Self – Evaluation Show Case June 2014
For my end of year Graduation show, the stimuli was based on ‘Elements’. Firstly I researched on what it takes to create a successful group piece, the main devices for this was to have positive communication, responding to each individuals ideas, making sure I took upon knowing and taking in consideration everyone’s abilities. During a Term at College, there was a Criteria called ‘Choreographic principles’ that taken place every Thursday, during this time, Kat put us in different groups every week were we would be given a different stimuli were we would create a motif, choreography responding in relation to the picture, this carried on for a few weeks until we then got given the stimuli of’Elements’. Once we got given the Stimuli, we started working with the Stimuli, with a strong relationship responding positively. I was placed in a variety of groups, working with the different elements of, water, Air, Earth, Fire. Every week I got a different device, This helped me a lot due to not fully understanding the Stimuli at the start, when I first got given this, I did not feel 100% positive, yet once I had got a full understanding, from research of the workshops this helped me intellectually understanding the task as well as Physically knowing how to react movement in relation to the stimuli.
However when working in different groups it gave me a chance to interact with different individuals that I have not worked self- direct with before, this also gave me the full understanding of how to work as a team, giving full commitment and time – management. For the on-going weeks, I got an understanding of the different styles to respond to each Element. When working in the groups, every week we created Tableuxes, freeze frames, 4 counts of choreography.
When self-directing my own independent research about eachElements, I found research that expresses each Element with a style, while interpreting emotions.
Water is in connection with styles like, Jazz, Contemporary,waving, lyrical. The emotions for this piece would be, sad, emotional connecting to the audience. The styles for Fire would be jazz, commercial, Bollywood and Salsa as the dynamics would be fast, sharp, telling a story of passionate love. Earth which was House, Locking, commercial, these dances would be grounded, angry with attitude, however Air which is Jazz, contemporary with fluid, light movement.
There was a range of Structures that were useful when creating choreography were Narrative, due to with the elements I could interpret a variety of stories in relation to the Element. In my group piece the structure I used was a Narrative telling a story about a Tsunami, after all the research I found that Tsunami’s are a big heading in specific countries especially in Thailand, after researching in 2004 Thailand had a Tsunami that killed over 2,000 individuals, from spective of this it was a big shock and I felt emotional for this piece and knew there could be a range of choreography developing from this structure. Throughout my piece motif development was contrasted in the start section, due to developing the movement throughout the piece, interpreting a motif at the end, as well as interpreting Retrograde in relation to the start motif. My piece had a variety of devices; these were Canonespecially in the House section that breaks into grounded, sharp, fast movement. The house section is the start of theClimax, the audience would have been able to understand the relationship due to the dynamics and music component changing.
During the rehearsal process my Strengths for my choreography were that since the day that Kat put us all into our groups, my group got along straight away, and started to research independently and as a group about the stimuli. Every session we had different ideas to bounce from, everyone interpreted ideas working with everyone’s abilities.
Alternatively when finding music I Interpreted a song that I thought everyone would like, as well as showing a relation to the Stimuli, it was called DVBB’ Tsunami. Every Choreographic principle lesson everyone was always committed showing full attendance, but also positive time – management for every lesson and self-directed outside college times. During getting close to the deadline of choreography being complete we called rehearsal times, after lessons, this helped as at the start of May we had finished the choreography but was now acknowledging everyone’s comments making it more cleaner and understandable.
I felt by using a poem about Tsunami’s would be effective, with an emotional piece about my family by using certain words like ‘ Why ‘ Did’ becomes very effective and direct towards the audience.
Research took upon a big role for the choreography, watching news reports of Tsunami’s as well as ‘ The impossible’ when watching this film, I looked at the mothers expressions and emotions towards the tsunami and family, this helped me interpret the best possible outcome developing my Character.
My weaknesses from Rehearsal process was that I needed to develop through emotions, showing more emotions when performing and losing my family. Due to just myself being alive at the end I needed to carry on the emotions, especiallyat the ending when the over speech is spoken I need to have a physical I felt that during the rehearsal process the piece was too choreographed, therefore I needed to show a clear fluid structure for each structure, due to Kat and Peers suggesting it looked to choreographed.
However, my main weakness throughout the rehearsals were that I was not connecting in relation with the choreography and my character/ emotions, due to trying to remember all the muscle memory, on individual sections I lost my character, therefore I needed to not panic and over think the choreography and relax more into the choreography. Alternatively, we did not use a range of devices, only unison, cannon, retrograde, therefore due to stil having sections to choreograph we knew to interpret a lot more devices, showing a clear, strong dynamics.
When developing my choreography I used a range of devices and methods. Motif development was used throughout the start of the section, during the build-up to the climax, the dynamics I used were strong, fast, expressing emotions while building up to tell the narrative. During the end of all choreography we had 3 x 8 counts, therefore we looked foropenings, were we chose to use a Tabluexe, the tableuxe we used was improvised of being on the beach, the children playing while the mother guards them and the father explores. Retrograde was used in the first section, this was created from a workshop Chloe took one Tuesday, were we used Retro grade, from the workshop we had to take a count of 8 from our choreography and perform it how we choreographed but then backwards, this is retrograde, our piece worked well and looked really effective, therefore we decided to add this into the choreography. There was a range of Contact we used, due to our piece being about a family who are on holiday and a Tsunami appears, therefore the emotions needed to be in relation to the movement, so close contact needed to be used, there was a range of hugging, as well as contact work, variety of lifts, were I got picked up and thrown about. Throughout the whole piece Improvisation needed to be created, due to sections were we all are getting taken away we all have unison choreography as well as free styling in the Climax trying to build the tension for the audience to understand.
We explored a range of structures, however from the research and ideas from previous lessons we had a clear idea of what we wanted to address therefore the Structure was alreadythere, which was a Narrative about a ‘Tsunami’. A range of floor patterns were used, I felt that our choreography used the flooring very well, especially for the house, it was not placed,different floor patterns were used as well as levels. The range of Dynamics were Strong, powerfull, fast, in contrast with every style, expecially for the climax, the dynamics were sharp, fast, energetic, showing emotions in relation to the dynamics.
During the choreographic process I felt I worked well with the other performers because during the workshop process I worked with all of these in different stimuli’s therefore I knew each individuals abilities, so during the choreographic process I knew everyone’s abilities and what we was capable of choreographing. Each individual had their own style, so I thought it was a good idea to interpret each individual’s style, but also I can learn more historical context and physical of styles that I am not positive on performing. While choreographing I learnt that every individual has different Muscle memory, therefore to teach sections may take longer, however every time we choreographed a new section, we drilled this until everyone was sure and positive. Every lesson, peers would look at our piece when we performed and give feedback, I felt I took critism positively and wrote this in my blogs so that I could address this for next lesson. Being In a group shows a strong relationship and during the performance each peer in my group was supportive, making sure that everyone was dressed and ready on time to go on stage. Throughout the Rehearsal process and performance, I could see a difference in relationship with each other, during the day of performing, the relationship was so strong and UN breakable and I loved my group.
As a choreographer, I shared my role throughout the choreographing period by, having my own role, which was a mother, we shared each character, were I needed to interpret being a mother. Performing in a group piece is very different from performing a solo or a duet because when performing a Solo, nobody relies on you, except yourself so if you forget choreography you can freestyle but in a group you cannot therefore you need to have drilled and know the choreography backwards before you go on stage, due to this visually standing out otherwise. Throughout the choreographic principles I now am aware that I can choreograph and should not put a barrier up when it comes to physical choreographing. However, when having up beat music that I enjoyed, which we had, this helped me find it easier to choreograph due to myself enjoying it a lot more. Relationship is the key and from the start of being put into my group we worked well from the beginning, there was no tension or negativity, like other groups, therefore thechoreography looked enjoyable to perform and watch. Throughout the piece everyone had equal parts, everyone hadtheir own role, time- management and communication was the key and our group had this.
The strengths for my final performance were we worked well with a strong relationship. On the night of the show, I remembered the picture before I entered onto stage; therefore this showed a clear narrative for the ending, so the audience knew what was happening. At the end when standing on the blocks, I involved the audience by looking up directly with eye contact, so the audience would engage the same emotions. Alternatively, every critism that we had throughout the weeks and on the week of dress run, I made sure I took upon everything said and performed this in the final performance. Costumes worked really well in relation to the structure, due to them being tie dyed blue, it looked really effective with the lighting.
Weaknesses for the Final performance were;
Overall the audience was fully aware of the narrative and what was going on throughout the performance. At the end of the performance we got a big round of applause and this positively lifted my self esteem.
In the opening the dynamics were very fluid, light, contrasting the narrative. however on the motif there was a range of sharpness with fast movement. however in the climax the dynamics were fast, sharp, with sustained movements when each performer gets taken away the others will have sustained movements while the performer whos getting taken away by the tide has fast sudden movement to show the contrast. there was also a range of levels throughout the whole piece. focus needed to be interpreted throughout the whole piece expecially with my own role due to needing to keep focus to express the emotion and seriousness of my family getting killed. However at the end, there was an over speach of me expressing my feelings and what has happend, projection needed to be directed towards the audience, during this and when I hold a picture of myself and family interating with the audience.
Throughout the piece interpretive skills were so important due to having to act out a character, Each performance had their own role mine was a mother, therefore I needed to phrase on how my mum acts , but also I watched 'The Impossible' where this is based on a Tsunami, i watched this to see how each individual acts, showing physicallity and emotions.
During the whole choreography my piece changed dramatically in the climax, due to wanting to show a physical difference from the start and climax, the house section changed completely due to feedback , individuals said that it looked to placed, however because my main style was house, I came up with choreography that everyone liked so taught them this, there was positive feedback about the house and looked effective due to different levels , transitions and dynamics.
Our choreography did not change, due to having a basic structure straight from the start when developing our dance planner, we knew what we wanted and the choreography developed fully throughout the piece.
During my time of my choreography, I would use much more time- management, calling frequent rehearsal process, by engaging communication, allowing everyone to adress full commitement wanting the best outcome. Not thinking to much about the music, making sure everyone is aware of the changes due to not everyone knowing until performing on stage for the tech rehearsal , by this it caused a lot of confusion mentally and physically with the choreography, therefore we had to make a decision of which music we was going to choose, the music sounded alot more clearer with a better structure but we needed to think more about our choreography so chose the original piece. Overall I felt that my piece had a clear structure, understanding and kept good control with time - management due to having a week to drill the piece ready for the show. By this I did not feel stressed or worried about my piece, It looked very effective on the feedback dvd and was proud of my group, as we worked well from the start , no argueing and by this my choreography grew as well as a performer, with a strong relationship with each other peformer. I am thourely pleased with my overall group piece.
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