Glamour Project Images

Images from my upcoming performance work BREED (aka Glamour Project) which focuses on notions of superficiality and hyperfeminisim.

Showing

Below is the final showing for group forms of my work entitled “I’ve Gathered Among Us”. The piece will continue to tackle my choreographic tendencies as well as the manners in which I design a process.

Text and Movement

The clip below is an effort to examine a relationship between text and movement. More importantly, can text just become part of the sound score and not carry such informational weight?

Assumptions

A main concern that arose in class was around the term, assumption. What are the assumptions that we make as a choreographer? I think the assumptions we choose (or unconciously choose) play a heavy part in how the viewer experiences the work. Also, there is also the point of the view of the viewer, and the assumptions that he/she chooses (or unconciously chooses) to bring into the experience. John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” tries to give insight in ways to experience art from another viewpoint/perspective.

In class, we worked on veiwing structures from a different lens by trying to minimize our assumptions as viewers. For the course I generated a structure where the viewer was standing close and above the performers. That spatial tension generated a new experience in how a dance could perceived. That tension is something that I’m continually interested in as a choreographer.

 

Locating Tendencies

When working within this proces, I came to a point where I was noticing tendencies in how I operate within a rehearsal process as well as my choreographic tendencies:

1. Interested in community building- understanding that the manner in which I’m attempting to speak in my rehearsals is an effort in trying to a build sense of cohension as an ensemble.

2. Non-linerar- understanding that I’m more interested in generating ideas and locating a throughline, than generating a work from start to finish.

3. Spatial concern- because of my interest in generating work in a non-linear manner, I feel that my attention to space becomes minimal.

 

Intuition/Objectivity/Good/Bad

During class, we discussed  Tere O’Connor and Headlong Dance Theater’s  idea of choreographic intuition in relation to objectivity. As a result, a discussion about the good/bad paradigm erupted for myself. The material in which a choreographer generates and locates as “bad” can be indentifiable as “good” if presented through a different lens. By lens I’m meaning the manners in which choreographers manipulate material (spatial changes for example).

Within this class I became interested in the amount of time it takes for a choreographer to look at their work objectively. There has to be a moment within a process where that shift occurs and I’m curious that if the choreographer changes that point within their process, how would that effect there perspective on what is “good” and what is “bad”

 

Generate a Phrase

I’ve always struggled generating phrases. When attempting to generate a phrase, I find myself trying to locate meaning to every movement that occurs. To combat this tendency, I began to question my understanding of “meaning” in a dance work. A movement can be meaningful and have importance without it being directly correlated to a theme/idea/concept. I also believe that an investigation of your concept through physicality must occur. This may not be the case for every process, but the sake of this piece I wanted to go in that direction.

I began with the idea of groups and the many layers and tensions that arise when a group is being formed. That notion of tension I then began translating on a physical level – where in my body can I generate tension? This led me to investigate torque within the body – the tension of twisted body. I found it interesting the language I chose to use to aid in remembering the phrase. Below is an excerpt:

Right wrist presses left knee

Right elbow attacks right hip

Extended wrists out

Bitch slap

Breathe

Release

Below is a demonstration of those instructions:

What is Structure? The Beginning of a Dance

In the beginning of Group Forms, an important question was raised – what is structure? Or an even better question: how do I interpret the word structure as a choreographer? To begin locating a response to that question we were asked to generate a choreographic manifesto. Below are some points in which I expressed:

The dancer is human.

The music is not secondary.

Develop work that reflects how bodies function or operate in society.

With my manifesto in mind, I began working on a new choreographic process that was heavily invested in the notion of “process” to determine/discover my tendencies as a choreographer.

 

Bringing it Back– What a Quarter!

It seems as if Spring Quarter had taken me by the reigns, preventing me from spending the time that I should’ve spent on this blog. Now that it’s summer I can reflect back on the experiences in which I had with “Chalk Boundaries,” as well as move forward and talk about my upcomng projects: SHAME and The Glamour Project. I’m excited for what this summer holds for me, especially since I will be attending the Bates Dance Festival.

Speaking of the past, I never posted this. Below is footage of the Wexner Event showing of “Chalk Boundaries”  as a work in progress with the all male cast.

Motion Control

The videodance below is entitled “Motion Control” and I’m absolutely in love with it. The soundscore alone is mesmerizing. Enjoy!

Also, I really appreciated the ending credits when they give you a glimpse of the equipment and techniques used to create this film.

Created by Liz Aggiss, Billy Cowie, and David Anderson