#audance

[xoxo---kay-blog]

COMP III EXTRA CREDIT

I was asked to be in 2 comp III dances. One dance was choreographed by Jenna Winters and the other was choreographed by Mikayla Fields. 

Jenna’s piece was the first dance I was asked to be in. Her piece had a very contemporary/jazz feel to it. The choreography played a lot with the music which I really loved. I admired her use of musicality within the piece. The song had so many different beats and sounds and she used them all to her advantage. 

I really loved how Jenna taught, it is very similar to the way I like to teach choreography. She taught a few 8 counts and then would run the piece from the top. Then we would learn a little more and begin again. This was very helpful in learning the choreography. We only had 1.5 hours to learn the whole piece so this teaching style was really effective. 

One thing that Jenna executed very well was her uses of ripples and cannons. This was really effective in both making the choreography easier to read but it also flowed very well with the music. Jenna said her inspiration came from perseverance and the ocean. I did not know this until after we had performed for their final but once I learned this it made a lot of sense. The ripples in choreography made it look and feel like the ocean crashing on the shore. 

I really enjoyed working with Jenna for this. I am glad to have gotten the opportunity to dance her choreography and hope to work with her again in the future. 

Mikayla’s piece took a different take on the same song. Her piece worked again with ripples but not as many. She played more with using the same phrase in different timings which was very interesting. 

One example of this was that she had an arm and hand gesture that was repeated a few times throughout the piece. We did this phrase at different tempos that were determined by the music and as a dancer I know this was interesting for me so I am sure that it was more also interesting to see from an audience perspective. 

Mikayla taught at a more fast-paced tempo. She taught larger chunks of choreography that we would review and then would teach more to then piece them together. I also enjoyed this way of learning choreography. I feel like this was effective but it was a little overwhelming. I was able to keep up with her but I had to ask more questions that I was expecting to because it was faster paced. 

Overall this was a really great experience. I loved getting to work with both girls. Their styles are so different in both choreography and teaching styles. I feel like working with Jenna was better for me and the way that I like to move. Jenna and I seemed to click more with the style of choreography and how I was picking up her choreography whereas with Mikayla I was struggling more than I thought I would have. 

I am honored to have had this opportunity to work with both of these girls and hope to work with them more in the future whether it’s here at AU or in the professional world!

[xoxo---kay-blog]

This is my final piece titled “Keep or Let Go?”

For me finishing this piece was quite the struggle. As I said in a previous post, the last in class work day was the day that I found out Justice had died so I hit a bit of a road block.

Unfortunately almost every time I ran this piece my times were different. Some runs I could do perfectly fine and during others I would just break down and begin to cry which lead to me slow down or rush a lot. I feel that had I been more emotionally stable today this piece could have been cleaner and more clear but that was not the case. I am still happy with and proud of this work I created despite these things though.

Some feed back that I received on this piece was...

The heart beat section was impactful because of the commitment to the small chest movement - Taylor

The floor rolling section was nice. It created a nice change in level and timing of the piece. - Prof. Bain

My use of different levels was effective and visually appealing. - Makalah

The heart beats kept people present enough to keep watching but ready for what was to happen next. - Madi

Repetition of certain movements throughout the piece made it feel connected as a whole. - Madi

In this piece I was successful in using my whole body rather than focusing on a single shape or focus point. - Prof. Bain

Some questions that I had and their responses were...

Was the repetition of the heart beat too much or too long?

The number of repeats was good. Had there been more the effect would have been lost.

Prof. Bain also said she believed the number was fine but wished that the last one would have had a little more thrust and power behind it to push the next movement.

Was the keep or let go hand gesture effective? Were there too many repeats of this?

Everyone said that this was really effective. Some said it made them feel like I was really running to try to grab or save something.

Prof. Bain agreed with this as well but also brought up the point of my facing. During the whole piece I chose to specifically work on the upstage right to downstage left diagonal with some other pathways as well. As soon as I switched to the other diagonal it took away slightly because the 1st diagonal was so important.

I never thought of this until I was actually performing it. As soon as I took that first step on the opposite step I knew i should not have, I just wasn’t thinking through completely.

Overall I think my final piece was a big success. I feel that again, had I been a little more stable this would have gone better and felt better in my body. Although, I do believe that it’s also a blessing that it wasn’t. Because I am struggling with something I think that my ability to use those emotions to help fuel my dance are helpful. Yes my dance may have been cleaner had I not been upset but I feel that with the meaning behind my dance the fact that I’m in a hardship made it more real.

Throughout this semester I have grown a lot in who I am beginning to be as a choreographer and dancer. I feel very set with the basic foundations of choreography and I am excited to see where these composition classes take me in the future. I a excited to see how I begin to find my way/my style.

[xoxo---kay-blog]

Final Piece Show Day 12/7

Today was our last comp I class where the second half of final pieces were shown. I was not in class on the first day because I was home for a family emergency but today I was able to see Adeline, Ashlee, Makalah and Kayonna’s final pieces!

Adeline’s piece was titled “Who is She?” and I really enjoyed it. One moment that I really loved was her beginning. She entered with backwards walks and a small gesture phrase using her arms, hands and head. My favorite part about this was that at times while doing this movement her eyes would close. I am not sure if that was intentional or not but I really loved seeing it because to me it made the movement feel more natural and that she was really connected with it. Another things that I loved was she would repeat that same gesture throughout the piece. I feel it was an effective use of repetition.

Makalah’s Piece was titled “Just Hold On.” and I was in love with this work of hers. What I love so much about watching Makalah is that she is always so convicted and confident in her movement. Her beginning walks were so powerful because of the way she held her upper body. Makalah’s level changes were also very successful in the sense that some of them caught your attention because they were quick and drastic where some were slower and you didn’t realize her levels were changing which was also really nice to see. I think with her level changes she did a great job at exploring level changes in different timings.

Ashlee’s piece was titled “Growth At It’s Finest.” Immediately I was expecting to see some similar things because in the past she did 1 or 2 studies about growth. I was really excited to see how she would use this “motif” if you will again. Ashlee was very successful in making her shapes both organic and angular in a way that transitioned very smoothly. None of her shape changes took away because they were switching from angular to organic, it flowed very smoothly.  As expected she did one similar phrase in this piece that she had used in the past. What I loved about this was that she took the same phrase yet transposed it to work with the movement quality she had in this new piece. I loved that she took something from the past and was able to develop it more, I think that is a great habit to get into the habit of as a young choreographer.

Kayonna’s piece was titles “A Way Out.” I absolutely loved the runs she had in her piece. At the beginning they were more like regular runs just done at a slow tempo, then they turned into a medium tempo triplet later in the piece, then towards the end they became a fast tempo triplet. I feel like this was a successful use of time and tempo changes. Another moment I absolutely loved was  one of her floor movements. She was sitting on the side of her hip swinging her right leg. I was expecting her to swing to a stand or swing to a roll but she swung to a shoulder stand. I was very impressed by how stable she was in this shape, especially when she lifted her leg to create a new shape within her shape. I really loved this moment and felt that it really was a great choice.

Today was such a great day. I feel like in all of the piece I got to see as well as the others I am sure that there was so much growth from the beginning of the semester to now. Not only did we grow as choreographers but I also feel that this class helped us to understand a little more who we all are as dancers. I’m really glad that Composition is offered as a course here at AU and I am really excited to see how we continue to grow throughout our time here.

[xoxo---kay-blog]

Creation Process Day 2 11/30

Today was the second day of our creation process and I will admit it was extremely difficult.

This morning I got a phone call probably about 15 minutes before class had started that my cousin, Justice, had committed suicide and was no longer with us. This really put my life on pause. I didn’t know what to think or say. All I could do was cry and when I wasn’t crying I just felt completely numb.

Then class began and we were to just use the time to create. I put my headphones in on shuffle to distract my mind and I kept working. I got some things added on by then a song called “Double Heart” by Penny and Sparrow came on.

This was a song that I had heard many times during my 1st creation day just because I love it so much. I guess I was choreographing to it without realizing because my piece was flowing very nicely with this song.

A little background information on this song is...

“Some love affairs start out sprinting," the band tells Relix. "Like clothes left on the shore and jumping off cliffs to swim.  Others are built out of countless talks and slow hands. Either way, if you ever get around to picking somebody for the long haul, you're gonna hit differences. Little or massive ways that the two of you are oil and water. incompatible. What happens when you won't budge? And they won't either? But you can't imagine kissing another face?  This song is about those questions.”

This was taken offline from an interview with Penny and Sparrow. It’s clear to see that it’s a love song that is talking about a bit of a struggle between what the heart wants and what the heart needs and how the relationship will progress.

This is something I have been struggling a lot with lately. To be completely vulnerable here this song usually makes me very emotional. I was introduced to this song by my best friend Cameron, who actually used to be my boyfriend. We dated for 3 years in high school and he was absolutely my first love and someone who i will always love and always have a place in my heart.

All summer long we knew that our relationship was coming to an end and not because we were fighting or not in love anymore, we very much were, we just both knew that had we gone another year of long distance with both of us in college now the distance and stress of school would come out and end our relationship on a bad note. Not to mention we both felt God calling us to different things that meant focusing on Him and our relationship with Him rather than our dating relationship. 

To this day we still talk all the time and he is still my best friend. Cameron was one of the first people I told about Justice and has been by my side every step of the way thus far.

The point of that was that it almost felt like God slapping me in the face. I was trying to distract myself from the pain of losing Justice with dance and music that in the midst of that distraction another thing I was trying to hide away was brought back up. 

I’ve gotten into this habit of attempting to push all my emotions down when things hurt to the point where I think no one can understand or help when in actuality God’s arms are still open as wide as they were in the good times.

At the end of this class I had completed my piece and used the things I had just experienced to help me finish out my piece.

If you’re ever listening to the song there is a section that says “Keep or let go? It’s worth it.” many times over and over. This is seen very clearly in my piece towards the end. I make the decision to just let go of my life and give it up to God and stop trying to micromanage everything.

I’ve realized through this choreography process how the things happening in your life can affect your dancing. In my piece I hope that people can see the reflection on things of the past and how sometimes the best thing to do is to let go rather than holding on and turning what could have been a more positive ending into a negative one.

[xoxo---kay-blog]

Creation Process Day 1 11/28

Today was the first day of our creation process. Prof. Bain gave us the whole class time to create and work through movement.

I began the work day by looking over my notes and seeing the things that I wanted to focus on. I found that I wanted to focus on space and energy the most.

Space

Levels

Floor Patterns

Pathway

Stage Space

Facing

Energy

Active

Passive

Force

Dynamics

Movement Quality

Percussive Movement

Sustained Movement

Of these different elements of space and energy I really wanted to focus in on all the elements of space and mainly movement quality and percussive/sustained movement for energy.

After deciding upon these few things I began to create. I had a few movement phrases in my head that I had either used in “Distractions.” or things that I had come up with during one of my infamous late night improv jams.

From these movement phrase came about 10 seconds of a piece then I got a little stuck. The hardest thing about this course for me is that we are unable to choreograph to music. The reason why I struggle so much with this is that I absolutely hate silence, because of this I decided to put my head phones in with the volume low as some background noise. I have found that in every situation I am always more focused when there is something small happening around me.

For instance as I am sitting in my room right now typing out this post I opened my window so that I can hear the cars driving by and all the noises that are outside. For some reason I am one of those odd people that needs a distraction to work better. This is extremely ironic considering that I chose to rework “Distractions.” because of the negative effect that it was taking on me.

The real learning experience from this small revelation is that when I use small distractions I work harder and better BUT when I try to distract myself from something, whether that be an event or emotion, is when things begin to go downhill.

After the class was over I had about 1 min to 1:30 of choreography done which was pretty successful in my opinion. I got a lot more accomplished after plugging in my headphones for that background nose.

[xoxo---kay-blog]

Work Day 11/21

Today was our first work day for our final study of the semester. Prof. Bain gave us the class to look through old videos and notes to begin the process of creating our final work of the semester.

Our requirements for the day were to pick an old study that would be our “inspiration” and then determine why we chose it, how we will make it different and we were to pick 1-2 of the 5 topics we’ve learned about to really emphasize.

For my final piece I decided that two things I really wanted to work on were time and energy. I choose my favorite things study to work off of. This was the very first study we ever created.

I chose “Distractions” for  a couple of reasons.

This is the first study so to me it’s almost fitting to do it as my final study. It will allow me to take where I started and show how I’ve grown.

This is my favorite way to move. I feel like taking my favorite things and using the techniques and tools I’ve learned throughout the year will really help me to begin to find my voice as a choreographer.

I’ve spent so much time here at AU either intentionally or unintentionally distracting myself from not only my problems but also the positive things that are happening. I’ve been running and hiding rather than embracing this change in season and it’s time for it to stop. I feel that creating this piece will really help me to face these hardships and stop letting the distractions prevent me from living fully.

[xoxo---kay-blog]

Forming Notes  11/16

Today was a continuation of our forming notes.

      Compositional Structures VS. Choreographic Devices 

Compositional Structures:

Frameworks or structures

Sequential patterns

Determine overall structure of an entire dance piece

Choreographic Device:

Ways of developing chunks of movement

Original materials manipulated or amplified

these we’ve already done on shape, time, space and energy

more of this is done in comp III

Developing and filling out movement seeds

Both:

Operate independently

Do not exist is a set order of priority

                                                     AB Form 

Theme & Contrasting theme

Some unity important

Transitions between

Abrupt change

Slow change - smooth/calm

AAAaaaabbbbBB

Locomotors

Bath and forth until you and on B

ABABABABBB

                                                    Opposites

Water-Fire               Summer-Winter

Good-Bad               Fall-Spring

Happy-Sad             Thirsty-Quenched

Up-Down                Hungry-Full

Left-Right                Open-Shut

Asleep-Awake         Angry-Calm

Smooth-Jagged

                                                     ABA Form

Extension of AB

Go back to A exactly

ABA’

Modified A

Manipulation of A

For our in class activity we were to pick one set of opposites and create a quick phrase using those opposites and a transition. We did this and split into small groups so that everyone could try to show today.

The people in my group who gave me feedback were Caitlyn, Adeline and Ashlee. For my quick study I decided to use water/fire and the back and forth transition. I began with a very flowing, spiraling movement and then began to add some more percussive movement to resemble the fire. I would switch between the spiraling and percussive arm movements for about 3 rotations and then I went to all percussive representing the sparks and popping that fire has.

One comment that they had was that because my movement were somewhat similar the back and forth transition was lost

to help this Prof. Bain suggested either making the two movement qualities more extreme or to use a different type of transition

I really liked the idea of the back and forth transition with the opposites that I chose to make the two movement qualities more drastic and different. After this my transition was really clear.

This exercise was really interesting because it really made me think about the way I move. What I thought was drastically different movement qualities was not reading that way to my audience. From this feedback I realized the importance it is to showcase choreography with peers. You may think your piece is portraying exactly as it should but having an outside point of view will really prove if that is actually happening or not.

[xoxo---kay-blog]

Forming Notes 11/14

Today we started taking notes on forming when it comes to choreography and had a discussion for semester reminders at the end of class. 

Form’s Natural Existence

Beginning/Middle/End ----- birth, life, death

Idea of Climax -------------- volcano

ABA ------------------------- day, night, day

Theme & Variation ---------- 4 seasons occurring each year

Unity/Variety/Contrast ------ human race

Form

can carry the message OR be the message

grows with or supports the idea

medium, message and format contribute and compliment each other 

Forming has 2 Functions

Process of developing material

Process of giving it a structure

                                                   Transitions

Can be...

Between individual moments

Between phrases

Between major sections of a dance

                                                   Sequences

Single Movements

Short and Long Phrases

Sequences and Sections

Full complete piece

***Which order gives the smaller units, when joined together, a united and total shape as a larger whole?***

This notes day was interesting to me. I’m excited to learn more about how to now take different studies and pull them together to make one large piece through forming, shape, time etc. We also discussed how our final study will be a full 3 minute piece that we choreograph. The inspiration for this study will be pulled from one of our shorter studies and we will then build off of that to create this final piece for the semester.