finding inspiration from Akram Khan and Crystal Pite

 Our first choreographer that we took inspiration from was Akram Khan and his piece Zero Degrees. Zero Degrees combines 'complex Indian kathak dance with the speed and precision of contemporary movements', to explore the concept of duality and the blurry borders in which one thing transforms into the next (Project / Zero Degrees, 2019). It uses highly intricate and captivating gestural phrases to create what the Daily Telegraph describe as a 'hugely moving and visionary piece' about the fragility of human life (AX1 Entertainment, 2008). This gestural movement became a frequent feature of our piece, repeating our symbols of 'restriction', 'influence' and 'pressure' to reinforce the emotions and ideas that we wanted to evoke. Looking closer at his choreographic process, Khan is an innovative choreographer, who tells compelling and thought-provoking stories through dance. His ambitious approach to choreography is evident in the unique methods he uses, communicating new ideas with commitment and courage (Akram Khan Company, 2015). With our piece we also hoped to provide a stimulating message for our audience by exploring conformity, which is an unusual social influence that as humans we are perhaps unknowingly responding to, making it a powerful theme to consider. His creative process involves using a wide variety of imagery to add meaning to each of his movements. For Khan, 'nothing is abstract' and even asking dancers to perform with no emotion is an emotion in its itself, demonstrating how his work is produced with focused intentions and nothing is created for the sake of filling time or music (Stahl, 2014). This was also very important to us, and so we ensured that each of our phrases were carefully devised with purpose, by using our 6 words 'pressure', 'uncertainty', 'influence', 'judgement', 'restraint' and 'nonchalance' to guide our creativity throughout the module. When approaching his work, he sets himself questions to answer to discover the messages that he wants to portray, for example for his work Rush (2000) he explored the effects of an adrenaline rush on a person, and how this sense may resonate and feel conscious within the body (Sanders, 2003). Similarly, we started the module with three questions: 'Why are we influenced by those around us and how does that influence happen?', 'Are we fearful of individuality?' and 'How can we be free of conformity within society and why do we want to break free from it?', which we have explored in the opposing sections in our piece. Furthermore, Khan also gives his dancers tasks in order to generate movement, using improvisation to find the natural movements and energies that form comfortably from the artists. This was also very effective in our choreographic process and we used many tasks that we had learnt, such as the translation task and chance method, as well as more freeing techniques such as improvisation. Unlike many choreographers, Akram Khan doesn't always go with the clear atmosphere and emotion that a piece of music evokes, but instead he looks within it and challenges it, and at times contrasting chaotic and complex energy with refined and controlled movement. Despite this, our choreography has a clear correlation to the music, which we have used to highlight the striking contrast in dynamics with our conformity and individuality sections. 

photos by Jean Louis Fernandez

Another choreographer that acted as a form of inspiration for us was Crystal Pite and her piece 'Solo Echo', which provided us with breathtaking and expressive arm lines to explore in the individuality section of our piece. Solo Echo is described by Göteborgs-Posten as being an "expansive, masterful dance" about love, loss and acceptance. (Solo Echo | The Göteborg Opera, n.d.) Pite's movement is developed from the wintry, reflective language in Mark Strand's poem 'Lines for Winter' and uses both conflict and connection between the dancers, to show how their desperation, yearning and hardship in life ends with contentment, rather than resentment. (Wessels, 2019) Similarly to Khan, Pite's choreography is formed through her thought-provoking messages and the modern-day issues that she explores, evoking heart-ache, empathy and fascination within her audiences. On stage she develops personal and relatable stories by creating sensitive and meaningful relationships between the dancers, which is what we hoped to do within our group through our recreation of the atmosphere in a strange social setting (BBC Newsnight, 2017). Crystal Pite also forms her movement by morphing it to suit each of her dancer's bodies, working in a collaborative and compassionate way to find the most impactful movements for each individual (Pacific Northwest Ballet, 2013). This thoughtful method, also used by Khan in the form of improvisation, was useful for us when developing our individuality section, to discover our most natural way of moving and in turn found choreography that made us feel free and truly ourselves, which is the intention of the final section. Her movement style is passionate and expressive and this raw emotion and dedication to movement can also be seen in the intensity and devotion in Akram Khan's pieces. To develop our choreography further, we would like to look into our characterisation and depth of emotion more closely to make our piece relatable and touching for our audience.

photo by Mats Bäcker


References:

  • East-man.be. 2019. Project / Zero Degrees. [online] Available at: <http://www.east-man.be/en/14/44/> [Accessed 22 November 2020].
  • AX1 Entertainment, 2008. Zero Degrees - Akram Khan And Sidi Larbi. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g5fLgsSQWU> [Accessed 22 November 2020].
  • Akram Khan Company. 2015. About Us - Akram Khan Company. [online] Available at: <https://www.akramkhancompany.net/about-us/> [Accessed 14 November 2020].
  • Stahl, J., 2014. Peek Inside Akram Khan's Creative Process. [online] Dance Magazine. Available at: <https://www.dancemagazine.com/inside_his_process_akram_khan-2306925031.html> [Accessed 22 November 2020].
  • Sanders, L., 2003. Akram Khan. [online] pp.1-6. Available at: <https://www.akramkhancompany.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Akram-Khan-by-Lorna-Sanders-May-2003.pdf> [Accessed 22 November 2020]
  •   En.opera.se. n.d. Solo Echo | The Göteborg Opera. [online] Available at: <https://en.opera.se/repertoire-for-dance-tour/solo-echo/> [Accessed 25 October 2020].
  •   Strand, M. (2007) Knopf, A (ed.) New Selected Poems New York: Knopf Publishing Group. Available at <https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50977/lines-for-winter> [Accessed 25 October 2020].
  •   GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, 2018. Solo Echo, By Crystal Pite. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JfokSokH0M&t=23s> [Accessed 25 October 2020].
  •   BBC Newsnight, 2017. Can Art Effect Change? Kirsty Wark Meets Choreographer Crystal Pite - BBC Newsnight. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYv1vQ-5wKk> [Accessed 22 November 2020].
  •  Pacific Northwest Ballet, 2013. Crystal Pite's Emergence (Pacific Northwest Ballet). [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBe8Kc0i8nE> [Accessed 22 November 2020].

Comments

  1. NansonNovember 29, 2020 at 1:04 PM

    The detail in your research is fantastic. did you use any movements directly from the two pieces in your work, as we did in our contemporary solo?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daisy StonierNovember 29, 2020 at 2:22 PM

    Thankyou! In my next blog post you can see how we have included the final image in this blog of solo echo into our piece, to reflect an attempt to break free with everyone else restricting you. Although we haven’t directly taken any movement, it is mainly the idea of gestures from Khan and the expansive movement from Pite that has been our inspiration.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lucy ImamzadeNovember 30, 2020 at 11:57 AM

    This blog is very well detailed and I can see how you have used your research within your choreography. How would you compare Akram Khan and Crystal Pike’s work? Do they have any similarities within the style?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy StonierNovember 30, 2020 at 12:39 PM

      Thankyou Lucy.I think that both choreographers show a beautiful sense of continuity in their movement style, with weaving turns and lunges sweeping into the next. They also both have a very expressive and emotive style, with both of their dancers seeming to be completely immersed in the movement and meaning behind it. However, Khan's work demonstrates some more staccato and harsh gestural movement in comparison to Pite's fluid and expressive arm lines and his kathak influences are clear in some of his music and movement choices, which is a unique element against Pite's contemporary style with classical elements.

      Delete
  4. LouisaBratbyDecember 1, 2020 at 8:58 AM

    I have fully enjoyed reading your blog post, it has been intriguing to see how you have used parts of these practitioners choreographic processes and thought patterns to help your own piece. Like Khan, when questioning your work did it bring a new sense of understanding and clarity to your movements? Was this an effective way of working for you and your group?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Daisy StonierDecember 1, 2020 at 12:58 PM

      Thankyou Louisa. Yes we found that using these questions challenged us in the same way as we hope that our piece will do for the audience. This way of working meant that we were encouraged to explore all avenues of our theme and to consider the impact of conformity on a more personal and truthful level, by using our own experiences and points of view as a source of inspiration.

      Delete

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