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:
