Reflecting on out group's starting objectives

Blog 9 - Reflecting on our group starting objectives  

The initial aims of my group’s choreography include was to create an informative piece that would showcase a personal experience of Marcy Borders. Using the 'dust woman' photo, which she was the main subject of, as inspiration, we researched further into her background and life experiences that were determined by the horrific event. This influenced many parts of the choreography for example the structures and emotions within these. A life is on a timeline, and I feel this is something we set the structures on. Each section links by the fact that this was the order of proceedings.This made an impact as Borders suffered a tragic later life with many issues that then lead her to a dreadful depth. The epicentre of these events was 9/11 so it was important for my group to highlight how large of a consequence the initial incident had on one’s life. I feel we successfully showed the intended message within our piece using music choices, structures, choreographic devices, and methods. 

 

Personally, I believe our most successful part has been the pedestrian section as through the development using feedback given from tutors and peers, we have been able to directly showcase the intention. It was important to set the scene from the beginning to make the narrative easy for the audience to follow. Without this, the audience would’ve been lost, and they could’ve interpreted the objectives in a different way. I think this as we used key aspects within New York, like the subway, to make it obvious as to where we are so when the explosion happens within our piece, it is obvious it relates to 9/11 and is not a random explosion in a random area. We received positive feedback from this, being expressed from an audience member they knew precisely where the prospect was established straight away from the city and subway sounds within the music and gesture actions when executing the sector.

 

Research that occurred through the development process that influenced our choreography includes research found within Kate Flatt’s ‘Choreography: Creating and Developing Dance for Performance’ book, recommended by our tutor. We found chapter 6 specifically useful as it is based upon solo, duet, trio, and group choreography which are all aspects we found beneficial to incorporate. It was beneficial to use these different groups due to my absence, it allowed the group to be productive whilst I was away and meant I could be productive from home in creating a solo. For me, when reading a section about creating a solo, Flatt mentioned exploring pictorial images to influence one’s movement. I was influenced by this when creating the first part of my solo, conveying Borders arriving to her desk. I found images of people sat at an office desk to help visualise my surroundings to then created based off. (Person Works On Computer Office Desk Stock Photo (Edit Now) 1465701368, 2021) Flatt’s book also informed our choreographic exploration within the unison section at the end. She proposes that “almost any simple material gathers power when danced simultaneously by a group”. The quote influenced our decision of a group section at the end to create a powerful ending to the piece. She also mentions about how the “connection in time affects audiences, who become drawn into the unity” which is a feature we aspired to embrace to maintain the audience’s engagement and interest with our piece. (Flatt, 2020) I believe using our findings had a positive impact as it gave us methods to use and informed us on the importance. We could’ve used many methods without them having as much of an impact and wouldn’t have benefited our piece as much.

 

Flatt, K., 2020. Choreography : Creating and Developing Dance for Performance. The Crowood Press, p.Chapter 6.

Shutterstock. 2021. Person Works On Computer Office Desk Stock Photo (Edit Now) 1465701368. [online] Available at: <https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/person-works-on-computer-office-desk-1465701368> [Accessed 17 December 2021].