the time which Matisse was painting art expressed, Matisse tried to idealise the organic body
an attempt to idealise the transcending bodily instinct- the sharpen sublimity of Matisse cut-
outs hints his impulsiveness. To use this information in my dance I must show the revolt against
nature, take into account Matisse’s use of geometric shapes and show the organic transcending
body. The research and my response had a huge influence on my dance because it formed the
basis of my dance, once the information had been gathered work on the dance could begin. I
started to look at how I could portray the elements and emotions that I had researched and I
began to put them into an order.
The constitutional features of a dance are that they must possess the movement components,
the dancers, the physical setting and the aural setting or the accompaniment. In order to
choreograph a dance one must find a musical accompaniment that fits the meaning or intention
of the dance. After considering many classical pieces and instrumental contemporary pieces, I
narrowed my choice down to “Bolero” and to the theme tune from the “Matrix.” I attempted to
improvise some movements to both pieces of music, and felt that the theme tune from the
"Matrix" was musically a better piece for my dance as I could show the range in emotions
through the Adaigo and Allegro. The music was chosen because of the musical content rather
than the thematically content that it shared with the dance, the piece allowed me to make the
music my own. My focus throughout the dance was usually in the centre of the room, just above
where the audience were sitting, but it changed during the movements in the dance such as
when I did a high hand gesture my focus would be towards the . The facial expressions in this
dance where not as important as the body gestures. The facial gestures required an amount of
severity when dancing to fit in with both the mood and theme of the dance and music. The
body gestures were very important as it is with body gestures that as dancers we portray the
theme to the audience; when I moved in a controlled manner as apposed to when I moved
uncoordinated with a thoughtless manner would have send different messages to the audience,
this is also emphasized by the focus; if a dancer looks directly at the audience but then
behaves as if she is scared and isolated as I did; it would send mixed signals to the audience.
The timing and phrasing of my dance carefully conveyed my choreographic intent because the
difference in the allegro and the adagio meant that I could show the difference in the
stillness and slowness of the movements to the cubism which was demonstrated to the adagio.
I explored many different improvising and choreographing skills. I chose not to use the chance
method, which was invented by Merce Cunningham in the 1950’s in which Cunningham made
detailed chance system showing timing, spatial designs, sound and movements and then through
using dices, cards or toss coins to work out the order the performance. Although my dance was
not in accordance with the chance method it did contain some parallels because although my
dance was not changed using the chance method, it was changed to fit the timing and rhythm
of the music. Yet my dance placed emphasis not on the order of the movements but on the
individual movements themselves. My dance wasn’t improvised because I had carefully
rehearsed it before hand. However there were times when practicing in the dance studio when
I would improvise movements and then I would remember them and add them into my
choreographed dance. Motifs are very important to a dance; a motif is a gesture of phrase,
which embodies the style, and intention of the dance that one wishes to create. For my dance I
chose to use the Matisse "Blue Nudes" for the actual motif of my dance, as they embodied
what the dance was actually about. There are many ways to develop a motif, this is called
motif development and there were many ways which I developed the motifs in my dance, such
as the use of altering the speed in which the motifs are performed having sustained poses and
sudden changes of the poses, changing the body parts used and altering the level in which the
motif was performed for example I used the Matisse "Blue Nudes" poses using my knees on a
middle level, standing up on a high level and laying down on a low level, the emphasis on the
timing and rhythm was used when there were changes in the music, so one pose became more
dominant than the other and the use of fragmentation when I would only use "Blue Nudes I"
for example. The use of motif development allowed the audience to interpret what was being
performed, placing emphasis on the Matisse pictures, which embodied the style of my dance.
The choreographed dance was to be performed in a dance studio; however this did create a
few problems because I had choreographed most of the moves in a smaller space at home, it
now meant that the dance had to be adjusted to fit the proxemics of the dance studio.
Proxemics is the is essential for a performance; it is the positioning of people in relation to
each other and the use of both “fixed” and “semi-fixed” areas. The “fixed” proxemics of the
walls in the dance studio and the room in which I practiced were very different, as were the
“semi-fixed” areas which are defined by the boundaries such as furniture. Informal space is
characterized by a personal zone that constitutes an area that protects from the intrusion of
insiders. Along with gestures the movements that I used can described as kinetics. Kinsetic
sense is used in contemporary dance when changing positions and balancing, this communicates
with the audience where words and gestures fail. I did not any specific qualities costumes
except for tight clothes, which I helped to emphasis my body shape and movements. Energy is
the potential for action; changes in dynamics create the, interest and contrast in dance is
created through ;the difference speed illustrated by the movements differences in allegro and
adaigo, duration which demonstrated through how fast or slow the movements such as my motif
were performed, phrasing, phrase shape and dynamic ranges/efforts. In speed whether a
movement is sudden or sustained, is the simplest method of creating contrast, for example in
my dance the stag leap was sudden where as the glissade was sustained, thus creating
contrast. These single actions joined together make up a phrase shapes, which need to have a
sense of unity by being rounded, the high and low parts of a dance can be described as a
phrase shape. The dynamic range of movement, is each individual range from light to strong
for example a light movement would be a glide but when I pressed on the floor this would be
described as a firm or strong movement. However it is important for energy to be used
because as Laban stated, it is energy which gives the “go” for actions. Laban also defined a
large range of specific qualities as “efforts.” The climax of the dance was the middle part of
the music, the allegro. In this part of the music the Matisse pictures were used a number of
times to focus the audience on the motif and the idea of cubism. Cubism is the use of shapes,
angularity and isolation of body parts, Matisse used it in his pictures to make a two
dimensional canvas portray multiple dimensions. Cubism can be created through simple
geometric shapes, interlocking planes and collages with straight lines; working against the
traditional modes of representation and realism.
When performing a dance, it is important to consider all of the physical skills that one
possesses to make the dance a successful performance in terms of interpreting the pictures
based on the stimulus and in terms of technique. The technical training that had a very
important influence over my dancing was my intense training in rhythmic gymnastics which
enabled me to do some of the more complex positions of the legs in the Matisse “Blue Nudes.”
The classical training that I have in ballet helped strengthen my arms to achieve the positions
in the pictures, where the arms had to hold a certain amount of weight and the high arms
required for some of the parts of the dance. One of the most important physical skills in my
dance was flexibility, flexibility enabled a large amount of movement from my joints whilst
still holding an amount of stability and balance this was shown in the dance through the high
kicks and the arabesque which were sustained movements. However flexibility needs constant
work because through stretching the action lengthens the muscles along the fibres. Therefore
although I may have a range of mobility this can be improved and sustained through the effect
of stretch reflex, this is a protective reflex which makes the muscle contract immediately
after a stretch. Although a stretch reflex may help any muscle tightness that one may have, it
does not help the structural limitations of your bones. When exercising one requires a certain
amount of stamina, stamina helped my dance because through stamina I can sustain the
exercise required, and it is through physical endurance that I was able to perform a
demanding dance such as the high jumps followed by the kicks. Alignment is the dynamic
and/or the readiness to move. Where a "plumb" line is maintained through the body within
dance. This is where the shoulders, knees and hips are aligned with no rolling in of the feet
but a triangular distribution of weight. My alignment is not very good, because I naturally roll
in my feet even when I walk this ricochets to the other parts of the body such as my knees and
my hips, and my skeleton does not support my feet very well. However this did not really pose a
threat for my dancing skills because I have learnt to dance like this since I was small and
therefore I no longer notice it. Strength is needed for any dancer to use the body efficiently,
my upper body and my stomach muscles need regular stretching to improve my strength which is
why I took up Callentics and Pilates to help advance my strength which is much needed in
dance. I lacked a certain element in strength when I had to rely on my back to pull me up from
a bridge rather than my stomach muscles. The co-ordination of my body and my mind moving
simultaneously is not very good, as it appears that I often think of something else rather than
concentrating on dance which is my main fault, and my memory is appalling during these times
such as when I could never remember the start if my dance and therefore I need to
concentrate more in the future.
The main development came from the feedback from both my teachers and my peers. Using
blocking from my teacher I was able to successfully conclude that perhaps I had placed too
much emphasis on the narrative side of showing emotions that I had done on the idea of cubism
that Matisse was displaying. Although there were many moves that I liked, they had to be
changed for a cubism style. Once this had been done by dance could be divided into three
sections which is shown on the time-line underneath.
Throughout the whole of this dance stimulus mock, I have learnt how to successfully use my
body to demonstrate the meanings of the pictures using both my technical and physical skills.
This experience has taught me how to use criticism to develop my dance and overall I think
that it has been one of my best performances to date, and a successful mock module 1.
