncomfortable performing in silence 

- I feel as though I should hold my breath as to not make any noise.

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We have been improvising to a range of music/sound 

but it has mainly been popular, maybe well known pieces. 

We are still looking for music/sound to use.

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I think that we will most probably choreograph our duet and then find music/sound to fit.

Instead of doing it the other way round so the music/sound doesn't

greatly influence our moving.

Ways of using sound:

• Using the lyrics.
• Exploring the layers in the music.
• Singing.
• Counterpoint/juxtapose movement/sound.
• Body sounds.
• Trying the same dance to different pieces of music.
• Microphones on the floor.
• Speaking. 
• Everyday sounds.
• Live sound.

Coloured by the music.

Playing with / influenced by rhythm and density in the sound.

Choreography Workshop..

Today we had a Choreography Workshop with Katye Coe all day. We have (in this last week) all chosen our partners; mine is Becky :)..

We worked with a 'decision-point' score from Body, Space, Image for our warm up.

Walking around the space. Exploring what we want to explore.
No roll down.         No static feet.

Embrace collisions & bumps.

Don't look down.

Lower centre of gravity. 

Making decisions is a conscious action, not a reaction.

Staying with one movement is difficult.          Commiting.

Learning to think as I am moving.

"I think therefore I am"

.      .      .      .      .      .      .

"I move therefore I am"

_________________________________

Improvisation...

Walking.    Running.    Rolling.

Helping someone.    Complimenting someone.

Constrasting someone.

I witnessed this improvisation and found it really interesting how the space could be completely still one moment and then explode the next. 

Uncomfortably long pauses.  

Doing something to make someones elses position/action more visable. 

Could be clusters of people and then one person alone. 

Visually fascinating. 

Go the unfamiliar way - make the decision.

Active thought decisions. 

Working face to face, playing with obstructing movement. 

Ending doesn't always mean being still. 

Don't worry feeling visable especially around endings.

_________________________________

We then read a sheet about "86 aspects of composition" and chose with out partner a few of them that stood out to us.. Mine & Becky's were:

• Centre
• Collaboration
• Continuity
• Contrast
• Detail
• Emotion
• Frequency
• Geography
• Gesture
• Proximity
• Reference
• Story
  
  
  Me & Becky have decided that we are going to explore Steve Paxton's ideas of 'falling' as a starting point :)..
  _________________________________
  
  

  Body, Space, Image... M. Tufnell, C. Crickmay. Dance Books Ltd, 1990

Duet Beginnings :)..

We discussed what a 'duet' is, in terms of dance, relationships, anything...

• Relationship.
• Ying & Yang.
• Love & Hate.
• Mother & Daughter.
• Bread & Butter.
• Black & White.
  
  
  We decided that a duet in terms of dance is a piece of choreography that cannot be performed without the other person. It should not look complete without them.
  
  

  --------------------

  
  

  We also looked at the meaning of the word collage:

  • sticking together.
  • assemble.
  • creating a new whole.
  • compilation.
  • montage.
    
    
    I really like the idea of "creating a new whole", that two people can create a new way of people one person. I'd like to explore this idea further.

Solo Performance..

I appologise that it took me so long to upload a video of my solo peformance - again I blame this entirely on technology!! (of course not the fact that I'm very unorganised & have the memory of a fish)..

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Upon watching my solo I know that I need to move out of my comfort zones!! I stick with the same movement and definitely need to branch and stop worrying about what it looks like. It doesn't need to look "pretty".

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I'm definitely going to work on this before we begin our duet assesment.

Solo Performance..

Here is a video of my final solo. It is only a short clip as my camera decided to be difficult and uncooperative!! It is also quite bad quality so I do appologise..

Choreographic score

Here it is... :)
I understand that it just looks like a bunch fo scibbles to everyone else!

Choreographic scores

"Improvisation, in which a choreographer provides dancers with a score (i.e., generalized directives) that serves as guidelines for improvised movement and form. For example, a score might direct one dancer to withdraw from another dancer, who in turn is directed to avoid the withdrawal, or it might specify a sequence of movements that are to be executed in an improvised manner over the course of a musical phrase. Improvisational scores typically offer wide latitude for personal interpretation by the dancer."

I started working on a score for my piece. Once I have devised a score, (something I have only recently learnt) I find it much easier to explore and recognise the tone, mood and direction of my sketch...

Artist's Journal

Here is a page from my Artists Journal showing my thoughts & ideas for my solo...

Mind Block

So... I've been working in the studio with my solo.
I struggle with improvising and have had to push myself to stay motivated and positive. I tried working with the sensory improvisations we have been working with in class to break through the 'mind block'. I need to stop thinking too much about what I am doing!!!

I recorded a few of my little sketches and ideas & will post them as soon as I can upload them to my laptop :)...

Stimuli

Here is my spider diagram for my stimulus.. :)

Stimuli

I have settled on a stimuli!!

After dissecting my 'keep-sake box' I stumbled upon a photo of me & my boyfriend (cheesy I know). I started thinking about any reactions or feelings I had upon seeing the photo and the memory of the photo itself.
It is a photo of Barney & I at Whipsnade Zoo for his younger sister's 7th birthday. The photograph brings back fond, yet hazy memories.
This then progressed into me thinking of how I and how barney remember this event & (upon asking him) found that, un-suprisingly, we have very different views.

This is how I came across the inspiration for my solo. I will explore the way different people perceive and recall memories and how memories can shift, change and eventually fade..

Formative Assessment..

So for our first choreography assessment we have been asked to "create & perform a solo score (2 - 4 mins)".

Begin with a stimulus of your choice. Allow you reflections on 'self-as-subject' and the investigations into body parts, actions, quality, time and space to inform the making process

I am unsure as of yet of the stimuli I will use, but I have been rooting through my 'keep-sake box' for pictures, poems, materials e.t.c that inspire me..