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
choreography2015 