Values

Values can be described with different meanings for a variety of people. Some people have very strong values of which develop into religion and way of life whereas others might have a more loose lifestyle based set of values of which they live their life by but do not do so with that as their intentions each day, it is just their personality and life choices and not something that is thought about with every decision but more of an instinct and subconscious effort.

Ways that 'values' can be described as and considered could be:

• Values and principles
• Standards of behavior
• What is important
• The worth of something
• Morals
• Beliefs someone might have
• Controls what you can and can not do
• Controls behavior
• Rules and restrictions
• Boundaries
• Way of life, lifestyle

In this concept of values comes a range of other things such as emotions, work, individuality, and more so it would be misconstrued of me to not consider all the aspects that go along with 'values' and that there is more to it than just that initial idea. In my research, I will broaden values to open up more exploration into what could be seen as similar or question what can be seen as a value, in whichever way it is thought of as, for example, a principle or standard of expectations.

Within dance, values become more specific in terms of the creative process, choreographers, dancers, techniques,  production elements, and other more areas. Within my research I aim to explore, looking at why they are this way, how do they change from one to the other, how does William Forsythe use values in comparison, how does ballet have values and how they are intertwined, how they are challenged, distorted and manipulated. How can these values discovered be used by myself as well as how can I determine which work within my work and which might I reject? Looking at William Forsythe and furthermore inspirations from Jiri Kylian and Crystal Pite. Crystal Pite coming from a classical ballet dancer,  going into contemporary and then choreography herself, how did her values shift and change within these different times. How in classical ballet can William Forsythe's techniques and values be seen within ballet and how has he recognised and amplified them?

• Space
• Time
• Gender roles
• Importance of clarity
• The body
• Equality, roles
• Expression
• Technique
• Creativity
• Restrictions
• Methods

These are values within dance that I find to be some of the most important, it is not to say that these are the only ones within dance as there are countless, however, these are the ones I find most relatable to me as a dancer and choreographer and my research within William Forsythe and Classical Ballet, with inspirations and other perspectives from Jiri Kylian and Crystal Pite.