Saturday, May 30, 2009

Choreography 2

So far, I have taken two choreography classes at WSU. Spring 2009 was choreography 2, and I really felt like I made progress in this class. Half of the class was devoted to learning the "toolbox", and the second half was devoted to creating a 4-6 minute group piece.

 The way I view choreography has changed drastically over these last two years. For the longest time I thought that there was something so special about people that choreographed dances. They had some knowledge that I didn't possess and I wouldn't be able to construct a dance until I had "it". In the Spring of 2008, Doug Nielson was the guest artist at Wichita State. He came in and taught our dance improv class a few times and had some really great advice for creating. My favorite quote was "Don't set out to make a masterpiece." It is so true. You aren't going to create a masterpiece right away...you have to have time to grow and find yourself. I guess the point is to just create. That is the only way to learn.

 It is so exciting for me to try and find my voice as an artist. I have realized that there isn't some magical knowledge that makes it easy to choreograph. There is only experience and practice. My second chance to practice in front of an audience was with my choreography 2 project "Dissonance". My dancers were great and one of them was kind enough to shoot a video of it and post it on her youtube page. Here is the video of my piece "Dissonance".


 

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