Self-Evaluation Showcase June 2014
We responded to the stimuli
“Elements” by creating a dance planner and putting down our thoughts of
what came to our mind and made a mind map. As a group we decided on the element
of natural disasters;
Earthquake
Ice Slide
Blizzard
Tropical cyclones
Heat Waves
Lighting
Tornadoes
Volcanic eruptions
Wildfires/Bush Fires
We then researched onto Google natural
disasters as we thought that we could create the story of what happens in
a Tsunami. We researched into Tsunami’s and You Tubed into
Tsunami’s, we then had the idea of Thailand Tsunami witch happened in 2004
killing 2000 people. We got ideas from the workshops that had taken part in
class. We liked the idea of tableaux and researched Google images of a family
on a beach of how they were sitting and how the family expressions were on
their faces and also looked at pictures of people stranded in a
Tsunami this helped us to create a tableaux. In the workshop
of Chloe’s we enjoyed doing retro-grade this was effective to watch
in other peoples group pieces and we thought that it would be a good way of
telling a story for our group piece. We responded using a picture
this was a family stranded on cars and boxes. We thought of the idea of using
props this was by recreating the picture by using the black boxes and standing
on top of them being stranded. As a group we
watched youtube clips of the Impossible this was a true life film of
a family stranded in a Tsunami this helped us create emotions and expressions
on our faces. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR4Flf_w0a8)
. We used another prop for our group piece this was using a picture of a
family for the end section of our dance. This was used when there was a voice
over “I didn’t expect my holiday to be like this, I’ve lost my children my
family and I didn’t think I’d go home alone.”
We worked on the structure of the dance
and this was by a narrative ABC telling a story of the real life event
what happened in 2004 in Thailand. A section was about when we were all at
the beach enjoying our holiday until Rob spots the tides are going out and come
rushing back in. We then created a build-up in our routine this was
by creating a climax to our piece and was the B section for
our dance this was by Honor and me getting taken away
by the waves of the tsunami, we used disco for this section as disco is a
powerful dance by using jumps spins and traveling. The C section of our group
piece was when Opal and Rob are trying to save each other and Opal is stranded
on the box (car) looking for Rob and trying to save him. We used a
lot of devices throughout our routine these were, gestures (pointing and
having our hands beside our heads) this was carried out throughout
the routine this was always repeated. We used motif and motif development our
motif was always being carried out throughout the dance this was by always
pointing and having our hands up beside our head. Retro grade this was by
creating a motif and developing it doing it all backwards this was a challenge
but it worked out well in the end this was eye catchy for the audience to watch
as it created the story we was trying to get across. The balance and proportion
we used in our group piece when using contact work of hugging we used force for
this, this was by using emotions and researching of someone
actually losing someone and how much force/strength they would
use hugging the person they are about to lose.
•unison ( dancing all together whacking,house) this made the
story clear for the audience to watch by doing it all together at some points
of the dance this created the story that we had found each other.
•floor patterns ( the way our routine
was layed out using floor patterns) , we used floor patterns as
we thought of the tsunami spreading out and being big.
•repetition ( use of look out gesture) we used the gesture of
hand beside head and pointing throughout our dance as this was used as a motif
and we wanted to carrying it on throughout the dance so that we could create
the story of looking for each other.
•symmetry (same sides doing the same thing) , we used symmetry this
was effect for the audience to watch this was by us all doing the motif at the
same time but one by one but in different heights (me and Honor the same
height, Rob and Opal different height on the boxes)
Our strengths in our group piece were working with each
other’s abilities, adapting each other’s ideas and using
everyone’s styles that we were all strong on,
working in a team ,bouncing of each other's ideas,all agreeing on the
same things/ ideas and adding in each other's ideas.
We had our weakness in our group piece these were focusing on rehearsals
and how often we rehearsed during class and outside of class in our own time we
had. Our timing was the issue for the group piece this was by the
first section of our group piece when we are all at the beach. Also
another weakness in rehearsal time for developing choreography were
connecting with the audience and getting into character.
Whilst developing our choreography for our routine we used whacking
for our style of dance for our motif and this was because we thought it was
powerful and was a good use of dynamics ( flow and speed / heavy )
for our motif. We used our heads moving side to side with our arms going
the same way as use of panic when we see the state of what the hotel is and
everything else what was destroyed. We also used another style of dance
for our motif and this was by using house we thought of the idea as running
away from what has happened and running away from waves (more waves that are coming)
We used logical sequencing for this part as we all thought that
it felt right by the way our body moves with the movements that we created
and this was by running ( house step) and footwork. We also
looked for openings of how we would create movements for our routine and how we
created different parts of our story of what we were creating a true life
story we used blackout for when it was “breaking news” this was more effective
for the audience to watch and that it was actually telling a story of what happened
and how much of a panic everyone would have been in. Also
we used musicality for our choreography this was by when there was a
big beat in the music we would reach out ( grab) and when the music was
calm we would do slow but heavy movements to connect with the music we repeated
the music from the first section for the end section of our group this was by
telling the story of Thailand Tsunami in 2004. We also used contact for hugging
each other and use of facial expressions of how we would be feeling
in the situation we were creating again but in a dance.
When working with other performers during
the choreographic progress, I thought that it really helped me out
with my performance and to build confidence when dancing the group
piece. I thought that giving feedback to other dancers/performers really helped
and when they gave our group feedback and improvements to work on it really
helped out to see what feedback other performers gave each other and how
effective it is being an audience. The feedback from other performers helped
they gave us positive things that could work well by giving
ideas and helping when interoperating different style of dance in the
routine. I learnt as a performer the behaviour of other performers
throughout rehearsals and the final performance everyone was
very supportive and worked within a team in there group pieces. Some
people had their moments but they got through in because everyone worked
together and became a team in the end.
During this project of choreographing a group piece we all
shared the role of choreographing parts of the group piece, we all worked well
and interpreted every bodies abilities within the
group. We shared ideas and developed them into movements and used logical sequencing of
what felt right to do after and what came to our minds this helped us to
create choreography. This was very different
from choreographing a solo as I found it easier as you had 3
other people to bounce ideas off. I learnt that being a choreographer can
be very stressful and challenging as you are put on the spot and always
think that your ideas are not very good. Also I learnt that the relationships
with dancers during this process in a group piece get very stressed with each
other and annoyed. My group relationship was very good as we came up with ideas
for the routine and respected everyone ideas.
For our final performance as a group our strengths
were improvising when going wrong and having a backup for when the lights
went of at the wrong time and still carrying on in character. We connected
with the audience well this was by having the drawn in and
recreating/ telling the story clear of what happened on the day of
the Thailand Tsunami in 2004. Also we connected well with the
audience by using emotions when Rob spotting the waves going out and then
when they come crashing in, when me and Honor get taken away by the waves,
hugging each other this showed passion and sadness of how much pain everyone
was in. Our weakness was timing at the begging of the routine this was because
I was a count ahead and Rob was a count behind when bring the arms up. Also
another weakness was that we kept on rushing our routine so that we would have
to wait in stillness when we are all fighting the waves and grabbing onto each
other.
We ensured that we used a wide range of
dynamics throughout our routine
speed - this
was by slow using the motif of pointing and having our hand beside our head we
also used the music for this. Fast this was when the climax built in
and we were all rubbing each other and panicking as we were
recreating when people got taken away by the waves.
force- this was
by using heavy movements such as jumps and contact work (hugging) we thought
that heavy movements would expresses the feelings of a family losing each other
and having that last moment with them.
flow- we used
flow as how each movement went with each other and how we used the weight of
each movement used. Also we used strong and sharp this was by
the contact section ( Rob and Opal ) an the hugging section with all of us
at the very start of the routine.
Also we ensured that we used performance
skills this was by sense of rhythm how we were able to feel the beat and
project throughout dancing to the music, spatial awareness by knowing
where we were facing, the direction of the action, and the size of the
space we had and to have our own space to not bump into each other when dancing
to be spread out. Flexibility within each other when using a range of different
styles (disco, house and whacking).Stamina how long we could all go for and
that we were weren't out of breath to quickly during the dance when using a
range of different styles continuously.
Our ideas developed from our original dance planner by researching into Thailand tsunami and watching The Impossible to find out how it would affect everyone and what actually happened on that very day on 26th December 2004. Many peoples life’s and homes were taken away from them, we wanted to recreate the whole story but by having the story of a family on holiday enjoying a day out at the beach. We kept the original idea as we all agreed and was all very interested about recreating the story of what happened. We thought this would also be a good as it responded to the stimuli "elements". Our choreography developed through researching pictures of how a wave was created as we wanted to create how the ocean created such a big wave to take away many peoples life's and homes. We used movement components for this ,this was by turning,falling,travelling and stillness for creating a wave. Also, another way of how our choreography developed was by using props the boxes and a picture of the family this was an idea to make the dance more realistic and to draw the audience in.
To improve my own practice for
future choreography I think that asking peoples opinion on what I have choreographed and how I
could develop my work to make it more interesting to watch for the audience and
that I could have asked Kat/Roasia students for advice improving my work.
Also,to improve in future choreography I think that I could explore different
dance styles that I don't usually use, I could also improve onto diverse
choreography. When finishing of a routine I should polish up and always use my
technique when applying different dance styles.
man carrying a bark (could be used as contact/ lift ) 
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