BLOG POST 6: CHOREOGRAPHIC PROCESS REFLECTION

 19th December 2021 

Despite restarting my project two days after this reflection was supposed to take place on 25th November, I have created a new shortened time line of my choreographic goals. I aim to complete half of my piece by early January and the final section by the end of the month.  This then leaves me 10 days to adjust and perfect any final changes. I have managed to develop half of my piece so far with the support of peer review and choreographic methods influenced by Goecke and McGregor.

Including primary and secondary sources was one of the criteria requirements. I have discovered a variety of resources to support and influence my creative process. These range from: an interview with a police officer, reviews, poems, virtual performances, council request-form documents, documentaries, books and online video performances and discussions. I believe having this variety has provided a valuable and rich source of information as well as a multitude of interpretations - helping me mould the way I express my fundamental messages within the piece. 

The information I have collected has supported another requirement of the criteria - to create a "strong visual impact." To be able to achieve this I believe the structure of a piece has to be solidified - to know what you want an audience to see and where you want to take them emotionally. I certainly feel that I am developing this awareness and hope to structure my work as an unfolding story rather than just the one destructive act.  Adding embellishments to my choreography offers this visual impact and encourages my choreography to expand.

To "confidently analyse, evaluate and critically reflect on personal contributions and that of others" is another requirement set in the criteria. My personal critical evaluation certainly developed after analysing and evaluating the work of my peers. After watching parts of their choreography in a group showing, I feel my ability to recognise strengths and weaknesses has grown significantly. I realised, after watching so many contrasting / different ways of moving, my attachment to certain material has decreased. I found I admired my peers' work all the more when I recognised the intention in their movements.  When the choreography was loaded with meaning it evoked an emotional response from me. Furthermore, as I have grown to recognise in my chosen practitioner, it is often a fine balance of the smaller movements which give a piece contrast and originality. To work from an observant and evaluative view allows me to change and develop my work with far more ease.

 I pushed myself to provide constructive feedback on how my peers could develop certain areas of their piece. This was achieved by providing thought provoking questions that could encourage an alternate or more detailed perspective on their work. For example, I asked what they were trying to get the audience to feel in a particular part. I followed this up by asking "HOW does this motif express that feeling you are trying to project?" This process has reminded me of the importance of evaluating work, since then I have developed this quality further.

I have received a variety of feedback from viewers who have ranged from experienced dancers to those with no dance background.  Of particular use was advice on the visual impact of a particular section of my piece, within the first 2 minutes, and how my audience interpreted it. This was a a movement that started from the floor where I reached up to the sky, as if to stand.  However I am drawn back to the ground with force. This action is repeated two times, finishing with my hand being completely stuck to the floor. Using the Gibbs Reflective Cycle, I have managed to identify the reasons why it was so effective and how I could include this quality of work within the rest of my piece. I have concluded that it was a simple, yet effective gesture that symbolised my topic greatly - restriction and manipulation. During this reflective process, I questioned how I could continue to incorporate more of this intense emotional connection between myself and the audience. I have concluded that pauses and moments of acting accompanied with simple gestural movement generate the impact I am after. I will be adding more of these moments within my piece to provoke thought and sympathy - particularity after phrases of vast movement to build contrast and add an element of surprise and unpredictability.