week seven, continuing our choreography
In today's session we gave ourselves three main areas of focus: polishing and refining our entrance, developing our 'connection' motif in the formation that we experimented with in week four and putting together the choreography that me and Megan missed before half term. We have also decided on what music we would like to use and therefore needed to focus on transforming and adjusting elements of our choreography to fit the dynamics and tempo of the pieces we have chosen. Although we have the idea of an episodic structure, our piece will also have two opposing sections of conformity and individuality, which will be clearly defined by the striking contrast between our two music choices. The first piece we have chosen is 'everything must change' by Olafur Arnalds, with it's harsh, almost menacing rhythm reflecting the pressurising and forceful social restrictions within society. The second piece is 'Clouds, The mind on the (Re)Wind' by Ezio Bosso, which will accompany the moments of freedom and expansion within our choreography, as we challenge the power of conforming.
Starting with our entrance, we knew how important it was to make each movement precise and meticulously unified amongst the group, in order to captivate the audience and immediately establish our theme of conformity. Therefore we started by counting each movement to the music, repeating this until we felt more clarity and confidence with this section and used accumulation to emphasise our theme. We also created the 'turning' motif, where we sporadically twist to face one another, turning again as a rebound when another member of the group faces you, showing the influence we have on each other: https://youtu.be/Tpif4dqLpNE
After this we translated the 'connection' motif into the group formation and added this to our entrance: https://youtu.be/MD8RqxtLNuc
In addition, we brought together the choreography that the girls did last week and the solo version that I trialled at home, which worked out well once we clarified any timing issues that were difficult to communicate through the videos: https://youtu.be/BjOaiAzbG74
Finally, we developed the 'walking' section, repeating our gesture of looking at one another and using simple movements such as Megan lifting her arm with everyone looking at it, to demonstrate the prominent influential force that drives our actions. I feel as though this is a very effective section, as it clearly demonstrates our theme and encouraged us to challenge ourselves with a complicated use of counts to show how our actions lead on from one another: https://youtu.be/OIVaVIbXXvM
References:
Arnalds, O., 2012. Everything Must Change. [online] London: Erased Tapes Records. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ea81ip90U> [Accessed 7 November 2020].
Bosso, E., 2016. Clouds, The Mind On The (Re)Wind. [online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEB_3cxzKv8> [Accessed 7 November 2020].
I really enjoyed reading your blog Daisy, you explained this weeks task well using videos to evident this. It seems although you had a productive week this week, While developing your 'walking' section, did you include any choreographic devices to develop this section even further? And looking back at your choreography so far, is there anything you think needs improving? If so why?
ReplyDeleteThankyou Lucy. To develop our 'walking' section we included contrast in the form of levels to clearly demonstrate the isolation a person must feel when not conforming with the majority. For example, at one point, everyone lunges apart from me and I just continue walking as I don't notice that movement from the rest of the group, making me stick out harshly from the rest. This can represent how some people feel as though by embracing their individuality, they will stand out for the wrong reasons, or look out of place from society. Furthermore, the use of higher levels when Megan puts her arm in the air and we all look up from our walks with our heads down (representing the repetitive cycle of day to day life) shows how moments of needing to conform can force us to break from our usual routine and can distract us from the path we should follow in our lives. Looking back at our choreography so far, we feel as though it is important for us to refine our execution and placement of each movement to enhance the unity amongst us to clearly show our theme and to remember to continue projecting this theme even in our transitions. For example, we may not all move to the next formation at the same time, but we might watch someone else go first and then feel the need and desire to follow and join in.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to have productively completed multiple tasks in this lesson with your group. It was interesting to read about how contrasting the two pieces of music are, I am excited to see what you will produce!
ReplyDeleteIn what way did adding the choreographic device accumulation help develop your theme and message? What did it introduce to your motif compared to when it was not present?
Thankyou Louisa! Using accumulation helps us to reflect on the idea of first watching someone complete the movement, and without truly knowing why, joining in in order to fit in, as you felt that that is what you were supposed to do. Starting with one person dancing and then more of us joining in until we are all in unison helps us to show the process of conformity, where everyone ends up doing the same thing, without understanding why they started in the first place, but it is the power of conformity that has led them. Before we used accumulation, we had experimented with canon, however this didn't create the same impression, as it meant that although we were doing the same movements, we were all dancing at different times, which didn't show the idea of conformity well, as we all had our own individual timing. Accumulation is perfect for showing both the process of needing to fit in, and the unity and lack of variety that conformity creates within society.
ReplyDeleteGreat detail in this blog Daisy. I wonder how, as a group, you chose the music and how it has helped you movie forward with the chorography
ReplyDeleteThankyou. We chose the music based on the opposing dynamics they had and found them by looking at movie soundtracks and instrumental scores to find both intense and emotive pieces. Having the music has helped us to find moments where we can enhance the execution of a movement based on the beats and accents and has helped us to build the impact and narrative of our movement, by using it as a guide for when the impact of our piece should rise and fall.
ReplyDelete