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FINAL

“Falling in Love”

video link:

https://vimeo.com/260894919

In contrast to my piece “HER.” from fall quarter, I have created another contemporary piece on myself about the uplifting feeling of falling in love. My inspiration for this piece was actually the moments I felt unhappy. I decided to accept that I was not necessarily happy all the time and wanted to create a piece in hopes to bring a little light to those dismal feelings. I chose “Can’t Help Falling in Love” sung by Haley Reinhart because many people were familiar with the song and I enjoyed the way she sang this version. My goal was to have the audience feel almost at ease while watching my work and listening to the song, which is very different from my last final, where I wanted them to feel my pain and sadness. Therefore, I chose a popular song with a beautiful voice. Another goal of mine was to take my already comfortable choreographic aesthetic and expand on it. How could I go further with my movement? How could I make this feel good but also look good? My choreographic style is very musical and I like to let my movement come to me naturally. I spend a lot of time listening to the piece of music I am working with. Sometimes I will listen to a specific part of the song many times before I feel like I can move on with choreography. This piece was significantly shorter but because I was not pulling from my current emotions, it was difficult to put a piece together. As with many pieces I choreograph, I did not fully understand why I decided to choreograph this sort of piece for this quarter. I knew I wanted to go a different path with the intention behind the piece, so I began song searching. I decided to ultimately use “Can’t Help Falling in Love” because it reminded me that even if I am not in the greatest emotional place, that I have heartwarming moments to reflect on and remember. Although this piece was for our class final, I really enjoyed making this for myself. My number one goal, and I am sure I can speak for a lot of choreographers who dance their own pieces, was to make sure it felt good when I presented it. I was successful. Also, hearing feedback from everyone reassured me that it was also effective from the audience point of view. I did not, however, spend as much time as I would have liked to on this piece. While choreographing, I often went with the first moves that came to me. I did not really look at all the options I had. If I were to go further with this piece, I would go back and see if I am really showing the music throughout my movement. Am I using the right texture? Am I creating the right shape visually? Am I conveying the right feeling? Another thing I would like to take a look at is juxtaposing the music and showing contrast between my movement with the music. For this final specifically, I wanted to closely match the music but if I were to go back and work on this piece again, contrast of my movement would be something I look at. I am really happy with how this piece turned out. I was not only able to pull choreography from my different emotions but I also discovered what choreographing means to me. You can put moves and music together and create a piece. But for me, being able to choreograph is being able to sing with your body. That is how I see dance as well. I find that the pieces I often enjoy are pieces that really show me the music. So of course with my piece, I wanted the same thing. Again, I am really happy with how my final turned out and cannot wait to get working again next quarter.

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Week TEN

{03.13.18 and 03.15.18}

- Final Project showcasing! Here are my thoughts on everyone’s pieces:

Monica/Ro Phonograph

I noticed a lot of shapes were created and they were visually successful.

Was your movement influenced by the music you chose?

Jacob Stages

The source of inspiration for the movement was very clear and allowed us to deeply understand the study.

Why did you choose the stages of a flower?

Laura Sweet Peaches

I appreciated how she used the space. She really showed a lot of contrast with her balletic movement and her choice of walking in the space. I noticed that her movement was very tactile.

What was the inspiration for the piece?

Ro Creo En Ti

The choice of doing a structured improv piece was very successful with the Spanish song he chose.

Why did you chose this specific song and why a different language?

Janelle Fireside Ambiance

The use of space and contrast of movement to the music was very successful.

Was there a specific reason you used the wall?

Vivian Lost and Gone

The video was successful and even more successful when she decided to rewind the video to make the audience feel what she wanted.

Why not actually retrograde the phrase?

Lauren Physical Mapping

Because her movement was inspired by the painting she introduced, her choreography was visually appealing.

Why did you want to choreograph your phrase to no music?

Ember Interpretation of Exploration

Being a part of this study allowed us to internalize our movement and focus on moving every single part of our body.

What made you decide to do a study on us rather than create a piece on yourself with the same inspiration?

Katherine Resolution

I really appreciated how vulnerable she was in presenting to us. Although it was improv, the feeling was just as impactful as if it would have been choreographed.

Why did you chose this entry specifically?

Aja/Nashala Here

The use of musicality and the shapes that they created were very successful in the outcome of the piece.

Was the story/narrative due to the song you chose or vice versa?

Morgen W New Consideration

I appreciated that she had words that inspired her movement and shared that with us before she presented her choreography.

Morgen KL Growth

I appreciated how she expanded on one of our assignments. It was very clear throughout her piece.

Was there a meaning behind the use of the door?

Michelle Taciturnity Hegel’s Dialect

The video was very different and she still incorporated the use of repetition. I appreciated how personal the video was.

What does the title mean?

Sam Untitled

She had great quality behind her movement and made everything seamless.

What was your source of inspiration?

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Week NINE

{03.06.18}

- We spent Thursday class time working on our final projects.

~ What I wanted to work on in my piece was going back to my “comfortable” place as a choreographer and take that to a whole new level. I was able to push forward with my choreography and almost come to the end of my piece. Throughout class, I listened to the song over and over to make my piece authentic in movement and feeling.

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Week EIGHT

{03.01.18}

- we created a phrase from our magazine pictures (I used posters and pictures I found around my apartment) and wrote down, step by step, our phrases. our goal was to have a peer be able to read our list of steps and perform our phrase as close to original.

**reflection of this assignment**

I learned that, as dancers, our initial instinct is to enhance simple movement and always “perform”. For example, one of my prompts was to “rotate your right hand clockwise, next to your hip” and Ro, who performed my phrase, took it to a whole new level by putting intention and repetition behind what I considered a simple movement. I am also aware that I could have been more specific in describing my movement. Another thing I noticed is that regardless of the prompts/steps given, each dancer always dances with their own “aesthetic”. The two main ideas I have taken away from this assignment is: (1) In explaining my phrase step by step, it is better to put more detail rather than not and (2) it is okay to keep it simple, for that may actually be what needs to be produced.

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Week SEVEN

{02.20.18 and 02.22.18}

video link:

https://vimeo.com/260894753

CONTACT IMPROVISATION (duos or trios)

we chose 2 parts of the body to connect and made 5 connections

we chose 3 words to describe each connection

we chose 3 more connections for each set of describing words

totaling in 15 connections with our partner

forehead+hand

stress

fever

tired

> elbow + side of head

> backhand + cheek

> hand + neck

shoulder+hand

comfort

stop

congrats

> arm + rib

> forearm + chest

> hip + hip

foot+wrist

rest

connection

> head + shoulder

> back + back

> side + side

hip+crown of head

playful

romantic

push/pull

> stomach + back

> hand + calf

elbow+shoulder blade

massage

sharp

> (two) arms + chest

> butt + pelvis

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Week SIX

Thank you for understanding my situation. <3

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Week FIVE

{02.06.18 and 02.08.18}

- we performed our solos we created last week based on the photos

katherine

controlled

gestures over eyes

joao

levels

focus

laura

floor work

music added after

vivian

suspension

fluid

monica

repetition

strong focus

emma

subtle

light/airy movement

lauren

dynamic

gestures

michelle

repetition

build up

shapes

janelle

floor work

stretching

tension

ember

focus

dynamic

crossed wrists

jacob

confined in corner

broke out -> effective

sam

shapes

dynamic

- use focus more - always performing

- our next assignment was to take our phrases and implement the idea of humor

Humor:

parody

irony

satire

clumsiness

doing unexpected movement

funny music

be clear with joke

video link: 

https://vimeo.com/260894217

jacob/janelle/lauren

miming

exaggeration

unexpected

joao/monica

awkward

heavy breathing

exaggeration

michelle/katherine

subtle

awkward

emma/sam

quirky

good music choice

ember/laura

good music choice

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Week FOUR

{01.30.18 and 02.01.18}

- we finished up the water project. here is my section choreographed with Katherine and Ember.

(video)

IMPROV BY SCENARIO

- in pairs, we picked up a piece of paper that described a scenario and improvised that scenario for the class

monica/morgen

? -> love letter

emma/michelle

scared of something? -> lost

joao/ro

? -> alien spacheship

aja/nashala

beat up? -> waterballoons

lauren/laura

fighting? break up? -> beat up

samantha/katherine

looking for lost item? -> stolen car

ember/morgen

cold? -> hot and cold

vivian/janelle

? -> lost a loved one

*could you portray emotion in 2 min?

*how??

- we picked 1 out of 3 photos to study and chose 5 emotional states that are represented in the photo. ( I only came up with 4). we then chose a few more words to describe our original description words. finally, we choreographed a small phrase using one group of description words and presented to the class.

Emotional States:

sad

cold

lost

wet

frown

crying

heavy

shivering

layers

home

confused

searching

eyes

wandering

frantic

cold

muddy

dirty

* I ended up using “lost”.

- to make emotions abstract:

> pull from personal experience

> examine physical reaction

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Week THREE

{01.23.18 and 01.25.18}

The Water Project

This week, we started working on pieces that would be used in the water project. We were split into small groups of 2 or 3 and created a phrase based on the various stimuli. I worked with Katherine and Ember. We created a phrase inspired by the sound of water. We then were given the assignment to combine with another group and create a short piece! It was challenging but it taught us how to work together to put our different style together.

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Week TWO

{01.16.18 and 01.18.18}

- we brought in items that reminded us of water:

water bottle > sound of water

scarf > extension of movement

seashell > gestural inspiration

- we discussed how we were going to break up the choreography for professor Naugle’s water project:

> 30 seconds of choreography set on 7 or 8 dancers, working and choreographing in groups of 2 or 3

1) PROCESS 

approach to choreography

choreographer dancer rule

direct or freedom for dancer

2) STIMULI

where did you get your inspiration?

what is your concept?

3) AUDIENCE

staging

performance ready

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Week ONE

- I am excited to be back in choreo! This quarter, I have some goals I want to achieve:

gain more choreographic tools

challenge myself choreographically

work on describing/explaining/critiquing works

choreograph on another dancer

put an assignment in my final project