BTEC TECH AWARD IN PERFORMING ARTS DANCE COMPONENT 1 – LEARNING AIM A RESEARCH JOURNAL Swansong Christopher Bruce 1995 Hairspray Adam Shankman 2007 Emancipation of Expressionism Kendrick H20 Sandy 2013 Creative Intentions A1: Professional practitioners’ performance material, influences, creative outcomes and purpose For each location and visual stimulus, note down an appropriate performance style, theme, target audience and creative intention. Concert hall Opera. Dance performance; contemporary, pantomime. Audience: older adults, adults, families. Motive/theme: to entertain. Outdoor park Flash mob, charity work/ fundraiser. Audience: people around, adults, families. Motive/theme: to create awareness, fun/entertainment. School Performance: Pantomime, dance show. Audience: pupils, parents. Motive/theme: educational purposes, fun, awareness, entertainment. 1 What is a stimulus? Stimulus: A stimuli could be anything that inspires you to choreograph and give you a new direction to think in. Name the five different types of stimulus. Auditory Tactile Kinaesthetic Ideational Visual Complete the grid below showing your experience as a choreographer. Stimulus chosen: Picture of a soldier with his family. (Visual) How did you use the I used this stimulus as a form of inspiration and a way to stimulus? influence my dance. For example, the dynamics, style of dance etc. Did you have a good Personally, I think I had a good relationship with the dancers relationship with the as we got along well and listened to each other. dancers? Costume design: If I had the time to finish my piece I would get my dancers to wear blue dresses with French plaits. This is because the aim is for them to look like little girls receiving bad news about their father who is a soldier. I chose the colour blue as it stands out compared to colours associated with war. Also, blue symbolises tears and sadness. Strengths as a I feel that I could think of appropriate movements and actions choreographer: well and forms of travelling. I also think I explained my intentions well. Weaknesses as a My weaknesses as a choreographer would be patience as I choreographer: found it very frustrating when the dancers didn’t pick up the choreography. Preferred role in a dance My preferred role in a dance company would either be a company: dancer or choreographer as I have had experience in those two roles and I am comfortable doing them. 2 Initial ideas Swansong Hairspray Emancipation of Expressionism My notes while watching were: My notes during the My notes while watching were: Tap starts the dance. performance were: Street dance. Repetition of first section of Very colourful. Robotic. dance but faster. Consistent theme of segregation Energetic. Costumes show the contrast in set in 1962. Lots of unison. characters. Occasional spotlights. Spotlights. Prisoner is always imitated and Lively and bold actions. Everybody looks identical. tormented by guards. Clear movements and facial Duets and solos lead into group Tap is used to intimidate. expressions. dances. Strong facial expressions. Reflects the time period it was Movements are performed in Characterisation is used. choreographed for which was groups of cannon. Tap represents communication. the 1960’s. Everybody is used. The music works well with the Jazz runs. Changes in speed. performance and adds an effect Choreography is simple but Similar dynamics. to the audience; it helps them to entertaining to watch, it Liquidised movements, understand how the prisoner is intrigues the audience. interesting to watch. The feeling. Minimal use of props is effective repetition of certain actions is Prisoner is reliant on the chair. because it allows the dancing to used in each section. I thought Sudden music creates suspense be the key focus. The white that the piece was enjoyable to for the audience. people are in brighter colours watch as the music works well Capoeira. than the black people to show with the style of dance: street Lighting is good because it shows that they were seen as superior dance. Overall it is very that the situation is dark and during this time period; 1960’s. intriguing. I felt that it showed overall it engages the audience. There are repeated uses of the ability to express the way Extension. unison. you think and feel which linked The prisoner’s ways of handling Each action and facial expression to my thought of being free and the chair shows that he has is exaggerated and lots of energy controlling their beliefs. This is given up. is used throughout which allows what I thought it was about Guards use cannon and unison the audience to enjoy the because of their movements and throughout the performance. performance. the title. This dance is different Repetition of previous sections Overall, it highlighted that from others I have watched as of dance. integration was necessary and more dancers are used, and it’s Actions of guards resulted in the had benefits for both races and faster. Some of the other styles prisoner finding his way out the community. I enjoyed used include hip hop and which was shown by the lighting watching the performance. krumping. change. Props include chair, canes, cigarettes, and a red nose to degrade the prisoner. 3 Chair symbolises a weapon, shield, window etc. Guards always exit stage right which indicates a door? Bare stage apart from a chair which represents a cell. Comparing similarities and differences after watching all three pieces: All three performances have similar motives but display them in different ways by using different dance styles. They all aim to educate their audiences about important topics. For example Hairspray teaches the audience about the necessity of integration. Swansong educates the audience about political views and the treatment of prisoners based on their views in certain countries. Finally, Emancipation of Expressionism teaches the audience that they should express themselves in any way they wish and to not be afraid to be themselves. Every dance piece has different dance styles; Hairspray uses 1960’s Jazz, Swansong uses contemporary and Emancipation of Expressionism uses street dance. However, the dances are similar as they all use large amounts of emotion to show viewpoints and to express the importance of the messages they are trying to share. The lighting of Emancipation of Expressionism and Swansong was very important as it drew the attention to certain parts of the stage but it wasn’t as focused on in Hairspray as a result of the full costumes and sets. The set design of E of E and Swansong are very similar because they mainly consist of a bare stage to create a focus on the dancing and not the set. This is the opposite of Hairspray as this dance had a full set at all times which created a more segregated environment which helped to tell a story. The Hairspray costumes are very different compared to E of E and Swansong. This is because the costumes from Hairspray are full costumes that represent characters which also appears in Swansong with a prisoner being featured. However, the costume is simple. This is the same in Emancipation of Expressionism despite the costumes not representing characters. 4 Christopher Bruce Job role: Choreographer and performer. Information: Other Dance works: Bruce became a famous international dancer and is now known as one of Classical and contemporary companies worldwide. He Britain’s greatest living choreographers with his ability to create was the Artistic Director of the Rambert Dance emotional and memorable performances including classical and Company until 2002. Swansong contemporary. Some of his best pieces are ‘Swansong’, ‘Cruel Garden’, Cruel Gardens, 1977. ‘Sergeant’, ‘Early’s Dream’, ‘Rooster’, ‘Ghost Dances’ and ‘Moonshine’. Sergeant Early’s Dream, 1984. Born in Scarborough; 31/10/1945. Rooster, 1993. Trained at Rambert Ballet School. Ghost Dances, 1890. Received an Evening Standard Inaugural Dance Award in 1974. Moonshine, 1996. 5 Swansong To start with we all, did the warm up which usually lasts between five and ten minutes this was to increase our heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature slightly. After, everybody got into a space where we could see ourselves in the mirror. Then miss started to teach us the ‘Freedom’ solo form Swansong. We started crouched on the floor, facing stage left, with our left foot in front of our right. Our arms were held out behind in a curved position to create an image of a swan. Once we did this we were told to slowly stand bringing our arms down to our sides. After we had to roll our shoulders back and as we did this we also had to lift our left foot so that it was resting on its heel. We were in a section of about four or five squares on the floor so we then had to turn to our diagonal upstage left to imagine that the light was there. When we had established the direction we had to travel in we stepped onto our left, then our right, then our left, and our right again. Then we stepped out to the side with our left so we were in parallel second. We were then told to slowly raise our right arm watching it as we did this, but we had to make sure that we drew up from our leg and up our body. We then did the same with our left. After, we had to practice with a partner. Up to this point I thought it was easy to learn. Then we had to drop our right arm so that our elbow tucks into our side and turn on our right foot, bringing our left foot up as we go round so that it’s straight. We then land with our left foot to the side and stand on that leg bringing our right leg up straight and also making sure our arms are vertically straight.