Kara Titus

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

12/4 AND 12/6

For me, this class was a bit of a rough start at the beginning of the semester. It was tough for me to begin choreographing when I haven’t had a lot of experience with it. It was also a challenge for me to keep adding in new movements because I have a habit of sticking to what I’m comfortable with. Throughout the semester however, the creative side of me began taking more control, which helped with these out-of-the-box assignments. By the end of the semester this week I realized that certain habits are okay, but they have to add to the story and the overall quality of the piece in order to be incorporated.

Certain studies were easier than others. One study that seemed rather easy was the shape study we did. One that was pretty hard for me was the pathway space study. I felt very limited during that piece, and I felt like it definitely wasn’t my best work.

Overall, I learned to enjoy the class and everything I was able to learn a lot through each study. It was interesting to learn these things such as shape, space, time, energy, forming, and even the quality of the movements. It has helped me to grow as a choreographer and how I make decisions about movements for my pieces.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

11/27 AND 11/29

For this final study I wanted to focus more on space. I selected this study because while I watched my previous studies I realized that many of my pieces didn’t include a lot of traveling/pathways. I wanted to focus a lot on larger movements and the idea of taking up a lot of space, while also portraying the feeling of power and a strong will.

I used my previous study of space as inspiration for this piece. I was rewatching my previous studies and while I was watching this one I realized that the energy and space I used wasn’t to the best of my abilities. While we were challenged to use different levels in our movements and traveling steps, I think I could’ve done more with this study. That’s why I decided to take this study, completely scratch the movements and start over.

While I was creating this piece, the challenge of cohesion was getting to me. I wanted to make sure each movement flowed together,but something just felt off. I always have trouble finding what makes my pieces cohesive and work together. I also had a hard time looking at the entire piece rather than each specific movement on its own.

How I create each piece changes every time I begin choreographing. With this piece I just started moving, improving, and experimenting with different movements and how they fit not only together but also with the overall theme of my piece. I still decided to incorporate a couple movements from my previous space study, while also using movements from other studies too.I wanted my piece to be a story about breaking away from someone controlling and discovering oneself. I think the shapes and energy in my piece show this with a mix of angular and organic shapes on a large scale. The energy, I think, is very high and strong. I think the piece gives off a powerful emotion because of these qualities in the movements.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

11-13-18 Energy cont.

• Movement qualities are used to discuss and define movement

- How movement is initiated, not the speed it occurs

- Not the amount of energy, but HOW it’s expended

- examples: sharp, smooth, toss, limp, bouncy, flick, clunk, growing

• Percussive energy

- The nature of being detached

- sharp start and stop

- sudden and abrupt

- examples: flick or thrown

• Sustained energy

- The nature of being smooth

- flowing or drawn out

- examples: melty or gooey

1. Percussive - fast - high energy

2. Percussive - fast - low energy

3. Percussive - slow - high energy

4. Percussive - slow - low energy

5. Sustained - slow - high energy

6. Sustained - slow - low energy

7. Sustained - fast - high energy

8. Sustained - fast - low energy

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

11-8-18

• He walked through the door over to bench and lightly sat down on the bench

• He sits slightly hunched over with a focused look trying to untangle his headphones

• He looks straight ahead and crosses his feet at the ankles

• His friend comes over and sits next to him but neither of them say a word to the other

• More people join them but he simply sits there with his headphones in staring at his phone

• Starts bobbing head to music or whatever is going through his headphones

• Continues texting

• Stands, picks up backpack, walks into chapel

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

11-6-18 Energy

• Energy, force, dynamics, movement quality

• Energy is what provides the “go” power in a piece

• Energy -> potential for force

- Capacity for action

- For overcoming resistance or gravity

- The moment energy is expended by any degree by or on a mass (body), it becomes force and produces movement.

- Energy is either active, employing force, or passive, foregoing energy potential

• Force -> magnitude or intensity of energy

- exerted, expended, released

- strong <--------> gentle

• Dynamics -> interaction of force and time

-In order for movements to stand out in a piece, you need to be specific about what you want as the choreographer

- How much energy is each dancer or body using?

ex) Frappés are fast with a lot of energy

• Movement Qualities

- Distinctly discernible attributes

- Made manifest in movement

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

NOV 1 CLASS

1)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ULKKJ5UpI  The Suite composed by John Lunn

I absolutely love this song. There’s so many different parts to it where it’s fast and upbeat, but then slows down to a soft tone. With all the different background instruments and music as a whole it makes me want to start improving. Throughout the song it continually builds up and then slows down, which I think is what keeps me so interested because it provides variety.

2)  One quote that I have always loved and that always seems to inspire me is “I am overflowing with words I do not have” - unknown. This quote always seems to inspire me because dancing is my way of showing my emotions. I have something to say, but putting it into words is always hard for me. When I think about this quote the movement I see in my head is always different. Right now I picture lots of reaching and struggling movements along with high levels to low levels.

3)  

4)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_y3xXFHzSc&list=WL&index=46&t=0s

This video never fails to give me chills. The movement with the song really speaks to me. The dancer portrays the emotions of the piece beautifully. The movements all seem to flow very well together and it adds to the softness and simplicity of the piece.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-30-18

https://vimeo.com/user91437941/review/299245728/44144a8aa9

For this study we had to create a 30 second piece. Then we had to take that piece and covert it into 15 seconds and 1 minute pieces. It was challenging for me to lengthen the original piece into a full 1 minute study. It was interesting to challenge myself and see what I could do with the same movement without crossing the line into repetitive and tiring. Condensing the movement into 15 seconds was also interesting to try because I had to move fast and cut out the stillness and slower movements.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-25-18

This is the quote I used as inspiration for my time piece. Today we had more of a work day. We focused on choreographing for our time studies. While working on this study I tried to focus on the idea of running out of time and reaching for more time and being unsuccessful.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-23-18 Time Study

• Tempo - the speed of the beat

- The tempo itself can determine the attitude/movement of the dancer and vice versa.

- rapid->rush/urgency

- quickness->to dazzle/entertain

- slow->indulge, caring, fatigue, pain, sadness

• Momentum - implicit affinity for energy

- You, the dancer, can create the energy rather than the music

- How can you create intensity by building the momentum

- Momentum can decrease, slow down but also suggest weakening, and as the choreographer you need to think of ending tempo.

• Duration - length of movement determined by how long it takes to do it

- Range of duration is determined by specific movement and what our bodies can do

- The relationship of movement to the beat

- How many beats at a given tempo the movement takes

• Clock time

- Can feel restrictive in life

- In dance it gives freedom in the duration

- How does the choreography make the audience feel?

• Regular/irregular

- Regular use of time feels comforting, supportive or can feel deadening and monotonous

- Without changes in tempo or level, a piece is bland

- Irregular use of time feels unpredictable, nothing to lean back on, be difficult to teach, preform, and record.

- Makes it difficult to anticipate but can also be entertaining and fun.

- Mixing regular and irregular uses of time in your choreography can keep the audience interested and make creating the piece

• Accent - emphasis or stress

- Accent creates the idea of impulse or beginning place

- Where the accent falls regularly feels like the start

- When accent occurs periodically, interval meters are produced

- how can accents stand out rather than becoming a routine or pattern?

• Meter - the grouping of beats around an accent

- Establishes regularity in timing

- Can be a constant to play off of or a contrast against

• Stillness

- If time is flow it also contains its opposite; stillness

- Holding, savoring the present

- Stillness; a moment tattooed 

- Relief or suspense

- If you can learn to be still, you can move your audience

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-16-18 & 10-18-18

Comparing this work and my previous study before the revisions, I’d have to say that I personally like this study (study B) better. Study A had movements that felt like parts of other pieces, whereas study B feels a bit more cohesive and fluid.

Likes: 

• More fluid movements

• Movement portrayed the story better

• Less ballet movements and more modern/contemporary motions

• Sharp anger movement out of soft beginning pose

• Change from chenés turns to run was a much better locomotor

Dislikes:

• Arabesque seemed like an odd pause

• Transition down to knees could’ve been smoother

• Chené turns need to be faster in order to hit that pose at the end

• Movements into ending pose felt out of place

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-10-18  Weakness

For this study professor Bain gave each of us a specific photo with an outline or shape that we had to try and incorporate for our pathway. The shape I had was an outline of a flower. After showing our studies, we split into groups and gave feedback for each of the people in our group. The constructive criticism I received was to use a variety of locomotors and transition moves rather than just chainés. Again, this study was challenging for me because we had to focus on our pathways while also telling a story. I had a hard time combining the two rather than just focusing on the storytelling portion of the assignment.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-9-18

Today in class we explored different pathways and how our pathways can effect  our choreography. Professor Bain had us take a pen and randomly draw a line on a piece of paper for a second. We then had to take that line and use it as our pathway. It was really challenging for me because when I choreograph i don’t think about a specific pathway to use. Doing this little project made me step out of my normal choreographing routine. It forced me to focus on the pathway, transitions, and locomotors instead of just the movements and story behind it. Overall it was a good experiment, but I don’t think I’ll be using this method very often in the future.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-4-18 Space cont.

• Floor Pattern & Pathway                                                                                    - use the full stage                                                                                                  - circle -> never-ending, unity                                                                                - spiral -> hypnotic                                                                                                 - geometric -> lines, angles, sharp

• Direction                                                                                                               - retreat -> backwards                                                                                            - chase -> forward                                                                                                  - jump -> up, fall -> down                                                                                      - sneaky/shifty -> sideways                                                                                    - authority -> forward, toward audience, sense of power

• Stage Space                                                                                                         - front vs back (downstage vs upstage)                                                                 - greater significance, demands attention -> moving downstage                          - scenes of intimacy ->  D.S.L, unimportant -> U.S.L                                            - “seems” smaller -> U.S, larger -> D.S                                                                 - sense of present, in the moment -> C.S                                                              - closeness, immediate “here and now” -> D.S.C

• Diagonals                                                                                                             - modern -> U.S.R ---> D.S.L                                                                                 - ballet -> U.S.L ----> D.S.R

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

10-2-18

For our class on Tuesday, other people finished showing their works and we all gave feedback. Our professor then let us out of class 40 minutes early and told us to use this time for ourself. I used the extra time to take a nice, long shower because that’s like my alone time. Having those extra 40 minutes helped me to to think about a few things and figure them out

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

9-27-18

So for this study it was a continuation of the previous study we did in the week. We were challenged to use a a peer’s levels in our choreography rather than the original levels we chose. It was a bit challenging to figure out how to incorporate the same choreography on different levels. The more challenging part of this for me, was figuring out how to convert an over the shoulder roll on the floor to something similar on a higher level.

Overall, this study was challenging, but it’s helped me grow and learn how to use all of the space around me along with different levels, movements, locomotives, and shapes.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

9-25-18

For this study we were challenged to explore different levels in our choreography. 1 low, 1 middle, 1 high, and 1 choice level of traveling was required along with 1 low, 1 middle, 1 high, and 1 choice level of shapes.

It took me a little bit to figure out where to start with this piece. The last study we did was inspired by a specific picture which gave me a general idea of what level and shape to begin with. Whereas, this study was a bit more challenging in where to find the inspiration for it.

[dancingjellyfishus-blog]

9-20-18 Space

• LEVEL:

- low: earthiness, groundedness, feeling of gravity

examples: crouching, sitting, kneeling, lying/rooted low

- middle: facilitates “goingness”, transition

examples: demi plié, standing, traveling, relevé

- high: defying gravity, effortlessness, elevation/flying

examples: jumps, leaps, unnatural (cables, scaffolding, partners)

• FACING:

Orientation of the body in relation tot he movement and involves more than just the face).

- Think about whether a movement or shape is more effective from the front, side, back, diagonal, down, and up.

- Think about the direction you’re traveling.

Locomotives:

walk, run, roll, glissade, chaines, piques, jetes, inch, long roll, somersault, cartwheel, tiptoe, baurree, jazz walk, monkey crawl, grapevine, march, chasse, slide, leap, waltz, prance, crawl, gallop, skip, bear crawl, hop, scoot, flip, jog, lunge, chug, rond de jambe, (any of these backwards).