duo/trio programme note based on shadows as if we hadn’t had enough already
if I ever watch schindlers list I won’t be able to not think of this and it will ruin my experience
GCSE Dance Programme Note
Duo /Trio
Name: Lily Taylor Candidate Number: xxxx
Centre Name: nopeity nope Centre Number: xxxxx
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Title of Dance: Shadows
Title of Accompaniment: Theme from Schindlers List
Composer: John Williams
Running Time: 3 minutes and 35 seconds
Names of Dancers: A person, a nother person and meeee
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The main idea or theme was to produce a duo / trio to the theme from Schindlers’ list composed by John Willliams and inspired by the subject matter of ‘Shadows’ choreographed by Christopher Bruce. The contemporary trio portrays ‘a family waiting for a knock on the door, because they are going to be on the next train and if not the train after on a way to a concentration camp.’ The trio explores the concept and meaning of a family unit, inspired by portrait photographs of families who travelled to Auschwitz: these structure and form the choreography through still salient positions and tableaux and the idea of leaving and parting is explored as a foreshadowing of the inevitable future.
The trio is sectioned into 5 parts and we incorporated Flux and Shift specifically into parts 3 and 4. Part three consists primarily of our development of Flux as we have integrated the handstand with one leg bent and we also used the many extended arms in Scoop as a basis for our choreography throughout the piece as primarily it is about a family being torn apart and the extended arms help perpetuate a sense of longing.
Our dance follows the narrative of a family that could be torn apart at any given moment but the parents maintain a convincing façade for the child to remain innocent and free of the perils of war. One of the first key sections in our dance is in section one when we have just intertwined ourselves around each other then we morph into a pulsing picture of the parents and their child suggesting that the child is the heart of the family. A specific highlight is at the transition between sections 4 and 5 when the child runs towards the mother, who catches her with help from the father from behind and they lay her down gently on the floor. They then proceed to perform a very short contact duet behind the child where she cannot see, suggesting that they have to stay strong for the child however behind closed doors, they look to each other for support.
