Maybe it's immature of me as an artist or maybe it's the renaissance girl in me that loves all the arts- but I really prefer when the music matches my subject matter as much as the dance itself. For this piece, I'm starting with a song by Zee Avi, called "Let Me In." It provided a nice soundtrack when I used an iTunes "genius" mix for today's rehearsal.
Bring me a lily and one loaf of bread
take me home now
I can't forget any words that you've said
but they're gone now
Trying my best to keep up with your pace
but you're too fast
Trying my best to get off of this fence
for I won't last
Maybe we can try to be better this time
Maybe we can try to be better this time
I'm just a speckle of dust
in this gigantic world now
And I'm going only where the wind will take me
bring me down now
And my smiles turn to tears
and I'm facing my fears
can't you see me
trying my best to reach out for your hand
you won't let me in
and I've done what I can
you keep changing your plans
do you need me
Maybe we can try to be better this time
Maybe we can try to be better this time
so let me in
let me in
let me in
let me in
let me….
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Rehearsal Wed Jan 12 - Success!
I had my first rehearsal of the semester today! One of my fabulous dancers from Fall, "C," returned to work with me again, and as before her patience and talent are great to have around! The rehearsal was intended as a callback, and I hoped to choose three dancers of the several I asked to come. C showed up, and one other may be able to come later; I may need to search for a third if I don't want to take the role myself. I'd prefer the option not to, as today there were times I would have liked a different perspective.
Instead of seeing how people interacted in the different roles I will be creating for (as I'd planned to do for the callback), my lone dancer and I took turns in each role. It was actually a good thing, as I have the movements for each role and duet in my own body now and could do any of them should I need to. I gave C the original phrase I'm beginning with that will be a solo and is the basis for two duets, and we worked on those duets as well overcoming some kinks I found when working alone and making some choices that I liked there; we also made movement for a trio section (not shown in the video). I'm excited to see how things develop and I delve into and beyond these starting phrases.
At this point, the way I imagine the dance developing is a father-daughter duet, transitioning into a mother-daughter duet with a father solo, then the daughter solo maybe with a mother solo simultaneously, then all three. That doesn't make much sense unless I tell you the story, but I reserve to answer that question when it becomes necessary. (Last semester, I feel I spent too much time explaining before I knew what questions needed answers.) The order is narrative, then, and maybe I'll break away from that at some point, but I want to get to that when it comes if it should.
On Monday we most likely won't meet for MLK day, unless a dancer I've talked with can be available for a little meeting to catch him up and see what else I can bring to continue growing the piece. Otherwise, we'll meet in a week on Wednesday.
Overall, rehearsal today was fun! The movements are me, the music is me, and the subject-matter is me. That's what I needed, personally and choreographically. I'll be glad to see how this develops, with such a rich subject matter to draw from, and the excitement I feel instead of my previous inhibition!
Instead of seeing how people interacted in the different roles I will be creating for (as I'd planned to do for the callback), my lone dancer and I took turns in each role. It was actually a good thing, as I have the movements for each role and duet in my own body now and could do any of them should I need to. I gave C the original phrase I'm beginning with that will be a solo and is the basis for two duets, and we worked on those duets as well overcoming some kinks I found when working alone and making some choices that I liked there; we also made movement for a trio section (not shown in the video). I'm excited to see how things develop and I delve into and beyond these starting phrases.
At this point, the way I imagine the dance developing is a father-daughter duet, transitioning into a mother-daughter duet with a father solo, then the daughter solo maybe with a mother solo simultaneously, then all three. That doesn't make much sense unless I tell you the story, but I reserve to answer that question when it becomes necessary. (Last semester, I feel I spent too much time explaining before I knew what questions needed answers.) The order is narrative, then, and maybe I'll break away from that at some point, but I want to get to that when it comes if it should.
On Monday we most likely won't meet for MLK day, unless a dancer I've talked with can be available for a little meeting to catch him up and see what else I can bring to continue growing the piece. Otherwise, we'll meet in a week on Wednesday.
Overall, rehearsal today was fun! The movements are me, the music is me, and the subject-matter is me. That's what I needed, personally and choreographically. I'll be glad to see how this develops, with such a rich subject matter to draw from, and the excitement I feel instead of my previous inhibition!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Note to self:
I always get ideas on the verge of consciousness, either as I wake up or lay down to go to sleep. (As a psych major, I believe this is because I'm tapping into the ability to think freely when I'm able to use nonconscious associative processes, the ones that aren't stressed about this, that, and the other detail.) Though of course, I have no writing utensil at those times, so while it's a lovely way to think of things, it's inconvenient.
I want to remember to design a way to ask many many people for the associations they have with various IAPS, IADS, ANEW, an ANET stimuli. Learning more about the web of associations that give these stimuli meaning can be helpful to that aspect of my project. While the dance itself may not at this point be focused on the subject matter of the stimli, I don't have to abandon my initial interest in what contributes to universally-emotional triggers. As I'm now focusing on the layering on of meaning that happens between people including artists and audience, I'm curious about what that might bring up. I'll try to look for studies that may have relevant data.
These days I'm reading more aesthetic theory. That's my favorite kind of used book to pick up on a whim, but they've sat around for a while so it's great to be delving into those and learning about what makes art do what it does. After I finish a book or so, I'll post more on the specifics of how this applies to me and mine.
I want to remember to design a way to ask many many people for the associations they have with various IAPS, IADS, ANEW, an ANET stimuli. Learning more about the web of associations that give these stimuli meaning can be helpful to that aspect of my project. While the dance itself may not at this point be focused on the subject matter of the stimli, I don't have to abandon my initial interest in what contributes to universally-emotional triggers. As I'm now focusing on the layering on of meaning that happens between people including artists and audience, I'm curious about what that might bring up. I'll try to look for studies that may have relevant data.
These days I'm reading more aesthetic theory. That's my favorite kind of used book to pick up on a whim, but they've sat around for a while so it's great to be delving into those and learning about what makes art do what it does. After I finish a book or so, I'll post more on the specifics of how this applies to me and mine.
Conte Animated
This is just so beautiful I have to share it...
Relevant to my project, I do like how this project evades the draw of specific narrative to express something that is open to individual interpretation. The artist talks about this on the project site which has a great video about the process behind the work.
Relevant to my project, I do like how this project evades the draw of specific narrative to express something that is open to individual interpretation. The artist talks about this on the project site which has a great video about the process behind the work.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
A shift: Redefining subject-matter
Doing some readings for Comp class, and considering what was discussed in my first Visual Language class, I found some ideas I liked and want to hang onto.
First, I agree with what Matisse said about "when a painting is finished... the artist himself must have time for understanding it." I've always felt this way, that there is a lot the artist can learn from a completed work. Not all of its meaning is necessarily intentional, and new meaning will continuously be created depending on the artist's changing views from moment to moment, just as for any other viewer. The meaning of the art is such because of the viewer's participation in viewing, and that contribution is inextricable from the meaningfulness of a piece. As Dewey says, a work of art "is recreated every time it is experienced." I agree with him that whatever one can get out of a piece of art, within the context of their own experience, is the meaning of a work of art.
In applying this idea to my project, I also consider Dewey's statement that any work is "universal because it can continuously inspire new personal realizations in experience... [enabling] them to have more intense and fully rounded out personal experiences of their own." This is not far from Tolstoy's quote defining art as external signs that hand “on to others feelings [one] has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings, and also experience them.” Works of art are valuable in that they consistently inspire individual reactions in others.
My goal in this project is to achieve that. I want to create pieces that can effect emotional reactions in its witnesses through their own layering on of meaning around what I present. My difficulty last semester was in my approach to this creation of meaning between me and others.
"The artist himself can hardly begin with a subject alone. If he did, his work would almost surely suffer from artificiality." This was me. In this explanation, subject is the external source of inspiration, for me, Emotions. On the other hand, subject-matter is what I and my viewers bring to that subject, our experiences, our connections and layers of what it means. I needed to realize that I could not create a work that would portray and "infect" others with emotions, without tapping into the subject-matter of my own emotional experiences with which I would be giving meaning to my work as it formed. To give it form beyond the shallow work I attempted last semester, I needed to get away from attempting to work around the abstract impersonal idea of universal Emotions, something untouchable, and allow myself to work with what I do know- my own experiences that lead to the emotions I thought to share. ...It might seem obvious, but at the time I really thought that was what I was supposed to do to follow through on my conception of the project. I blamed my choreographic skills, when I had actually trying to be in touch with something that was essentially untouchable from the position I had set myself up in.
As Matisse said "Madam, that is not a woman; that is a picture [of a woman]" so I will stop pursuing disembodied Emotions, and begin to live and dance with my own subject-matter that I have to bring, so that others have something to relate to and share in as well.
Resource: Dewey, J. (1958). Art as Experience. Capricorn Books.
ch VI, pp. 106-115
First, I agree with what Matisse said about "when a painting is finished... the artist himself must have time for understanding it." I've always felt this way, that there is a lot the artist can learn from a completed work. Not all of its meaning is necessarily intentional, and new meaning will continuously be created depending on the artist's changing views from moment to moment, just as for any other viewer. The meaning of the art is such because of the viewer's participation in viewing, and that contribution is inextricable from the meaningfulness of a piece. As Dewey says, a work of art "is recreated every time it is experienced." I agree with him that whatever one can get out of a piece of art, within the context of their own experience, is the meaning of a work of art.
In applying this idea to my project, I also consider Dewey's statement that any work is "universal because it can continuously inspire new personal realizations in experience... [enabling] them to have more intense and fully rounded out personal experiences of their own." This is not far from Tolstoy's quote defining art as external signs that hand “on to others feelings [one] has lived through, and that other people are infected by these feelings, and also experience them.” Works of art are valuable in that they consistently inspire individual reactions in others.
My goal in this project is to achieve that. I want to create pieces that can effect emotional reactions in its witnesses through their own layering on of meaning around what I present. My difficulty last semester was in my approach to this creation of meaning between me and others.
"The artist himself can hardly begin with a subject alone. If he did, his work would almost surely suffer from artificiality." This was me. In this explanation, subject is the external source of inspiration, for me, Emotions. On the other hand, subject-matter is what I and my viewers bring to that subject, our experiences, our connections and layers of what it means. I needed to realize that I could not create a work that would portray and "infect" others with emotions, without tapping into the subject-matter of my own emotional experiences with which I would be giving meaning to my work as it formed. To give it form beyond the shallow work I attempted last semester, I needed to get away from attempting to work around the abstract impersonal idea of universal Emotions, something untouchable, and allow myself to work with what I do know- my own experiences that lead to the emotions I thought to share. ...It might seem obvious, but at the time I really thought that was what I was supposed to do to follow through on my conception of the project. I blamed my choreographic skills, when I had actually trying to be in touch with something that was essentially untouchable from the position I had set myself up in.
As Matisse said "Madam, that is not a woman; that is a picture [of a woman]" so I will stop pursuing disembodied Emotions, and begin to live and dance with my own subject-matter that I have to bring, so that others have something to relate to and share in as well.
Resource: Dewey, J. (1958). Art as Experience. Capricorn Books.
ch VI, pp. 106-115
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Comp 4 starting thoughts
Auditions are coming soon- joining with my classmates, I'd like to look for strength/softness in an exercise we'll be doing, because I think it can show me qualities I'll have in the relationships among my dancers. We're starting with trio projects, and I've been getting ideas collected for that, and some fresh movement.
I've been thinking a lot lately about my family relationships, particularly approaching and during winter break. My relationship with my dad has been what makes me saddest and happiest, depending on the circumstances, and it's a sure way for me to access those emotions to think about either the distance between us, or the resilience of our relationship. Although there's still a lot of confusion on my part as to how we all relate to each other including my mom (a lot is unspoken, which raises something for me to address in dance), I'm interested in taking this opportunity to look at the tensions and relationships here.
As may be evident, then, I'm feeling a start with the negative emotions. (I think by quartet time at midterms I may move onto positive ones.) I want to create a duet from some movements I have now, then split the duet and add the third dancer. That third dancer will act as a force keeping one duet-member away from the other as the original movements are altered, and both feel the wrongness of that shifted relationship. Words that come to mind include stuckness, frustration, fractured, despair, unfair.
While listing these adjectives, it's hard for me not to move onto hopeful thoughts, because, fortunately for me in general, I'm persistently optimistic, or resilient. I've found it's hard for me to at-will tap into negative states behind dances at a later time. Developing my solo is best when I'm in a self-questioning mood, and I played with that recently, which was nice to return to and dig into a little more after so little space to work and play over break with the family all around.
I guess it may be that these dances come from my biography and touch closer to who I am than anything I've ever made... but I feel like my group works could (as they are in my mind now) be linked with that solo. Together, they will be portraying the most long-standing and influential relationships and their effects on me. While my solo is very personal and that story is well-set (and according to feedback, well-portrayed so far), I hope that my Comp 4 group pieces will not remain strictly a portrait of my situation. I hope they will become something representing processes that others can personalize and relate to in their own ways. Previously I tried going from general to specific and found that a ridiculous and confusing way to go. But now I'm done with that, and I've got my groove back. ...So now I'm following my mentor's mantras, and I'm going to BS it with confidence (and some extra forethought for fun and to be safe).
I've been thinking a lot lately about my family relationships, particularly approaching and during winter break. My relationship with my dad has been what makes me saddest and happiest, depending on the circumstances, and it's a sure way for me to access those emotions to think about either the distance between us, or the resilience of our relationship. Although there's still a lot of confusion on my part as to how we all relate to each other including my mom (a lot is unspoken, which raises something for me to address in dance), I'm interested in taking this opportunity to look at the tensions and relationships here.
As may be evident, then, I'm feeling a start with the negative emotions. (I think by quartet time at midterms I may move onto positive ones.) I want to create a duet from some movements I have now, then split the duet and add the third dancer. That third dancer will act as a force keeping one duet-member away from the other as the original movements are altered, and both feel the wrongness of that shifted relationship. Words that come to mind include stuckness, frustration, fractured, despair, unfair.
While listing these adjectives, it's hard for me not to move onto hopeful thoughts, because, fortunately for me in general, I'm persistently optimistic, or resilient. I've found it's hard for me to at-will tap into negative states behind dances at a later time. Developing my solo is best when I'm in a self-questioning mood, and I played with that recently, which was nice to return to and dig into a little more after so little space to work and play over break with the family all around.
I guess it may be that these dances come from my biography and touch closer to who I am than anything I've ever made... but I feel like my group works could (as they are in my mind now) be linked with that solo. Together, they will be portraying the most long-standing and influential relationships and their effects on me. While my solo is very personal and that story is well-set (and according to feedback, well-portrayed so far), I hope that my Comp 4 group pieces will not remain strictly a portrait of my situation. I hope they will become something representing processes that others can personalize and relate to in their own ways. Previously I tried going from general to specific and found that a ridiculous and confusing way to go. But now I'm done with that, and I've got my groove back. ...So now I'm following my mentor's mantras, and I'm going to BS it with confidence (and some extra forethought for fun and to be safe).
Thursday, December 9, 2010
solo, working title: Behind the Dream
This dance has been important in getting me out of the slump I experienced this past semester. I think I became so vulnerable in what I consider to be a sort of creative depression (inconveniently timed!) that I finally gave up covering up, and accessed it to make what I think is one of my most successful creations. It's still got potential to be developed further, and I'm excited to go there.
Today I realized how silly it was for me to not draw on the situation I was in these past few months. Rather than try to dance through it, I might have tried dancing about it, in it. Now experiencing the success at the end of that tunnel, I can look in and remember clearly. Both ends of that are potential I hope to work with over break in preparation for a fresh start next semester. I intend to access the vulnerability and open honesty that this solo helped me use so successfully to also pursue my original project. The change of blog colors signify the new attitude I'm going to take.
Today I realized how silly it was for me to not draw on the situation I was in these past few months. Rather than try to dance through it, I might have tried dancing about it, in it. Now experiencing the success at the end of that tunnel, I can look in and remember clearly. Both ends of that are potential I hope to work with over break in preparation for a fresh start next semester. I intend to access the vulnerability and open honesty that this solo helped me use so successfully to also pursue my original project. The change of blog colors signify the new attitude I'm going to take.
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