Creative Development: A Reflection On My Process So Far

Originally, I liked a different piece of music called “Time”- Nathan Lanier https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgO1O_jd5g (Lanier, 2015). I liked this piece as it had a good mix of crescendo moments and moments to show viscous dynamics. Unfortunately, this piece was under three minutes which is the minimum amount of time that we are allowed however, the piece of music of which I am using is called “Instrumental 1”- Viewfinder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-XOh9O_dAg (Viewfinder, 2020). This piece of music is very continuous throughout the whole piece as there are no sudden changes or build-ups however towards the middle of the piece the texture becomes thicker which creates a sense of chaos.

Repetition has been used a lot within the choreography as it creates emphasis on a specific section or movement within the piece. There are several motifs which are repeated to show the continuation of age and growing old. Viscous dynamics show slow movements which represents the slow process of aging however, swift dynamics help represent the sudden realisation that you aren’t your young and “perfect” self anymore. There is a floor pattern of travelling in a square, this is to represent the shape of the polaroid. This method of process was inspired by Wayne McGregor, he likes to think of a letter, colour or shape. In doing this it allows you to think of being inside the letter T (for example) and you can travel to anywhere inside the letter T.

I have always found choreography mentally challenging because creating movements without a structure has always been very difficult for me. However, from researching more into Wayne McGregors creative process, that has inspired me to replicate that in my own choreographic process. Wayne McGregors “4 sets” creative process helps give the structure that I find helpful when creating choreography. Although I have found creating choreography less challenging some feedback that was given on my piece so far was perhaps changing the message behind the piece. I was given this feedback because I had gotten caught up with creating movements that I forgot to relate them back to the message and the intent behind each movement. Going forward I am going to video the choreography so I can watch the piece and think about what the movements could mean and also try to change sections where there are running moments into running/ hobbling sections.


References:

Nathan Lanier. 2015. Time. 2021. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgO1O_jd5g> [Accessed 14 November 2021]. 

Viewfinder. 2020. instrumental 1. 2021. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-XOh9O_dAg> [Accessed 14 November 2021].


Bibliography:

Nathan Lanier. 2015. Time. 2021. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgO1O_jd5g> [Accessed 14 November 2021]. 

Viewfinder. 2020. instrumental 1. 2021. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-XOh9O_dAg> [Accessed 14 November 2021].

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Critique of Justin Pecks “In The Countenance of Kings”

The first thoughts from watching the YouTube video “In The Countenance of Kings” by Justin Pecks were that there is a main them of reflection such as mirroring. The music was very upbeat and the dancers responded to the music well by changing dynamics as the tempo of the music changed. The main colours of the piece were dark red, blue, beige and orange. The start of the video started in a studio and there was a change of scenery to an old building. ( San Francisco Ballet, 2016) Watching the piece confused me to begin with because I was unsure as to what the story line was however, I became entranced by how controlled the chaos was. In a lot of the sections, there are a lot of dancers doing different things such as when there is a pas de deux couple which is then joined by 3 couples performing the same choreography. Although the movements had sharp dynamics and were very quick, each movement flowed into the next section. The continuity of sharp dynamics in particular sections c...
Read more

My Chosen Practitioner

My chosen practitioner is Wayne Mcgregor because I am intrigued by his creative process. Before I was able to experience the creative process that he uses I would think that his choreography process is interesting however, I never fully understood the task. After trying his method I have found that it suits me very well because it helps me explore my mind but also it is an efficient way of creating choreography. Wayne Mcgregors work is very extraordinary because he likes to think that creating choreography is physical thinking. He also uses a lot of imagery to show in his movement. For example, imagining the letter "T" and thinking that he is inside the T. When choreographing for his dancers, he likes to use improvisation so that his dancers can take an idea from a body and transfer it into another body. The dancers aren't given music, they respond to his counting such as the words "um, bay, bay, a". Another way he works with his dancers is he encourages people ...
Read more

Evaluation

 I think the choreography solo went well as there was a clear narrative behind the piece and the research behind choreography techniques guided me to create new movements and motifs which I never would've thought of.  I enjoyed this module as it pushed me mentally to always relate the movement back to the story and physically create a movement that could portray a message. There were moments during the module where I struggled to create a movement/ phrase because I was worried that it wouldn't look "perfect" or it wouldn't compliment the rest of the dance. Moving forward from this I began with the basics, any movement that came to mind I would use and then develop once I had put together a small phrase. I would develop this by analysing what this movement portrayed to the audience and what could be changed to make it clear why it would be linked to the stimulus.  In the future, I will take more opportunities to practice the solo in a studio space by myself so I ca...
Read more