Megan Foster L6 Advanced Independent Solo Choreography

  This week I have completed the first full draft of my independent solo choreography and even though there are some slight changes to be made and a significant amount of cleaning to do I am really happy and proud of my work nevertheless I am please with how I have challenged myself both as a choreographer and dancer throughout this process. The new section I have created and added to my piece, is the ending where the character starts to lose hope of being rescued and gives up on trying as they believe it is over when it gets to the eleventh day. This then develops into the use of repetition with much smaller and intricate movements to represent hearing the boat which rescues the stranded men. This section is much more emotional as there are a mixture of feelings involved such as happiness to have survived and finally being found  whereas there is also the feeling of desperation whilst feeling very weak and unrecognisable as the eleventh day comes.   (Smith, 2016)   ...

  In my choreographic process, I am currently heading towards the end of choreographing with two more minutes left, I am really content with where my choreography is currently at and I need to ensure these last few weeks, I manage my time well so I can complete my piece, as well as rehearse it full out with edited music and props.   The most recent section I have created, I choreographed to no music which I surprisingly found a lot easier to create movements and I felt this helped me explore different choreographic devices and create much more movement compared to when I choreograph to music. However, I then found it a challenge to find music that fit well with the movements already created as well as adapt and change the movements timing wise.    The research has been such a crucial part of my choreography, especially as I am using a diary entry to inspire and portray movements. I have found from a significant amount of research I have been able to develop my charac...

  In this blog, I will be critically reviewing Alexandra Whitley’s piece ‘Pattern Recognition’ which is about exploring the interaction of human movement in the digital world, which dives in to Whitley’s interests in philosophy, technology and design     which challenges the difference between art and other art forms as well as opens up questions and conversations about learning as well as memory in relation to artificial intelligence.  (Pattern Recognition — Alexander Whitley, n.d.) Previously, I critically reviewed Whitley’s piece ‘The Measures Taken’ which again incorporated the use of technology and digital work in the art form of dance, which made both pieces very similar however the movements, formations and number of dancers were very different in both pieces.   In ‘Pattern Recognition’ the piece is a duet between a male and female dancer, incorporating the use of solos as well. The dancers perform many lifts and the partner work as well as connection bet...

  In my independent choreography I currently have five minutes which I am really happy with as this allows me to be on track with my choreography as well as gives me the opportunity to clean and ensure timing on the sections I have already created. The two sections I have been working on at the moment is the t-shirt section, where I use a prop to symbolise the sail. The second section I have created is to show the process of the sail being lost but also the emotional side of losing hope and wanting to give up, I use a lot of spiral and swaying movements to represent the waves and more dynamic movements to show the crashing of the waves as well.   I feel as though the process so far has met the requirements for the criteria and I am continuing to work on these so my solo is the best it can possibly and I am able to challenge myself with the use of choreographic devices, creative processes and different motifs as well as movements. I want to continue working on this and applying...

  Over the past few weeks I have been adding and creating more movements and motifs to my solo, it is currently around four and a half minutes and I have attached a video to show my progress and where I am currently at with my solo:  https://youtu.be/iN-unmo9Ph8 The section I have been working on, I am utilising a t-shirt as a prop and  this helps portray the storyline, as the t-shirt is used as a sail to redirect and move the stranded boat, in the hope that the men would be rescued. When performing this section in front of my teacher and peers, I got great feedback on the use of resistance with the t-shirt and the imagery of the sail was well perceived and clear to see.   In the video I have attached I am performing the second section of my solo, you can see that I repeat the movements without the sail, I wanted this to demonstrate the idea of losing hope and faith as well as not knowing what to do. I hope over the next few weeks as my choreography starts to piece a...

  Alexandra Whitley is my chosen practitioner for my independent solo choreography, I have found him a great inspiration with my creative processes as well as the choreography itself. In this blog, I will be critically reviewing his piece ‘The Measures   Taken’  which is named after the way the tracking devices around the stage interact with the shapes made by the dancers.   (Jevons, 2015) The piece varies in dynamics, levels and dancers, which allows the audience to keep engaged, as well as not know what to expect next in the piece. The use of formations was also very intriguing as the dancers could be very close together and doing completely different movements or the opposite where the formation was very spread out and they are all dancing in unison. I also like how he utilised duets, trios, solos and group choreography even when there were multiple people dancing on the stage, as an audience member it makes the piece very exciting to watch especially when some da...