Choreographic devices and Motif Development (4)

We explored many different choreographic devices in our last class such as abstraction, contrast, inversion, distortion, embellishment, repetition, and fragmentation and talked through which ones would be most beneficial to our process. The message of our stimulus is based on two ideas and the difference between the two so we thought contrast would be a good starting point for creating. We split into two groups with the task of one creating a peace section and one a violence. This allowed us after to inspect what kind of movements we thought belonged in which and how we can continue this contrast throughout the piece. 

I also thought repetition would be a useful device for our choreographic process. After researching Christopher Bruce the other week I realised how important it is for his work as it reinforces the message and idea for the audience, and as we have two contrasting motifs running through the piece at all times I thought by taking movements that represent each one in their respective sections and placing them in their contrasting section as well would instil the message for the audience. Repetition also highlights the important parts of the dance and highlights them as meaningful, this is helpful for not only the audience but as a choreographer as it keeps you on track of your vision.

In our session I was part of creating violent side of our piece. We began by brainstorming how we thought violence may be depicted in movement and then put together a small phrase to experiment. We came up with fast, sharp, and jagged moves such as kicks, leaps, and contractions. I proposed including floorwork as I would view violence as very grounded and tough and peace would have more of an airy, light feeling. 

Researching choreographic techniques, different practitoners, and different styles of choreography has greatly improved my knowledge basis for creating movement and I feel that I'm not limited for ideas or inspiration anymore.