Africa Moves Response

I had the pleasure of performing in both of Solo’s performances in Africa Moves. One was entitled Days of 13 and the second was called Dancer Ma Vie and both had live music tired with silence or recorded music.

As a performer it was really interesting to me the way Solo choreographed. We learned a bunch of combinations and then he broke them up and assigned different performers to each movement set. He would sing the rhythm that he wanted and we would base our timing entirely off of that. When we finally had live music, it was definitely a challenge getting the movement to match the music and vice versa. Solo would sing the rhythm and then the drummer would pick it up, but it inevitably sounded different on the live drums. Because we were so stuck doing it to the rhythm in our heads or listening to Solo it was very difficult to match up and also frustrating because it was out of our comfort zone. It made it something else. however, when we finally got everything to match it was unbelievably great dancing with live music. It added a much needed element and energy to the movement.

In one of the pieces we also used recorded music as well. As a performer I liked using that because we learned the movement specifically to that music so we knew that we would be on the beat. The switch from live music to recorded music was the most difficult to manage and it took a lot of trial and error to get it to where we needed it to be. There was a sudden change in the air whenever the recorded music dropped out and the live music picked up. The latter felt more wholesome to me and created a perfectly balanced piece. That’s at least how it felt performing it.

As a performer we were never told what each piece was about..we just did the movement so it was very enlightening hearing what the audience got from each showing because our understanding was so completely different. While dancing in the piece I thought of it as a bunch of sections culminating in one whole thing so while maintaining the wholeness of the piece in mind, it was easy for me to dance and gain some sort of understanding from it.

Pontus Lidberg

A few weeks ago we were able to see Pontus Lidberg perform in Pittsburgh with a few other dancers. Overall I loved the performance. I left the theatre thinking it was an absolutely breathtakingly beautiful show and I was blown away by the level of technique and innovation that I saw. However upon further reflection and conversation, I realized that I didn’t really have any idea what it was about. Or what was worse…I didn’t see any of the supposed meaning through the movement.

Our professor asked us to think about what was doing the work, the movement or the music or the structure or the production etc. I personally thought that the music either rivaled or surpassed the movement with regards to specifically those two elements. The music was so beautiful and really filled the space that I think it took up so much space and didn’t leave any for the movement. That could also be because the movement was repetitive. It was so so so so technically beautiful and impressive but that was about it. I couldn’t find any meaning behind it just a lot of cool leaps and lunges.

One theme that I found really interesting and wanting to think of more deeply was the idea of relationships throughout both pieces. Within the prelude, there was obviously a hetero-normal relationship in that there was one woman, dressed in a very fancy almost ball room–esque dress and two men throwing her around. But then the beginning of Snow started with a boy puppet. We’ve talked in class and Burrows describes in his book that the audience will always project a relationship to the people present on the stage at the beginning of a piece. But what do you do when there’s a puppet on stage…not a real person…? It created a super unsettling feeling that I personally appreciated. So then when real people came on stage I had less expectations of a relationship between them and just went with it.

The entire piece just made me wonder about the importance or not importance of meaning behind the movement in a piece. obviously as a choreographer the medium most utilized at our disposal is the body and we create movement for the body but what happens when the movement is secondary? Does it become less of a dance? I personally really enjoyed the piece and felt that the beauty of it was enough for me. I understood the idea of the puppet and shadows and thought that paired with the impeccable movement and beautiful movement, it was a spectacular piece. Made perhaps less meaningful than it could have been but still amazing.

Trio Response

I think that in general this project was the most difficult but most rewarding project I’ve worked on all semester. First I think it’s important to note that I really liked creating movement without music. That’s something that I was really nervous about because I’ve never done that before but it actually worked super well. With regards to my movement I think it was pretty simple and looked pretty good on the bodies that I had but in heinz sight I regret using so much unison only because we had such a short time to really work on these and I felt that a lot of the impact i wanted my movement to have was lost because the dancers had a really hard time with working in unison, which if we had had more time to really get into the nitty gritty I think it would have been fine.

With regards to the floor plan, I knew I wanted a very clean plan so that everything would look sharp. In the first draft, the dancers were pretty far apart the whole time except for the beginning and the end which i really liked because I think that made the beginning and end relate to each other and stand out from the rest of the piece. But in the second draft I ended up moving them closer together again to help with the unison and I think it made it easier for the audience as well to see everything.

One thing that unintentionally became a motif throughout this trio was the use of stillness. Normally I am drawn, as a choreographer, performer and audience member to the constant moving of a body in space but inadvertently with this trio, the stillness really made this piece I think.

Overall I was really really pleased with how my trio came out specifically the second draft. For my final project I plan to use some parts of the trio in unison which will then move into a solo.

Leslie Sieder Response

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of being the first audience I believe to see the complete second work choreographed and directed by Leslie Sieder called Unicorn. It was about a forty minute work consisting of four dancers, three women and one man, dressed in nude clothing except for one of the performers who was in a bright pink shirt. In terms of movement I thought that it was really beautiful and technically pleasing to watch but after a while I personally thought it got a little boring and repetitive. One thing that I did really appreciate was the fluidity with which each section moved into the next and duets became trios that then became solos. No one performer explicitly stood out to me in terms of movement and it was impossible to tell who was the director or choreographer because each dancer moved so comfortably and seamlessly with the others.

It was really fascinating during the talk back to be able to ask questions about what we had seen and about the creative process. One of the themes that kept coming up about their movements but also the way they move in general was this idea of thinking but not thinking. This is an idea we have also experienced in our reading this idea of the dichotomy of doing too much and getting the opposite response which to me is absolutely intriguing. The performers were talking a lot about how much improvisation was included and how, because they had been working together for so long, the improv had actually become pretty set and almost choreographed. Suddenly it wasn’t improvisation anymore. Jess also talked about the idea of moving within a certain idea or score–like doing blurry what does that mean how can i make some part of my body blurry what happens if i only do my eyes etc–and she said that there comes a point when suddenly it’s not that idea any more. Or it is too much so that idea so you lose the concept. That’s something that I’ve started thinking a lot about in my own choreography. Like how can I follow an idea without in turn losing that general idea? how much control do i actually have?

All in all I liked the piece but loved the talk back.

Reading Summary 2.16

This section talked a lot about Revelations because it is a prime example of the perfect combination of music and movement and how they can be interrelated to create something more than one or the other could be on its own. Originally choreographed to songs that were sung in black churches throughout the choreographer’s childhood, the audience is taken on a tumultuous journey throughout life. Though it originally stemmed from a specific music and song, the movement is strong enough on its own and has been well received every where it has been performed.

I also like how this section not only talked about choreographers and composers but also about the dancers and performers. Like whose job was it to hold or adjust to the rhythm, the performer or the player? I think the idea of having an empathetic composer and choreographer is really powerful as well. I think that the author here means that the composer must not only be able to understand what the choreographer wants (or vice versa) but also be able to internalize it and make it one’s own mission as well. It is more than wanting a common goal, I think it’s also going about the same way to get there.

I also think the intrinsic descriptions of using different instruments for different dancers or different movements was interesting as well. It opens up an entirely new conversation if we can have a flutist for one dancer and a trombonist for another. Or the dancer can follow the percussive rhythm or the syncopated melody.

Reading Summary 2.2.15

This section of reading talked in depth about the connection between the composer and the choreographer as the composer takes, what can be deemed, a secondary role. The idea of the music leaving space for the dance really stood out to me and I’d like to examine that idea a bit more. It’s easier for me personally to choreograph to music I think but the idea of starting from pure movement and later finding music to fit it and make the entire piece become something else is really fascinating to me and is something I would like to work with more. I feel that–for me anyway–it’s easy for the music to overpower the dance and I rarely find myself in a situation that’s vice versa.

I think the author summed it up well with this quote, “If the dance is going to tell the audience exactly what the music is saying, then there is no need for the dance. The same is true of music; sound must add something to the visual event”. It’s all about balancing both and allowing space for both, in order to create something completely new and impossible to get to without the addition of both vital parts.

In this section there were also many essays on what it meant to be an American composer or an American choreographer. It explains that America’s only tradition is originality and it is within this complex that really great, new ideas are created and formed. We have so much to draw on and add to and twist in new ways the possibilities seem endless

Jess and Q’s Performance

Last week I saw two dance seniors’ final research presentations in the form of a collaborative performance. I was very impressed with both of their works and the way in which they articulated a similar idea.

Personally, I thought that Q’s piece was too theatrical. His piece dealt with a religious identity crisis and how he has handled that throughout his life and while I loved the movements and he and the other dancers danced beautifully, it was just a little too obvious for my taste. Within the first few minutes I think the audience could figure out who was what and that it was literally a battle between heaven and hell. But because that theme became apparent almost right away, I found myself losing interest for the rest of it. In general I liked his music selections except for the one where heaven and hell appeared to be battling. I felt that the music was too big for the dance–it was big orchestral with lots of climaxes and slow increases in volume and quantity of players i think–and it overpowered the really beautiful movements.

Jess’s piece to me felt more wholesome and universal…there were more people on the stage who each had their own role but no one seemed to have more stage time than another or a more important role which enabled the audience to kind of put their own ideas or identities on the performers. I loved the use of text and thought that it was a good balance. i really didn’t like the song choice though. Because it was such a popular song–instrumental of Feeling Good–it had a VERY different connotation for me that thad nothing to do with what Jess was trying to get across so it just detracted from the piece and the movement for me.

Cinderella Response

A few weekends ago we saw Ballet Met’s performance of Cinderella in Columbus. As a famous ballet I felt that Cinderella had a lot to measure up to. First of all, the music was recorded which I think took away from the overall ambience of the performance, specifically because there were a few awkward moments especially with the transitions. Also knowing that the music came first adds a layer of difficulty in knowing that the choreography then is automatically second and thus has to compete for its own merit. The music was specifically orchestrated to fit the story of Cinderella and the meanings behind it so the dance not only had to measure up to the music but it also had to further add to the story in order to progress the same story.

In order to talk specifically about the choreography now, I felt that in general the movements were very similar and they became uninteresting after the first few minutes. The choreographer definitely heavily relied on the music in order to choreograph and that definitely came through in the performance. However I would have preferred maybe some more liberty within the choreography in that it could stand on its own instead of relying on the music. Or pantomime. I thought that the choreography was almost too obviously pantomime at many points when an actual choreographed ballet step could have gotten the same idea cross without a cheese movement instead. The only place i really appreciated the extreme pantomiming was with the step sisters because their role was to be the comic, really obviously over the top movers.

Overall I did enjoy the piece because I love the story of Cinderella and the choreography did tell that story well enough so I stayed interested.

Crystal Pite

…assembled with recklessness and rigour, balancing sharp exactitude with irreverence and risk…

Crystal Pite was born in 1970 in Terrace, British Columbia. As opposed to attending a studio attached to a professional company, Pite studied under the tutelage of an independent studio in her hometown. When she was seventeen years old she joined Ballet British Columbia and stayed with the company for eight years where she began choreographing as well as dancing. Her choreographic debut came in 1990 when her first piece Between the Bliss and Me was added to the Ballet British Columbia’s repertoire.

After winning the Clifford E. Lee Choreographic award–as the youngest recipient ever–in 1995, she left Ballet British Columbia to join Frankfurt Ballet under William Forsythe for about five years. She then returned to Canada and created her own company, Kidd Pivot, which she still creates pieces for and is nationally and internationally renowned.

Dark Matters (2009)

“Startling and refreshing as a jug of icy water poured down your spine… Dark Matters does what great art always does: encourages conjecture, invites reflection on what it means to be human.” – Max Wyman

“With “dark matter” beautifully embodied in the shadowy puppeteer, Dark Matters is a haunting portrait of the unknown, a performance that pulls itself apart in an attempt to discover what it’s made of” (Kidd Pivot).

Conversation about Emergence (2013)

Emergence (Finale)

“Johnson’s statement that “simple agents following simple rules could generate amazingly complex structures” became a touchstone for the piece” (PNB).

Collaboration with composer Owen Belton in order to create the true motivation behind the piece.

References

“Crystal Pite.” Dance National Arts Centre. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

“Kidd Pivot: Kidd Pivot Performing Arts Society.” Kidd Pivot. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

Tucker, Gary. “Kylian + Pite.” Pacific Northwest Ballet (2013): n. pag. 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.

Duet Response

The duet project was an emotionally charged project for me; from the beginning of the choreographic process to the feedback to the editing of it I had a hard time with a lot of it. Mikayla and I hit it off immediately and knew we would want to choreograph one work together. It was an energetic environment and we created ideas together, pushing each other and building off of ideas. Because our song had a very definite beat we knew that we wanted to capitalize on that and explore what we could do with that. In addition, our song actually had lyrics, or rather one word interjections that kind of came out of nowhere and seemed nonsensical until we printed the lyrics out to examine them. We had to decide how we wanted to use the lyrics if we even wanted to use them at all. It turned out that for us, some of the words sounded so obvious and came through with such clarity that it would have been too big of a disconnect between the music and movement to not at least consider them. So we chose one or two words, such as look or stop to really focus on. We also decided to use our floor plan as a motif that we could continue to build on throughout the piece. We decided to walk within similar, linear paths using the cardinal directions as our facings. I don’t think we ever face the diagonal. We also decided to use retrogrades as a compositional element because we loved how the walks looked in the beginning and knew that bringing those back in maybe a different way would create a very wholesome and lasting affect for the audience.

I had a really rough time during the feedback session. I felt attacked and critiqued past the point of it being beneficial. I felt that the piece was torn apart and when we went back to fix things, we didn’t have any positive feedback to know what worked and would be good to keep, so during the editing phase, we were scrambling for ideas and concrete changes to make that we agreed with. To be honest I did not even want to perform this piece again. The excitement I felt was gone. We decided that the one piece of feedback we could actually work with was the idea of our intent and how both of us look while performing. We needed to be at the same level and in the same mindset so we really worked on that part together and decided what we wanted to decide on.