Before
I started Swedish Ballet School when I was ten years old I was interested in
choreographing. I always made up some silly dance routinces for my sister and I
and had shows to my family. So when I started in a professional dance school
the interest in choreographing continued to grow. After my dance career I would
love to work as a choreographer so I thought this is the perfect opportunity to
research and learn more about it through the degree.
My
inquiry will be about Choreography.
I want to find out and research about:
-
The different
process techniques
-
What kind of
choreographers is there?
-
What did they
do before choreographing?
-
Is there more
successfully choreographers that are men than women?
-
If that is
the case, why?
-
The
difference how to choreograph depending on the dance style
-
Different
opinions – What does people like to see?
As a full member of Chrysalis London I learn a lot of different choreography
almost every week. In spring we have shows coming up and that means rehearsing
what we already know and also learn new pieces. Most of our pieces is
choreographed by our director Jodie
Blemings. However, I know that some people in our company is going to make
and create new pieces on us in the next couple of weeks so I will take that as
an opportunity to compare and see how different they all are as a
choreographer.
Aswell as interviewing and talking to my director and
the people in my company I would also want to know more about the bigger names
in the choreography world as like Merce
Cunningham, Wayne Mcgregor (because he was not a dancer before he became a
choreographer), Matthew Bourne etc.
There is a lot of different styles of dance aswell as
there is a lot of different ways to choreograph. Sometimes it depends on what
style you choreograph in but also what kind of person you are as a
choreographer. Contemporary dance is what we do in Chrysalis so that will be the main dance style that I will study
and learn more about but also jazz/musical theatre and commercial dance. I want
to figure out who I am as a choreographer and not just as a dancer. I know that
I am very expressive and emotional with my dancing and I want to find out if I
am the same when I choreograph or maybe completely different.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI share your interest in choreography and studied Merce Cunningham at school. The work is fascinating and so influential to dance as we know it now.
Matthew Bourne is one of my favourite choreographers.i love his innovative and 'outside of the box' thinking on classic stories and works. My favourite is Edward scissor hands. Have you seen it? With him there is so much to research as he spends a lot of the time studying real life and pedestrians, to adapt in choreography.
Who else inspires you and what is it that provokes emotion in terms of choreography and dance?
Hey Ami!
DeleteThank you for your comment.
I am very excited to do a research on Merce Cunningham as I know what a big influent he has been to the dance industry.
So happy to hear that you feel the same way about Matthew Bourne! I think it is very interested how he can completely change the choreography and re-tell an original ballet story without losing its concept. Edward scissor hands is one of the very few that I unfortunately haven't seen yet! I have heard so many great things about it tho. Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake are my favourites. Have you seen them?
Drew Mconie is a choreographer that inspires me alot. His work is similar to Matthew Bourne's because he was a member of New Adventure and Bourne is Drew's mentor now. Do you know who that is? He is very versatility and diversity because he don't just choreograph in one partically style. He mix the musical theatre dance with contemporary/ballet together and I love that. Every single time I have seen anything choreographed by him I always feel like I just wanna be up there dancing with them because it is always so much energy in his productions.
I think the key to emotion is if you can relate to the feelings you are doing. Like a trigger in someones mind that reminds them of something. If you are in the audience and you feel like you can relate to whatever happens on stage and get emotional then the dancers and choreographer done their job. If you don't agree then please let me know what your thoughts about it is as I'm very interested to hear!
Hi Nicole,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like we have similarities in both or research.
In my opinion, the really interesting thing about Merce Cunningham is not just the dancing but the theory of it if that makes sense. He would use a computer software that he designed to create movements (really ahead in the era of technology) and also used the concept of incidental dancing meaning that there was no real counts and only internal rhythm so the dancers would have to rely on improvisation to actually joint the choreography together. You should look it up it's very interesting!
Also Pina Bausch used to ask questions to her dancers as a start to choreographing, there are heaps of movies about this. It should interest you.
Hope you're having fun researching!
François
in the States the Black Mountain period is considered as crcuical to emergent art practice https://books.google.co.uk/books?
ReplyDeletejust online snippet id=m6aTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=rce+cunningham+merce+black+mountain&source=bl&ots=1-hEjnag1K&sig=SsdPU1Jc-Tm7Ex_pKuweGfwb2d0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj_hdqQ76vLAhXEvRoKHZmeDYcQ6AEINTAE#v=onepage&q=rce%20cunningham%20merce%20black%20mountain&f=false
with Merce Cunningham
http://www.blackmountainstudiesjournal.org/wp/?page_id=1276
Hey Nicole! This sounds like a great route for you to go down especially as you are so interested in choreography. I think being involved in an environment where not only the director but other members of Chrysalis London are also choreographing could be incredibly beneficial and useful for you to see how people choreograph with different styles and how it could maybe relate to them as a dancer.
ReplyDeleteI think the people you have mentioned above; Merce Cunningham, Wayne McGregor and Matthew Bourne are 3 very good choreographers to mention as they are all so different from each other but all have Contemporary/Modern dance as a common link.
Really looking forward to reading more on your research!