Compositional Study 1

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/3cd5e6_e701c15d71ff4b92a9f6cb0a07d5e441/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

In this first study, I presented something that I didn’t know until the end, which was going to evoke joy in myself and for others, even when it took time to get to that point. What was effectuated for me in this composition was the freedom that I could experience in the details of the movement. I strayed away from what would be called ‘habitual’ practice or tendencies when creating from improvisational movement, which had its challenges and excitements. In this world, the most alive choreography were the hand flicks, adding the foot and head later into the study. There are compositional tools that I used to influence the creation of this study and the first to be observed is mirroring in the first half. Another is the use of repetition and the duration (length of time) of said repetition. When generating material, I thought it would become more contemporary/modern based form of choreography that you see me experimenting with in the second half of the video in floor work and other elements, rather than the happy jazz feel you see in the first half of the video. In our second to last showing of this study in class, we had guiding questions to use as feedback for our peers and from them so that we may take into consideration what they saw and take it or leave it in our editing process. For me, I wanted to really consider the observations and completely shift the movement to be what they craved more of in the world. The majority of the feedback I received before the final showing was the gaze and where it could live, and moments that felt new to the world that fundamentally altered it either making sense or not so much. When I picked through notes and verbal comments of what mattered most to me, there was so much joy that I could feel physically and choreographically when it came to adding on and making big changes to small details for this miniature world I created. I took risks by trying to repeat the hand gestures in different ways, taking out the original floor work, and adding more flow and freedom between the upper and lower body. It was difficult to try and resist going to what was familiar in my body when adding and splicing to the development of this study. I stayed open to the possibilities that the already set movement gave me for the final parts of it. In our final showing (which you see in the first half of the video) I was given statements of meaning that will continue to resonate with me as I grow in creating in composition. There is much that I want to keep trying moving forward, including being spontaneous in connection with movement, experimenting with the uncomfortable/unfamiliar, and breaking apart to build back up again. A few questions that I will be pushing myself to answer each time I create area as follows: What is missing from this world? What can be deepened/refined/altered for clarity? How is my whole body or being behind this movement? How legible can this be? At this point following this study, dance is teaching me that it can be absolutely anything I/we want it to be. It is teaching me that creative-brain work will not always be at 100%, but the body will assist in moments of blur, and it's okay to not know what the world is right away.

Feedback from peers that I used before the final product of the study.

'Statements of Meaning' feedback from the showing of the final study.