aN EXPLORATION OF STORYTELLING THROUGH CHOREOGRAPHY
.REFLECTION/DOCUMENTATION:
My Fifth and Final Honors Experience was at first entitled “Up Past Midnight” to reference the song chosen for the original choreography concept. Since then, it has grown and changed more than any of my other learning experiences, but the title has (somewhat humorously) still retained relevance. Indeed, many sleepless or near-sleepless nights were passed brooding over this experience.
My initial plan was to choreograph a dance to a remix by Giorgio Moroder of Coldplay’s “Midnight.” The idea was to explore the effect of storytelling as a form of communication between people, which was inspired by the distinct way my extended family relates to one another – by relating stories. In my piece I wanted to develop my own choreographic voice and, to that end, did hours of research on dance styles I wanted to incorporate into the final work. After spending weeks agonizing and debating on the “perfect” choreography and setting it on a group of four other dancers, I presented my work at the faculty adjudication for the CCM dance department’s choreographer’s showcase. Unfortunately, I was not, and eventually abandoned the project outline in order to create something I could be proud of.
In this extended quest to create a worthy performance to disseminate, I went through a variety of other ideas and concepts, but lacked the ability, or perhaps the confidence to translate them into a choreographic piece. I had almost given up on the project entirely when I was assigned a project in my final semester of Choreography class. I needed to create a three to five-minute piece of work utilizing five dancers and karaoke music. When attempting to complete this project, I had a sudden realization: I hated my own choreography even as I attempted to create it. I had been so tortured by self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy for so long that I had begun to see anything I created as unworthy of creation itself.
It was then that I truly gave up. I gave up on trying to create a masterpiece, trying to perfectly convey a complex idea to my audience, on interpreting the music like a master. I just gave in to trying to express the deep pains I was experiencing at the time in the most familiar expression I have – movement. What resulted is probably the most honest piece of choreography I have created. It did not embody a narrative, or the concept of narratives themselves as my original project intended, but was instead focused on showing physically the exhaustion of sleepless nights, the gnawing pain of isolation, and the feeling of emptiness. In my final peer review of the choreography this emptiness was noticed as perfectly reflecting the missing lyrics of the song I had chosen: “The Beast” by Imogen Heap. In contrast to all the pain and doubt poured into the choreography, it is also the best thing I have created. It taught me something raw about the nature of connection between dance and emotion
ARTIFACTS:
PROCESS VIDEOS - PART 1
These are the progress of my initial choreography over the course of several weeks leading up to the adjudication by dance faculty. Along with the near indecipherable notes from my brainstorming/choreography journal, they comprise my ongoing reflection. The final video is the crystallization of my efforts originally outlined in my honors experience proposal and the initial inspiration for this experience.
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
A more in - depth look into the complexities of this final, extended learning experience.
My Fifth and Final Honors Experience was at first entitled “Up Past Midnight” to reference the song chosen for the original choreography concept. Since then, it has grown and changed more than any of my other learning experiences, but the title has (somewhat humorously) still retained relevance. Indeed, many sleepless or near-sleepless nights were passed brooding over this experience.
My initial plan was to choreograph a dance to a remix by Giorgio Moroder of Coldplay’s “Midnight.” The idea was to explore the effect of storytelling as a form of communication between people, which was inspired by the distinct way my extended family relates to one another – by relating stories. In my piece I wanted to develop my own choreographic voice and, to that end, did hours of research on dance styles I wanted to incorporate into the final work. After spending weeks agonizing and debating on the “perfect” choreography and setting it on a group of four other dancers, I presented my work at the faculty adjudication for the CCM dance department’s choreographer’s showcase. Unfortunately, I was not, and eventually abandoned the project outline in order to create something I could be proud of.
In this extended quest to create a worthy performance to disseminate, I went through a variety of other ideas and concepts, but lacked the ability, or perhaps the confidence to translate them into a choreographic piece. I had almost given up on the project entirely when I was assigned a project in my final semester of Choreography class. I needed to create a three to five-minute piece of work utilizing five dancers and karaoke music. When attempting to complete this project, I had a sudden realization: I hated my own choreography even as I attempted to create it. I had been so tortured by self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy for so long that I had begun to see anything I created as unworthy of creation itself.
It was then that I truly gave up. I gave up on trying to create a masterpiece, trying to perfectly convey a complex idea to my audience, on interpreting the music like a master. I just gave in to trying to express the deep pains I was experiencing at the time in the most familiar expression I have – movement. What resulted is probably the most honest piece of choreography I have created. It did not embody a narrative, or the concept of narratives themselves as my original project intended, but was instead focused on showing physically the exhaustion of sleepless nights, the gnawing pain of isolation, and the feeling of emptiness. In my final peer review of the choreography this emptiness was noticed as perfectly reflecting the missing lyrics of the song I had chosen: “The Beast” by Imogen Heap. In contrast to all the pain and doubt poured into the choreography, it is also the best thing I have created. It taught me something raw about the nature of connection between dance and emotion
ARTIFACTS:
PROCESS VIDEOS - PART 1
These are the progress of my initial choreography over the course of several weeks leading up to the adjudication by dance faculty. Along with the near indecipherable notes from my brainstorming/choreography journal, they comprise my ongoing reflection. The final video is the crystallization of my efforts originally outlined in my honors experience proposal and the initial inspiration for this experience.
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
A more in - depth look into the complexities of this final, extended learning experience.
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PROCESS VIDEO - PART 2 This is the final effort in the long process of this experience, although technically a video of rehearsal (hence the "process" categorization, the video was taken the night before performing it for an audience, and so is a fairly accurate presentation of the final performance quality of the choreography. |