Where does it come from?

My boyfriend Mike asked me recently “How do you choreograph? Where do the moves come from?” Good question.

For the fun of it, let’s consult wikipedia. If I never choreographed before, I am not sure if this article would help or not (or any article online alone).

To answer my boyfriend’s question, right now my choreography is coming from 3 main sources (in no particular order):

1) Visions in my head

2) Improvisation

3) Inspiration from teachers, choreographers and dancers I have worked with before or seen in performance or in videos.

I have spent countless hours in dance studios, living rooms and bedrooms alone trying to “find my voice” and create. Within 10 minutes I usually find my arms resting on the ballet bar, chin in hands staring at myself in the mirror, or laying starfished on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

Choreographing alone, I always feel like I am missing something.

My yoga teacher recently has been using visualization techniques during practice to help embody certain asanas to the point where I am both inside and outside of it, totally in the present moment; to the point where that imagery becomes reality. Working to embody feeling or thought during rehearsals can help dancers turn a choreographer’s vision into reality. How do we as choreographers create a rehearsal space where that is not only possible but successful?

I googled, “How to choreograph modern dance” and came back with this article. Instruction #3 is spot on for me:

“Give the dancers characters to play, and use sense-memory techniques to bring the dancers to the emotional place and level they need to reach. Teach them the steps that you have decided upon, but allow them to interpret the music as well. You never know what you may spot when someone improvises to the music.”

I miss working with choreographers who provided a few movements that we as dancers turned into several 8 counts. I miss the free rehearsal hours on campus, where I felt I had the time to experiment, structuring improvisation to create choreography during rehearsal, instead of before it, alone.

I miss the dancers who, with no technical training, showed up and were present.

I have always had trouble translating choreography I made when alone, so why have I moved towards this method? Time? Money? The pressure to ‘produce’?

The eHow article also posts a key fear of mine as a warning: “If the piece is too abstract, no one will understand it or be able to appreciate it.” Does improv and experimentation always mean that a piece will be too abstract?

Wherever it comes from, however it is created, I think dance needs to come from a place of love in order for it to matter to anyone, whether abstract, improvised, rehearsed, or not.

So, I ask you the same question my boyfriend asked me: How do you choreograph? Where do the moves come from?

Dancing Defensively

So remember back in Drivers Ed when the instructor would tell you that you need to “drive defensively?” You know, being alert and conscious of what the drivers around you are doing. Well I’m going to talk about dancing defensively, a term I have coined meaning being aware of the dancers around you.

The whole idea for this came from when I was taking class. I was in a Modern class with one of my favorite teachers. Her choreography tends to incorporate a lot of big jumps and leg extensions, so it is lucky for us that her class is held in a very large studio.

I set up camp slightly to the rear of the class. As the class progressed, I somehow ended up in the middle line.  With this modern class in particular, we learn 1 phrase of the combination as part of the warm up. Once we started learning choreography, I noticed that a woman kept on creeping up in my personal space. I tried moving over and ended up almost kicking one of my friends.

I tried to brush it off, figuring that we were just learning the phrase and that later it wouldn’t be an issue. I was wrong. Come combination time, this woman was almost up my behind. Every time we finished the combination she managed to inch closer and closer, and I was starting to get really pissed off.

Why does this bother me so much?

1)      She had the entire back corner of the room to herself, kept on moving downstage.
2)      She was in my personal bubble. I like my personal space.
3)      I couldn’t dance the combination full out.
4)      I was afraid of kicking her.

I have a pretty short torso, so my height comes from my legs. I have long and stocky legs and one swift kick would render anyone in a lot of pain. I was terrified that I would either hurt this woman, or I would try to move away from her, and hit one of my friends also taking the class.

If I’m dancing, I want to be able to do it full out. So having a dancer bumper to bumper gets rid of this luxury. So here is what I ask of you. Please dance defensively. Be AWARE of those around you. Use a combination of your spatial cues and your own center of gravity to be hyper aware of your surroundings.

I’ve been in situations where a prop was left on stage, or we were dancing in an outdoor field and had to dance over an electrical cord that ran down the center of the “stage” area. You keep these in mind while you are performing because your safety is what is most important.

I remember in college, I was working on this huge group dance. There were 20 girls onstage at one time doing a contemporary/lyrical piece complete with side extensions and big turns. I remember one girl came up to me frazzled. “I’m going to kick (insert name here) in the dance, because she keeps on creeping up on me.”

My response was “Don’t worry about her. If you accidentally hit her, so be it. SHE needs to be aware that she is in your space. Maybe one brush of your foot will be enough to make her realize she is in your space.”

I am by no means advocating physical violence; I’m just saying that you need to take care of yourself first.

– Michael