Dance stimulus - Atalanta.
The stimulus which, I thought would be most thought provoking and appealing was Atalanta. I found the idea of characterising a dynamic, strong vivacious woman appealing due to my strong background in theatre and acting. This enabled me to perceive hidden depths of Atalanta's character, which were not evident at first sight. Therefore, I chose this stimulus because I believed that Atalanta would be an interesting and challenging character to portray through the medium of dance. Another reason why I chose this stimulus, was the use of the cloth and costume to portray “how rhythms can be created by repeating and opposing shapes” and how “certain lines indicate motion”. Due to my previous experience as a rhythmic gymnast, I was able develop original and unusual movements, because I was used to using cloth and ribbons as a means for demonstrating highly complex physical movements After receiving the stimulus, I first of all researched Atalanta. Using a variety of resources such as and the Internet, I found that Atalanta derived from Greek legend, and was a strong athletic competitor, whom no man could beat at running. This was emphasised in my dance through the use of sustained running movements and the use of pauses to emphasis the importance of the poses. This also helped to reflect the stillness of the wooden sculpture. Analysis and further research led me to conclude that the pose and expression of the sculpture Atlanta are portraying her determination and power. This was evident in the strong and dynamic movements of my dance, as well as the use of facial expressions, bodily expressions and focus. My bodily expressions were natural, controlled with an upright posture, thus helping to portray her purpose as an athlete in a race. The facial expressions portrayed her determination, thus demonstrating her strong and vivacious character, and the embodiment of power, which Atalanta represents. The combination of body and facial gestures shared in the mood and theme of both the dance and the music. Focus aided my facial expressions. It was important for the focus to be strong, not looking at the floor at any time, but either looking out into the space such as when doing an arabesque but also facing inwards to concentrate on a move, for example the running movements from the pictures. Through the use of Stanslavki’s ‘method-acting’ I used my research to characterise a strong female woman, which was then transposed into movements. To achieve the dimensions of Atalanta's character, I profiled her, so that when I was dancing, I would embody the character, this enabled me to access her
personality quickly. I used improvisation to create movements, which embodied Atalanta's character. This was reflected in the strong dynamics of the dance, as well as the motifs. Using improvisation, I created movements, which reflected the important words, in the passage accompanying the sculpture. The idea of ‘tension’ was created through the prop of a piece of Lycra material, worn round my hands, and my arms. Through strong upper body and arm movements I was able to create ‘lines of tension.’ This was emphasised by the movement on the floor where I placed the Lycra material over by foot and used ...
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personality quickly. I used improvisation to create movements, which embodied Atalanta's character. This was reflected in the strong dynamics of the dance, as well as the motifs. Using improvisation, I created movements, which reflected the important words, in the passage accompanying the sculpture. The idea of ‘tension’ was created through the prop of a piece of Lycra material, worn round my hands, and my arms. Through strong upper body and arm movements I was able to create ‘lines of tension.’ This was emphasised by the movement on the floor where I placed the Lycra material over by foot and used it to turn into the splits. Pressing against the material’ was also reflected in the large and full movements, which I used for example, After choreographing the basic movement components, I was able to use some of these movements in my travelling motifs, which reflect how 'certain lines indicate motion.' When I used travelling movements in rehearsal time I was able to see that, when moving around the room, the material created lines, in particular when using turning. This became an important element in the choreographing of my motif and it's developments. I used the sculpture as a starting point when composing my motif, as I believed that they embodied Atalanta's true nature. I wanted my motif to represent or contain the essence of my dance as a whole, and therefore the running and dynamics of the movements, were imperative to include. Running, was expressed in part of my travelling motif; and later re-enforced by the dance's finishing position, which suggested the continuation of the running movement;The dynamics which I used were strong in force and weight, thus helping to enhance the aesthetics of movement, which revealed Atalanta's character. The energy was sudden and forceful for example, the turns were quick, using firm weight. I also, made use of the parallels, which were expressed in the pictures, by the three different angles. This was transposed into my dance, through making use of the facings and placing emphasis on the running and changing in dynamics within my motif, for example at first the running movements were fast and sudden and then in the motif development they were slow and sustained. This change in dynamics helped to draw the attention of the audience to the importance of the facings and parallels. The created motif was then developed my using different levels, fragmentation and changes in speed. Once the motif had been established and manipulated to the full potential. Over a gradual process, (see appendix) I developed my ideas into movement components and using the process of repetition learnt them. Then from feedback from the teacher, peers, self-evaluation and recording my dance I was able to see how successful my ideas were and how they could be improved or modified. Through watching the video, I realised that some of the movement components were not adequately demonstrating the potential of the skirt. This was evident in the hitch-kicks. I removed them from my dance and working with the mirror working with the mirror changed my movement to positions, which expressed the movement of the material. I also took place in peer evaluation where we would evaluate each other’s dances. From this I learnt that I was making use of general space, but not personal space and that I need to place more emphasis on my pathways. To do this, I first of all internalised movements, for example when I sat in straddle, lifted and reached out to the side, I changed this to bring the arm down my body and use hand gestures. I also used quick turns and movements to show the changes in dimensions and planes, rather than to smoothly incorporate them. Thus, placing emphasis on the pathways. The teacher also helped to evaluate and give further pointers on how to improve our dance. From this, I learnt that I had to make better use of the skirt, use the parallels and come up with more modern and original techniques to express the words from the passage. In order to improve my dance, based on this feedback I first of all self-evaluated my dance and decided the movement components which needed to be changed. Then I watched work from the Martha Graham repertory including "Diversion of Angels", "Herodiate" and "Maple Leaf Rag" to see how others had used original movements to express the use of the cloth. This influenced some of my movement components...My dance was choreographed with an A, B, C, and D structure. The question specified that a cloth of some kind was be used in the stimulus, and my costume was based on the idea of how to show shape being ‘dictated by the figure underneath.” Therefore I designed a costume, which was loose on the bottom and tight on the top. This was done through a flowing skirt on the bottom and a leotard on the top. This juxtaposition, helped to highlight the differences in how ‘certain lines indicate motion.’ The skirt demonstrated the idea of 'Drapery,' and this enabled me to pull the material to show ‘tension’ and the parts of the body ‘pressing against the material.’ The skirt was made of a muslin transparent material, which possess the property of being transparent, thus drawing attention to how the “shape is dictated by the figure underneath.” I chose to use basic black, in my costume. This helped to emphasis my movements, whilst not distracting attention away from the compositional elements of the dance. The aural setting, which accompanied the dance was the music “Bolero” from Moulin Rouge”. I chose this piece of music partly because it had Greek overtones, which enabled me to reflect how Atalanta was from Greek mythology. Also because, the music had clear musical motifs, which I was able to exploit through combining them with my dance motif. The music did not overpower the dance, which was the effect that I was looking, but rather through music visualisation, subtly related to my dance without taking emphasis away from the movement components. This was reflected in the climax of the dance. The music built up to it's climax, at the end of the song, it was at this point which I exploited the use of my motif. I repeated and fragmented the motif, to remind the audience of the essence of the dance and the importance of Atalanta, as a Greek runner. In the performance, musicality was a problem. Unfortunately, due to the great number of modifications made to my dance, near the end I went a little bit wrong and this meant that the movements did not fit the timing or the phrasing of the music. Fortunately, this was recovered by placing emphasis on the sustained movement of the splits, in order for the movements to fit the timing again. Another problem, which I encountered during the performance, was the difference in proxemics. The dance studio, which the performance took place in, was slightly smaller than the rehearsal dance studio, and this meant that some of my movements such as running backwards, could not have had as much emphasis placed on them as I would have liked. However, due to my strong kinsetic sense, this was not too much of a problem. The dance had to be performed in the dance studio, and therefore this limited by choreography. I had to make sure that the boundaries of my dance were observed in my movements, for example, I could not run too far to the front as this would mean coming too close to the examiner. Although, studio time was available most of my choreography took place in a much smaller space, at home. This created a few problems, as it meant that I was nor adequately using the dance studio space to its full potential and therefore some of the movements had to be expanded and enlarged to fit the proxemics of the dance studio. The diversity of my precious experience in classical ballet, rhythmic gymnastics and modern and tap dancing have all contributed to my overall dance performance and choreography. The vigorous training involved in rhythmic gymnastics has meant that I have flexible legs. This helped in my solo because it enabled me to sustain high leg lifts and arabesques, for example: This allowed me to use the skirt in new and inventive ways, and in turn added another dimension how ‘whatever form the clothing takes, its shape is dictated by the figure underneath.’ Classical ballet has meant that from ‘port-de-bras’ I have developed the strong high arms required to express the idea of ‘tension’ through the use of the Lycra prop. I was therefore, able to use the material to it’s maximum potential. My experience in tap and modern dancing has taught me a good sense of rhythm. This was imperative to enable me to deal with the changes in the timing of the music; for example the step ball change diagonally had to fit exactly with the music. Thus, helping me to express how ‘rhythm can be created.’ From these many different types of dancing, I have developed stamina. Stamina aided my dance because as an allegro, it involved a lot of quick paced and demanding movements, such as the running movements from the pictures. My agility, developed from ballet and rhythmic gymnastics enabled me to move quickly and efficiently from the running movements into other compositional structures, for example the quickly paced running was followed with a turn. This enabled me to demonstrate how ‘rhythm can be created by repeating and opposing shapes.’ My alignment is not very good, because I naturally roll my feet in; this ricochets to other parts of the body. This caused a few problems, because I wanted to use sustained movements, but was not able to do so because poor alignment led to poor balance. Therefore, I worked on this using the mirrors, to attempt to correct some of my alignment, this led to better balance, thus enabling me to achieve the sustained movements and express the ‘folds’ in the material. I have very strong arms and legs, as a result from rhythmic gymnastics and ballet, which led to the development of certain muscle groups. However, I have very poor stomach muscles, and this was evident when coming up from a bridge on the floor and leaning backwards. This meant that the movements looked forced, rather than with the ease and fluidity that I would have liked. Therefore, I developed my stomach muscles through callanetics and some basic exercises; these exercises helped to strengthen my abdominal muscles. This helped in the delivery of my dance, as it meant that I was able to express the movements with the fluidity and create the arch in the bridge, which I wished. Through the use of choreographic devices, I was able to portray a ground base compositional structure, enabling me to express my ideas of Atalanta being a strong, vivacious and assiduous woman. This was evident in my performance on the day, where the projection of certain movements such as the running movements helped to re-enforce my original ideas.