Intro Task - TED talk video summary
Things I learnt:
After watching the TED talk video about choreographic processes I learnt that when choreographing you only need a small stimulus such as the letters 'TED' to create a dance. I learnt that you can describe things using your body such as taking the mental image of your stimulus and using different body parts to show its size, shape etc. Mentally changing the shape and size of your stimulus can also help to add variation to your dance and help to create new movements that are able to be altered to strengthen the dance sequence.
Things I Found Interesting:
I thought that variety of abstract movements worked really well together and made for an interesting dance and therefore exciting to watch. I liked the duet and how the two dancers were constantly interlocked with each other and revolved around one another for the majority of the dance, it looked really different and imaginative.
Things I Would Be Interested In Exploring Myself:
I think it would be cool to try the different techniques for creating dances such as imagining something in your head and using that as your stimulus and changing the movements to match what you're imagining. I would be interested in using the 'Task Base Method' by creating a mental picture which enables dancers to choose the path in which they create their dance, which is similar to the previous technique but I think that trialling both would be a good learning experience.
How Would You Describe The Choreographers Process? :
I think that the choreographers process was quite different to anything else I'd seen before, it was unique but also created a different, abstract dance piece. I think it would be useful in future assessments and for other dance choreographers.
Task 7
Duet
After creating a small phrase to start off with we then chose the contrasting ideas of 'equality' and 'inequality' in which would be the basis for our two moments. As visible in the first photo, Naomi ( left), portrays the idea of inequality by the low level on her knees with her arms stretched out forward toward me, however still only using a small amount of space. Myself (right) with the high level in a straight up jump with both legs and arms extended outwards, also using a larger air space all adds to the same idea of inequality. This contrast is recognisable due to the difference in space that the two people occupy and the levels that are the opposite of the other.
On the other hand, the second photo represents the idea of equality, in contrast to the first idea of inequality. Myself on the left and Naomi on the right are both creating the same movement of a simple turn with one arm extended upwards and the other out to the side. We both are turning on the ball of one foot with the other in 90 degree angle pointing out to the back. This makes the contrast visible due to the fact that both people are at the same level and taking up the same amount of space which means there is no difference between the two. The initial phrase allowed us to take certain movements that represented the contrasts of 'equality' and 'inequality' to be captured into two different moments.
Task 4
Learn and vary a phrase
To vary this phrase we started off in a different formation than in the original one. We started off in a triangle shape going backwards from Lizzy at the point. We then took the repeated movement of a curved arm and changed it so that we were all linking arms with one another, this was performed in canon. The movement of two arms rolling down towards our feet and back up was then used in unison to transition outwards of our triangular formation. To get us to our next formation we took the wave arm to step into a straight horizontal line where we start our second curved arm movement done in canon. We then use the same arm roll to get down onto the ground where we added in a roll on the ground to then get us back up on our feet as we roll out. Next 3 of us and the other 2 of us used simultaneous movements of a side kick and again the wave arm. Lastly all in unison we did the last arm roll down and roll back up to finish.
The variations we used went from different choreographic devices, adding in different transitions, using different levels to other formations. We chose to use these alterations as it added depth to the original phrase and made it more interesting to watch. The initial phrases consisted of the same kind of movements, lots of curved arms and only performed in one area in a small space. We then changed this around so that there was a kind of variation to the new phrase. It wasn't simply based off one arm movement or one single direction. It was changed up so that you weren't constantly watching one movement repeated, but a dance that had unexpected movements as well.
Task 1
Research the process of two choreographers
1) Moss Patterson
What is the starting point, stimulus or inspiration for their choreography?
The dance piece 'Kura' is about blood and the pulsing energy it creates through our bodies. Within the dance is the constant idea of a trio which stands for 'the past, the present and the future' and the elements of our heritage that are constantly within us.
How does the choreographer develop movement?
The dancers workshopped phrases off of different kowhaiwhai artworks that Moss would bring in to inspire them. There was a large use of levels and floor work, high supports and falling to the floor and rolling. Moss had created 2 main phrases and a few smaller sequences and then arranged them into a certain structure.
How do they communicate ideas through movement?
A large amount of his piece included curving motifs again showing the idea of carrying on, as does blood throughout our bodies.The choreography went through three main places: offstage, onstage, offstage. Again with the trio of past, present, future and the idea of the constant and ongoing flowing. Moss uses an idea through movements that include touching of the head and neck as they're vulnerable parts of the body and therefore portray trust.
What design decisions do they make?
Before Moss had begun choreographing he knew that he wanted to work with the colour red and that this would be the colour of the costumes, but they would also allow the dancers to move easily due to the type of movements. He also knew he wanted a music piece with a heavy beat resembling that of a pulse to go with the idea of pumping blood through the body. The music was by Pitch Black, an Auckland group.
Explain why you think one of the recognised choreographers works in the way you have described.
I think that Moss Patterson works in this way of choreography because it is a way he can bring through the maori heritage aspect with the use of kowhaiwhai as he is a maori choreographer. I feel that he does things like picturing what he intends the design factors to look like before he starts to choreograph, as it is an efficient way to produce a dance piece and will ensure what he creates will be based off his initial thoughts and visions.
2) Stephen Bradshaw
Describe the unique style of dance that this company performs.
The type of dance this company does is different to others as its unique and most likely hasn't been done that often. Bradshaw wanted it to look as if the dancers were coming out of the earth as a way to show connections to our natural world. In some parts the dancers are doing movements embodying a bird and showing the connection to the sky. This style is unique as throughout the performance, the dancers were pushed into taking on a form of an animal or a life force.
How does the choreographer describe maori dance?
Bradshaw nurtures maori dance which he sees as a never-ending whakapapa, always renewing itself and nourished by its past.
What things inspire the choreographer and give him ideas for his dances?
He finds most of his inspiration from emersing himself in all things maori. he looks at carvings, watches weavers and the patterns they create and looks at kowhaiwhai in meeting houses, fascinated by all the lines and patterns. He feels as though these are informing him of what the continuum dance may be trying to show.
How does Bradshaw's organisation help young choreographers?
The continuum maori dance has helped Steven get young choreographers works to performance level. They developed a process where a choreographer is selected to commissioned, they do a written concept and when that's agreed to they move onto a physical workshop to see if their idea is there yet. When the choreographer is finally clear about what they're doing, the organisation then funds for the rehearsal and performance process. This helps young choreographers to slow down and properly plan out what they want to achieve with choreography.
What does 'Mauri' mean for Bradshaw?
Mauri is translated as a life force. It relates to energy, to people and our relationship to the natural world. It involves our creation stories and the aspect of the earth.
How does the dance show a creation story?
Bradshaw wanted to present this continuum as if the dancers were coming out of the earth much like our creation stories so he used movements that resembled this idea.
How does the dance communicate the elements of nature?
The dancers are made to take on the characteristics of animals such as birds and others parts of nature such as being in the sky or being underwater. Bradshaw made sure that there were a lot of movements that would make the dancers appear as if they were coming from the ground.
How has Bradshaw used movements from a traditional haka?
Bradshaw looked at using haka movements but he knew that if he had performed it traditionally it wouldn't be anything new or unique therefore he altered it so that the dancers would perform the haka in slow motion instead.
How did Bradshaw use ideas related to weaving in the dance?
Bradshaw looked at the 3 plait method to see how he could use that in a way that would interact the dancers. He discovered ways to move the dancers around each other to create those lines and markings in space. It had to be in a way that it would be evident to the audience as to what the dancers pathways had created.
Things I learnt:
After watching the TED talk video about choreographic processes I learnt that when choreographing you only need a small stimulus such as the letters 'TED' to create a dance. I learnt that you can describe things using your body such as taking the mental image of your stimulus and using different body parts to show its size, shape etc. Mentally changing the shape and size of your stimulus can also help to add variation to your dance and help to create new movements that are able to be altered to strengthen the dance sequence.
Things I Found Interesting:
I thought that variety of abstract movements worked really well together and made for an interesting dance and therefore exciting to watch. I liked the duet and how the two dancers were constantly interlocked with each other and revolved around one another for the majority of the dance, it looked really different and imaginative.
Things I Would Be Interested In Exploring Myself:
I think it would be cool to try the different techniques for creating dances such as imagining something in your head and using that as your stimulus and changing the movements to match what you're imagining. I would be interested in using the 'Task Base Method' by creating a mental picture which enables dancers to choose the path in which they create their dance, which is similar to the previous technique but I think that trialling both would be a good learning experience.
How Would You Describe The Choreographers Process? :
I think that the choreographers process was quite different to anything else I'd seen before, it was unique but also created a different, abstract dance piece. I think it would be useful in future assessments and for other dance choreographers.
Task 7
Duet
After creating a small phrase to start off with we then chose the contrasting ideas of 'equality' and 'inequality' in which would be the basis for our two moments. As visible in the first photo, Naomi ( left), portrays the idea of inequality by the low level on her knees with her arms stretched out forward toward me, however still only using a small amount of space. Myself (right) with the high level in a straight up jump with both legs and arms extended outwards, also using a larger air space all adds to the same idea of inequality. This contrast is recognisable due to the difference in space that the two people occupy and the levels that are the opposite of the other.
On the other hand, the second photo represents the idea of equality, in contrast to the first idea of inequality. Myself on the left and Naomi on the right are both creating the same movement of a simple turn with one arm extended upwards and the other out to the side. We both are turning on the ball of one foot with the other in 90 degree angle pointing out to the back. This makes the contrast visible due to the fact that both people are at the same level and taking up the same amount of space which means there is no difference between the two. The initial phrase allowed us to take certain movements that represented the contrasts of 'equality' and 'inequality' to be captured into two different moments.
Task 4
Learn and vary a phrase
To vary this phrase we started off in a different formation than in the original one. We started off in a triangle shape going backwards from Lizzy at the point. We then took the repeated movement of a curved arm and changed it so that we were all linking arms with one another, this was performed in canon. The movement of two arms rolling down towards our feet and back up was then used in unison to transition outwards of our triangular formation. To get us to our next formation we took the wave arm to step into a straight horizontal line where we start our second curved arm movement done in canon. We then use the same arm roll to get down onto the ground where we added in a roll on the ground to then get us back up on our feet as we roll out. Next 3 of us and the other 2 of us used simultaneous movements of a side kick and again the wave arm. Lastly all in unison we did the last arm roll down and roll back up to finish.
The variations we used went from different choreographic devices, adding in different transitions, using different levels to other formations. We chose to use these alterations as it added depth to the original phrase and made it more interesting to watch. The initial phrases consisted of the same kind of movements, lots of curved arms and only performed in one area in a small space. We then changed this around so that there was a kind of variation to the new phrase. It wasn't simply based off one arm movement or one single direction. It was changed up so that you weren't constantly watching one movement repeated, but a dance that had unexpected movements as well.
Task 1
Research the process of two choreographers
1) Moss Patterson
What is the starting point, stimulus or inspiration for their choreography?The dance piece 'Kura' is about blood and the pulsing energy it creates through our bodies. Within the dance is the constant idea of a trio which stands for 'the past, the present and the future' and the elements of our heritage that are constantly within us.
How does the choreographer develop movement?
The dancers workshopped phrases off of different kowhaiwhai artworks that Moss would bring in to inspire them. There was a large use of levels and floor work, high supports and falling to the floor and rolling. Moss had created 2 main phrases and a few smaller sequences and then arranged them into a certain structure.
How do they communicate ideas through movement?
A large amount of his piece included curving motifs again showing the idea of carrying on, as does blood throughout our bodies.The choreography went through three main places: offstage, onstage, offstage. Again with the trio of past, present, future and the idea of the constant and ongoing flowing. Moss uses an idea through movements that include touching of the head and neck as they're vulnerable parts of the body and therefore portray trust.
What design decisions do they make?
Before Moss had begun choreographing he knew that he wanted to work with the colour red and that this would be the colour of the costumes, but they would also allow the dancers to move easily due to the type of movements. He also knew he wanted a music piece with a heavy beat resembling that of a pulse to go with the idea of pumping blood through the body. The music was by Pitch Black, an Auckland group.
Explain why you think one of the recognised choreographers works in the way you have described.
I think that Moss Patterson works in this way of choreography because it is a way he can bring through the maori heritage aspect with the use of kowhaiwhai as he is a maori choreographer. I feel that he does things like picturing what he intends the design factors to look like before he starts to choreograph, as it is an efficient way to produce a dance piece and will ensure what he creates will be based off his initial thoughts and visions.
2) Stephen Bradshaw
Describe the unique style of dance that this company performs.
The type of dance this company does is different to others as its unique and most likely hasn't been done that often. Bradshaw wanted it to look as if the dancers were coming out of the earth as a way to show connections to our natural world. In some parts the dancers are doing movements embodying a bird and showing the connection to the sky. This style is unique as throughout the performance, the dancers were pushed into taking on a form of an animal or a life force.
Bradshaw nurtures maori dance which he sees as a never-ending whakapapa, always renewing itself and nourished by its past.
What things inspire the choreographer and give him ideas for his dances?
He finds most of his inspiration from emersing himself in all things maori. he looks at carvings, watches weavers and the patterns they create and looks at kowhaiwhai in meeting houses, fascinated by all the lines and patterns. He feels as though these are informing him of what the continuum dance may be trying to show.
How does Bradshaw's organisation help young choreographers?
The continuum maori dance has helped Steven get young choreographers works to performance level. They developed a process where a choreographer is selected to commissioned, they do a written concept and when that's agreed to they move onto a physical workshop to see if their idea is there yet. When the choreographer is finally clear about what they're doing, the organisation then funds for the rehearsal and performance process. This helps young choreographers to slow down and properly plan out what they want to achieve with choreography.
What does 'Mauri' mean for Bradshaw?
Mauri is translated as a life force. It relates to energy, to people and our relationship to the natural world. It involves our creation stories and the aspect of the earth.
How does the dance show a creation story?
Bradshaw wanted to present this continuum as if the dancers were coming out of the earth much like our creation stories so he used movements that resembled this idea.
How does the dance communicate the elements of nature?
How has Bradshaw used movements from a traditional haka?
Bradshaw looked at using haka movements but he knew that if he had performed it traditionally it wouldn't be anything new or unique therefore he altered it so that the dancers would perform the haka in slow motion instead.
How did Bradshaw use ideas related to weaving in the dance?
Bradshaw looked at the 3 plait method to see how he could use that in a way that would interact the dancers. He discovered ways to move the dancers around each other to create those lines and markings in space. It had to be in a way that it would be evident to the audience as to what the dancers pathways had created.
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