At first when we i attended the class for resourceful choreographer at the beginning of term it was not quite what i had expected, the module's directions were not what i thought we would be concentrating on, however this is not a negative, infact throughout the term i have grown to enjoy the module. it has definitely forced me to approach the way in which i choreograph in a very different manor. Previous to the module, choreography for me was always very much about the movement and other elements such as sound, lighting and the audiences experience were rarely priority. however since this module began i have learnt to incorporate these elements and realise that they are just as important if not more in some cases as the movement itself. the main things i have taken from this module is to make sure the audience's experience is always thought about, to encourage experimentation and to not 'settle' for movement and choreography thought as nice or comfortable or something i have done before. i have learnt to push myself, use body parts and choreographic techniques that i have previously rejected and all the while remember that lighting and sound are a key element in creating a piece of choreography, they can either 'make' it or 'brake' it.

  assessment 3 thoughts: Metronome

  in relation to our final assessment choreographed by laura, louise and i, i am generally very pleased with the final outcome and the piece we put together. With any piece of collaborative choreography there is always going to be elements that you may not want to personally put into a piece or sections which you believe do not suit the style you are aiming for with the piece, however working as a group is all about compromise and in our case compromise has actually produced a piece that we all i believe are pleased with.

  The musical/ sound accompliment to our piece was a risky but brave choice made. it was quite time consuming to do but was worthwhile as a piece of sounds and scopes put together. an amalgamation of  movement recorded sounds, recorded human/pedestrian sounds recorded during class and also public noises, finally overlaid with a classic repetitive live metronome which was played throughout the 10 minute piece which was started and finished by myself whilst on stage. although some people may have found the music a slight contrast to the piece we were keen to introduce a sound score that was repetitive and noticeable in contrast to the silence elements of the piece.

  lighting: the lighting to our piece i believe was a very strong and key element to the overall effect of the piece. from viewing the piece back we were able to create an affect of there being almost twice the amount of people on stage at once via shadows and silhouettes, and although at first we were not aware this affect would be created once we were aware of it we were keen to explore and utilise this further. the light for us enabled us to direct the audience's attention and focus their eye to certain sections. the lighting helped to create pathways and also elements of stillness and suspense that would not have been able to be created if we did not have this. the lighting was a key feature that brought our piece together and although the movement was interesting it would not have been viewed the same by the audience if it was not for the lighting.

  costume: we were keen to keep the costume to a minimum and therefore made a conscious decision to wear quite pedestrian normal clothes, nothing to evocative of meaning or meant to offend just simple black trousers and coloured top which once in the light could created a coloured effect.

  overall i am very pleased with the piece we created as a group, and although an extra week would have been nice to have, this may have intern made us over think and question what we had already created.

    This link below is to youtube and to a dance called rosas danst rosas and is really interesting to view. The use of intricate simple but also very cleverly choreographed  movement which is structured to create suspense and intrigue as to what is coming next, all choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

 

   
This type of movement and the simplicity of it but also its very repetitive nature is really intriguing and i would really like to be able to create such movement in our assessment piece. Anne teresa de Keersmaeker is known for very repetitive almost mathematical movement as portrayed if you click on the link below.

 

  This is just a snippet of ideas and reactions to her type of choreographic style and to somehow replicate or atleast gain thoughts and choreographic ideas from this stimulus is really interesting for me.

Although i have not blogged recently many things have been going through my mind, especially with consideration to the last and final assessment. This final assessment is an almigamation of the first two assessments, i believe we need to be creative with the use of light, the way its used within the space, amongst the dancers and how the audience perceive this. secondly the movement content needs to concentrate on idiosyncratic movement, a mix between habitual but also pushing one self outside 'normal' comforts and experimenting with ideas that push the barrier. simple thoughts such as utilising a body part you wouldnt naturally think to use, or even a body's surface that doesnt feel comfortable. This final assessment suggests to me that both of these criteria need to be put together in order to create a piece that is not only interesting to watch but also to be part of. It seems key to produce a piece that the assessors are interested in what they see and experience. To not produce a  'safe' study or one that is similar to everyone else's but to try and be innovative whilst not trying so hard to be different that an 'over thought' over complex and disfunctional piece is produced. not to say that this is not what they are looking for? i think this is one of the biggest challenges that each group including my own faces in relation to this assessment.

  The talk by simon's friend the architect was very interesting and definitely made me think about the use of the space for our piece. I began to sketch ideas and ways the space could be divided and utilised. thinking about volume and ways the space could be broken up, either by physical/ visual restraints or the way the piece is put together and choreographed by 'zone-ing' space. these initial thoughts then progressed and i began to think about the way in which the light/ lighting intergrates into this. lighting again could be thought of as a tool to divide the performance space, create 'zones' and thus develop intricate movement sequences within this.

  so far progress on our final assessment is going well and am really pleased with it. we have created a lot of movement vocab that we have already broken down as well as developed and this is resulting in some very interesting movement that is being produced. The outlook at the moment in regards to the final assessment piece is very positive and hopefully all of our ambitions hopes and aims for the final piece will be fulfilled.

 reflection of week 3 assessment task number 1:

  this weeks assessment task was very challenging for me in many ways and i also found it very interesting. My initial thoughts of the task was one of intrigue, i was trying to think outside (for a want of a better word) 'the box' and try and think of ways of utilising the light in differing ways and trying to be original with this source , as well as ways of highlighting other senses while the light is on and off. However once my group and i had chosen our source of light it was apparent that trying to carry out my aims, was going to be a lot harder than i thought. One of the main problems was being original with the light, use it in a way that is not directly obvious and that would make the audience notice, think that the use of light was clever and unique. use the light in a non-direct way to highlight other aspects such as noise or shadow or silhouettes. part of me felt quite frustrated with the task, i knew i wanted to produce a piece that was not only a pleasure to watch but also made the audience wonder what was coming next , be intrigued, even slightly scared as light i feel as quite a emotion dependant source. however part of me felt like i had settled for ideas i knew had potential, but needed to be developed further and this is what i feel was a downfall to the first assessment task i was part of.
when viewing other groups work i was pleasantly surprised how well they had used their surroundings to their advantage, utilised walls, surfaces and props around them to create sound additional movement and produce a piece which was very interesting to watch and played to my senses. although some pieces like the one in the toilet i wouldn't say i necessarily liked, it definitely grasped my attention and some what scared me and made me jump whilst wanting to see what was coming next.  quite a few of the other groups pieces used the audience and involved them into the piece which i kind of now i look back would have quite liked to have done with my assessment piece as i felt it made me more able to take in the whole piece (appreciate it more). I think many of the groups involved humour within their studies and this made their works very interesting and enjoyable to watch.

   the main things i have taken from this assessment task is to push myself further, try to make myself work with ideas that i may not necessarily like to begin with but to do totally dismiss them straight away. also although time is a factor which i find restricts me with being creative and expressive with my thoughts i need to not let it force me to settle with 'ok' choreography and and ideas and be brave to play with ideas that may not always make the audience think, that was 'nice'.
hopefully assessment task 2 will enable me to express ideas fully and not to 'settle' with what i am comfortable with.

  reflection of ideas from week 2 of resourceful choreographer module.
Main ideas and thoughts that have risen from this week is the importance of noticing the not so literal aspects of movement and its surrounding elements. what comes from the movement, what do we subconsciously notice that we wouldnt necessarily pin point when reviewing a piece of movement. light, air, surroundings, background natural noises that were not put in place for the choreography but enhance a performance beyond a choreographers control. the first initial movement exploration by simon made me personally feel a bit uneasy, i felt the pressure to try review performance as we were in a typical audience setting and this some what restricted my ability to take in the whole peice as i felt my focus what placed merely on him and not the whole picture..where as in the second minute of movement when we were placed within the piece i was able to fully appreciate not only the movement vocabulary but also the surroundings such as a twitch or a subconscious nervous habit by one of my peers, the way someone has to shift their body weight or rotate their head to view simon move. personally in many ways i could appreciate the movement more even when i couldnt directly see it because i could take it the sounds created by the movement, the rub of his clothes on the floor and breath created by the tempo of the dance. This new ability to open up the way in which i appreciate dance i believe will become very useful in my choreography, makes me think about not necessarily what the audience can see but what they also hear, appreciate and sometimes are involved in.