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Final Performance Evaluation

In my final blog post I will be discussing and evaluating the final performance of my choreography. To begin, my goals were to create a piece that clearly displayed my stimulus, used my research effectively and for there to be a strong connection with the music. I feel that in my movement and performance I was able to portray my character and the story line I had developed. I feel that my use of motifs showed the viewers my concept of an endless cycle and the gestures within them expressed the words I wanted to say regarding the story. My research aided me in my process, especially in the beginning stages where I used my key words to section the music, and to plan the mood of each section. I then devised my movements around these words, for example in the beginning section I kept the movements gentle and close to the ground to show the words, ‘heavy’, ‘lost’ and ‘grief’. I built my piece with the music in mind and as I know the song well, I was fully established in my knowledge of ...
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Practitioner Evaluation

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Critical Review of Dance Piece #3

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In this blog post I will be discussing another of Wayne McGregor’s works entitled ‘Genus’. I will review the piece and compare it to the other pieces I have critiqued on my blog, ‘Infra’ and ‘Woolf Works’ The piece begins in darkness when suddenly the soft classical music and cool blue light grow together, and a male dancer emerges from the nature resembling scenery lit by a white spotlight. In his simple costume of a black fitted T-shirt with a white shape down the front, he performs a solo formed of McGregor’s classical/contemporary movements. The movements consist of strong staccato shapes that are then contrasted with smooth rippling movement and keep to the same level for almost the whole piece. As the solo ends the dancer leaves the stage by walking towards the back of the stage as the lights and music fall again which mimics the beginning of the piece and reminded me of my choreography. I enjoyed the positive energy that the dancer portrayed and felt the movement showed ...
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Studio Performance

Now I have been able to experience performing my piece I feel that my choreography demonstrates my stimulus and has met the criteria required to do this in relation to my feedback. I feel that I am happy with my movement choices however I would like to work more and improve my execution of the solo. My feedback from my tutor reflected my presentation and performance as the piece started with a strong emotion but I lost my focus as the steps got more complicated. I think that this the main thing I’d like to work on as I feel that it is very important to retain that focus for my stimulus to come across to the audience. In that aspect I was also advised to look out towards the audience more as I avoided this eye contact. Without this there is a disconnect where I wanted the piece to feel personal and vulnerable. Looking into my quality of movements I received compliments on my technique but there was a lack of finish in the reaches therefore my lines I was trying to make were cut shor...
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Creative Development Session 3

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Critical Review of Dance Piece #2

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McGregor’s piece ‘Woolf Works’ shows his signature style that I find to resemble ballet that is altered and melted into contemporary lines and shapes. From the clips of the corps work it is clear how he manipulates the structure and movement of the dancers to give the appearance of a flowing current that bounces between the dancers, shown through their connection and contact work.   Woolf Works was created through the inspiration of the writing of Virginia Woolf. On McGregor’s website the work is described to be, “enmeshed themes from three of Woolf's landmark novels, Mrs Dalloway, Orlando, and The Waves, with elements of her letters, essays and diaries” (Studio Wayne McGregor, 2015). To explore this further I listened to McGregor explaining the purpose of the piece in an interview (In Conversation: Woolf Works (The Royal Ballet), 2015) and he spoke a lot about looking between the lines and thinking about why things happen rather then what actual happens. So rather then the pie...
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Creative Development - Session 2

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So far, I have choreographed 2 minutes and 30 seconds of my piece and am starting to feel that my stimulus and thoughts are becoming clear in the movements I have created and there is a clear structure developing. The challenges I have been facing are in the biggest section of the piece, the climax. I find myself getting stuck in the movements and not knowing where to go next. To overcome this, I have been going back to the motifs I created, a device inspired by Wayne McGregor. I have found that by adding them into sections of the piece and developing them with choreographic devices, I have a created a flow that connects the piece together and to the stimulus. To create movement, I have been thinking more about the shapes I am creating and the dynamics that I want to express. I have been using key points in the music to link these dynamics to as the music not only part of my stimulus but the base of my movements. I have contrasted sharp, impulsive movements with movements that have...
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