Continuation of Choreography

 Blog 8: Continuation of Choreography

A section of our choreography that we have been working on in detail recently includes the pedestrian movement at the beginning. When reflecting on this section we decided that it had no structure to it and the intention of the section wasn't being portrayed in the way we want it to. We developed it by thinking of certain gestures that are commonly used within day-to-day life such as holding your bag, checking your phone, tripping up, and interacting with others. This made the reasoning more obvious rather than us all walking aimlessly within the space.

I suggested that we come up with 4 different motifs based upon the gestures that we all repeat in different orders. Since we are a group of 4, it was more effective to all create one each and teach it to the group. I created the 'backpack' movement where we start low to show picking up the backpack then circle in a roundward motion with your arms which takes you into a swivel and motion placing the backpack onto your back. Ella's task was to create the 'phone' motif and decided to reach across the body with the right hand in a typical phone symbolization (all fingers down bar the thumb and 5th finger). She then bought the hand to the ear. I think this movement is very precise and shows the idea clearly. For 'tripping over', Izzy wiped her foot from front to back which lead her into a spring ball change to 4th. I think this movement adds dance quality to the motifs which have enhanced this section. Lastly, to incorporate a waving gesture, Marco reached sideways with his right arm and pas de chevaled his left leg into pase.  Others then suggested that we set these movements into a structure that is different for everyone. Mine being 4-1-2-3, worked in conjunction with Ella so that we both did the waving motif together to incorporate interaction between each other. This worked well as it gave structure with a dance influence of the pedestrian movement. We also used time effectively and completed the task quickly so I would use this technique again.

We developed it further by walking in our own personal set structure so we don't walk aimlessly. The first time we practised this, we found at times we would bash into each other therefore we discussed our structures to make it work. This lead us to the idea of all walking in a structure inspired by the shape of the numbers of 911 from different areas of the stage. 911 is also the emergency number in America and was obviously called on the day of the attack. We drew out the formations on a piece of paper to check for any collisions that would occur. This was successful as we found another link to our stimulus and were able to successfully add to our choreography. Walking in a formation allowed us to have more reasoning behind the section and meant we were more assertive in our pathway that also portrays a busy working woman/man heading to their job more accurately. What we developed links to our motif as we have a visual representation of 9/11 within the numbers and formations, it also allowed us to add more depth and reasoning behind the pedestrian section.  

The music used within this section doesn't include a rhythm or beat as it is traffic and noises from New York City. We used this to be more realistic and to set the scene. This made it hard to count and arrive at formations at the same time as there are no counts and everyone listens out for different things. Also, we all didn't know the length of each part therefore never arrived together or on time for the changes to the subway then the lift. We worked around this by listening to the sounds altogether and setting a pace to count in eights to. By doing this we found we were able to successfully resolve the issue. Listening for noises never worked due to it being very repetitive and not knowing which one and when it would come. If we used a composition with beats in like traditional music then it would've been out of place for what we're trying to portray.