Reflections

As a dancer.

I always love getting to learn choreography from different people. It is so fascinating to me getting to see how different people move. Choreography is like handwriting, everyone's different. As a dancer one of my favorite aspects is getting to collaborate with others. There is something really special when multiple brains work together.

In the class book, Contemporary Choreography, on page 18 it states, “Through the interaction of the craftsman’s skill with his materials, the product’s evolving form and ultimate outcome happens”. I truly believe that each person involved in the process has an impact on the piece. Depending on who the dancer’s are changes how the choreography comes out. I believe there are an infinite number of versions for each dance. I have done experiments before where different people choreographed to the same song or have the same intent, and each dance is always unique to the other. Collaboration is a powerful tool.

The dances that I was a part of did not involve a ton of collaborating but they did each have at least a touch of it. In one of the pieces I was in, the choreographer had us work together through sharing weight and body contact. We were able to create something more authentic. If she had set it I think it would not have come across as well. In another group the choreography had us pick our own level to start the dance. Just having something as simple as that came up with a very interesting beginning pose.

As a dancer I love getting to have some say in the piece. It makes me feel more connected to the piece and as if I am an asset to the piece. It is a very interesting experience to get to play with somebody else’s ideas and movement. It is almost like stepping out of my own brain and into another’s. I also enjoyed just being told what to do because again it was not my movement so it was refreshing even if I wasn’t coming up with my own ideas.

I really enjoyed being a dancer and getting to perform in multiple pieces. Each piece I was in was so different from the other so it made things exciting. I think it is nice to step back and just be in someone else’s world for a bit.

As a creator.

I had such a great experience choreographing and creating on my dancers. They were so invested and willing to do anything. I was very proud of them. I think it makes all the difference when the dancers are engaged in the process. I am grateful I go to BYU because everyone is so willing and hard working. It is a great dance environment to be in.

Going into the process, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to create. I had music but that was about it. As I got going I learned that I had to just lean into my creativity and trust that what I was creating was enough. In Butterworth’s Fifactic-Democratic Framework model, one of the roles that it says a choreographer can play is a pilot. I felt that I had experience being in this role after this group work. I was the choreographer but I felt like I was guiding the experience rather than being the experience. The dancer’s looked to me for guidance and direction but ultimately they were the ones that expressed the dance. Another role mentioned in the framework model was facilitator. I felt like I played that role as well.

In our class reading, Contemporary Choreography A Critical Reader, in chapter 2 we read about some of the historical frameworks for dance making. The basic idea was that dance making used to be very hierarchical. You had to be someone that was very special to be able to make a dance, but nowadays, it is more democratic. There is so much more freedom in the making process and who can even create. The consensus now is that anyone can choreograph. I think that is how it should be. We all have potential inside of us and not allowing certain people to create is just taking away creativity from our world. We were made by the ultimate creator, I believe that we all have a voice inside us that deserves to be heard or seen. I did not go into this experience with expectations but I came out of it very impressed and satisfied. My dancers helped make my experience possible.

Final Plan

The focus for my final project was based on the idea of coming from a history of always taking and never giving. A pattern for our world. I want to address how so often in our world we are constantly taking and wanting but how often are we actively giving back to the world.

My Identity Solo

Final Project.

Going into this project I was slightly nervous. I had never choreographed a 3 minute solo for someone else. I had done many solos on myself but choreographing on someone else was kind of intimidating. I decided to treat the project as an experience and not an assignment and that helped me open up a lot more. Once I got going things started to flow. I actually really enjoyed choreographing for someone else. I was able to put in things that I knew she could do, and my movement was not limited to what my body could do for once. It was very refreshing. I felt like I was working with a new palette. It is amazing how different the solo would be if I did it or if anyone else in the class did it. Everyone moves so uniquely to another. It brings out and highlights different things in movement. Also there is something about a solo that makes everything so personal. Choreographing solos on each other is like playing telephone. My partner would move and I would interpret her movement. My interpretation was a slight shift from her movement. The same happened with my work. I find that so interesting. I think that everyone has something to say and that we should all be willing to listen to that. Like handwriting, each one of us is different in the way we think, move, and create.

My final piece was based around the idea of how we live in a world that is filled with a lot of greed and taking. I wanted to express the frustration of that through my final project and how we can even find ourselves trapped in that fault. I wanted to play with not only battling the world but your own self. Expressing my frustrations through movement really helps me look at them with a clearer mind. It is very similar to writing in a journal. Getting it out there is really the best way to properly look at it.