solo

I found that experimenting with different techniques of choreographing, expanded my range of movements available to me as a choreographer. Before I began the course I would often use music as my stimuli, and see what movements and themes developed from there.

Cunningham’s techniques helped me change the way I saw movement as before I saw that the movement’s main purpose was to accompany the music and to help enhance its meaning. Now I can see that the movement itself can engage audiences just as much as the accompaniment, just by changing its dynamics or level it is performed on.

When I began to choreograph my solo I felt that I didn’t struggle to come up with movement material but struggled to adapt their speed and how I felt they should look without hearing the music beforehand, creating a challenge for me to break my usual way of working. However I found my stimuli helped to give character to the movements I developed.

I enjoyed performing my solo as it was a chance to get back into performing, if I was to choreograph the solo again I would change the way I got in and out of movements making them more abstract and unpredictable.

My Choreographic Essay

“Discuss how you feel improvisation and structured choreographic techniques can help you explore space, movement and time.”

Before I started chorographic classes I used improvisation alone to choreograph, this is when the choreographer picks a stimuli E.G: emotion or shape and spontaneously creates movement. Another option is structured choreographic techniques, often involving pre-made score sheets or movements/rules the dancer choreographs to. However both methods helped me explore space, movement and time in different ways.

“Space is a hidden feature of movement and movement is a visible aspect of space.”McCaw.D(2011) I agree with this as it states that one cannot exist without the other and that space is always there. Personally I believe it is up to the choreographer to use space effectively, but before I used structured choreographic techniques, I did not do this. As when I used Improvisation my  pathways were very rigid as they would travel right until I had  ran out of space then switch my direction. This was predictable and bland.

When we were taught about Rudolf Labans Kinesphere this allowed me to use the space in an unpredictable and exciting way. By labelling all possible movements it gave me more choice in terms of direction as I had 3 directions to the right instead of just one. I used the kinesphere in a structured way to choreograph. Writing down all the directions that was within my kinesphere and a point of origin for my kinesphere ranging from head to toe, I then had to follow this order.  When using this chorographic device having no choice in the directions made my choreography diverse having more range. It was more eye catching  but challenging to create , overall it forced me to use the space around me effectively. Supporting this I stated in my journal that “I liked not using my centre as the base of the kinesphere as it also helped develop more abstract movements.”H.Natasha (29/10/2015)

However when I used structured choreographic devices in my opinion the meaning intended can sometimes become compromised. As the meaning is still in the movements but can sometimes become hidden as the movement becomes more complex. I think when creating movement the strategy you use should also consider your audience and what is suitable to them. To me if I am creating a narrative piece I like to first improvise a motif focusing only on my theme and what I want to get across then develop and manipulate the movement, using the choreographic devices such as applying Labans efforts. The movement is then recognisable but with more qualities as this gives choreography more depth and again making it more appealing. Minton.C.S “I noticed that  when I felt strongly about improvised movement...when it felt right...people would remark on the section of dance... as having meaning” this supports the fact that  improvisation  helps embed  meaning but I do not think that improvisation works alone but alongside structured choreography helps develop the meaning throughout the duration of the dance.

  Time is experimented with differently within choreographing techniques, I found that when I choreograph using improvisation and music together my movements often match up to the timing of the music, often 8 beat counts as this is safe creating harmony. When improvising it helps me pick out accents within the music and exaggerate them, occasionally slipping out of my 8 beat count. However using improvisation relies on rhythm of the music or my counts, so restricts my ability to manipulate the timing, but increases my experimentation of free flowing and bound movements. I find it difficult to improvise timing without any accompaniment and this is when structured choreographic techniques help. Taking a motif in sets of 8 and then structure the movement in sets of  2s gives it a different feel “changing the timing refreshes the movement”H.Natasha(08/11/2015) It also creates different speeds when not using accompaniment.

Concluding the discussion I feel that structured choreographic techniques help me most at exploring the space around me and also exploring time in a productive way breaking the 8 count mould. However although structured techniques help develop the movement personally I prefer using improvisation when first initiating movement as I feel it creates a better connection with the audience and gives me artistic freedom to express myself.

 

References:

Hodges.N(2015)[online]last assessed [8/11/2015]My Choreography Blog, available at URL: http://natashahodgeschoreography.blogspot.co.uk/

McCaw.D(2011) THE LABAN SOURCE BOOk,Routledge,London and New York

Minton.C.S(2007) A Basic Approach Using Improvisation, Third addition..pg2,published by: Human kinetics, Canada

 

 Bibliography:

Hodges.N(2015)[online]last assessed [8/11/2015]My Choreography Blog, available at URL: http://natashahodgeschoreography.blogspot.co.uk/

McCaw.D(2011) THE LABAN SOURCE BOOk,Routledge,London and New York

Minton.C.S(2007) A Basic Approach Using Improvisation, Third addition..pg2,published by: Human kinetics, Canada

K.Robin(2011)[online]Last assessed [8/11/2015]A Brief Overview Of Laban  Movement Analysis, available at URL: http://www.movementhasmeaning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/LMA-Workshop-Sheet.pdf.

 

Personal Opinion:

 This is my choreographic essay I felt that I understood the question and answered it correctly. However in future essays I will try to use fewer words to discuss a point, and also pay more attention to spelling and grammar