Workshop Six

Workshop Six:

Aim: 

Value:

Outcome: I had been asking myself a question during this workshop as to whether there is value in having meaning and intention imbued in all choreography or dancing, specifically contemporary. It is something I question often and throughout the contemporary dance world, this has become something of a touchy subject. Some of the greatest choreographers can create beautiful work without having to have a deep and embedded meaning behind their work whereas others such as Crystal Pite find it necessary to work in this way as to connote to the audience why she has created these pieces and what drives her. Forsythe does follow this same principle and sees the importance of having intentions and clarity of intentions to be able to convey to the dancers the ideas, the movement and giving them something to go off but he does reject the idea ton occasions that there must be something bigger other than the movement itself, but you can create, dance, improvise and work in the way you want to without this greater meaning behind it, as long as there are clear direction and intention of what it is you're doing.

On reflection, the way I chose to go about this workshop was to have the first session, the first video, the duet, to be about movement without giving the dancers any meaning as to why that was the movement and how or what they should express whilst doing it. And then alternatively I chose to have the next session of this workshop creating some movement with the dancers and giving them the style, quality, and dynamic they should portray and what atmosphere I wanted them to give off during this because of the meaning behind that movement.

The meaning behind this section was to be intimidating and to entice the audience. I had worked with them to decide and explain what this should connote to an audience and what my intentions for this were, to be three strong dancers on stage, drawing the audience in as this would be the start of the piece. With their long slow walks forward conveying control and confidence, as though they know that they are being watched and want the audience to see them, it can come across almost seductively. The material continues on into more movement which still holds the same energy and strength; this to me conveys their power, and with it being three females it could possibly connote something greater within this such as, feminism, without that being the initial intention.

After trying both ways of creating material I have found it difficult to come to a conclusion on which approach works better for me, on the one hand, I enjoy having the freedom of creating without having to overthink every decision, as long as I was giving clarity to my dancers in the quality and dynamic for them to perform with. Whereas with the second session with the three girls I felt something powerful after standing in front of them and seeing them all move as one and then breaking out of that into the individual choreography, so by having and giving them the meaning that I wanted within this phrase, and task, I can see how this is helpful and can be very effective within contemporary dance, therefore, could be something I use more often within my own work.