Dan020x321y: The Resourceful Choreographer

DAN020X321Y: The Resourceful Choreographer Autumn Term 2009 Course tutor:

Simon Ellis ([email protected], x3209)

Week 2: 9 October 2009 Housekeeping •

Blogs?

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Video & editing course – Friday 13 November (reading week)

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Mobiles/cameras – for recording/archiving

Assessment Study 1: Choreographing light Week 3, 16 October (2 – 4pm).

The problem/task Develop and present a short work (4 – 6 minutes) using one1 type of light source. The goal or focus is on experimenting with ideas and images to develop a (repeatable) study that is sensitive to time, light, stillness and the overall experience of the audience.

Other constraints/ideas/things to consider – all materials/sources operated by the group – safety for audience – your responsibility to make (and keep) the equipment operational – you have 12 minutes total including setup, audience sorting, performance and pack down. This is tight so keep it relatively simple –

sources of light: data projector(s), lamp(s), Fresnel lantern(s), ohp(s), natural, workers, monitor … others?

– be sensitive to the choreography of the operation/operators (and audience!) – you have the option of one short moment of visible movement. This must be developed as an integral part of your ideas with light/darkness/senses. That is, it should not be movement that is simply ‘lumped’ into the formcontent of the work 1

This is negotiable, depending on how your ideas develop.

The Resourceful Choreographer: Week 2

Simon Ellis ([email protected] x3209)

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– all other movement of performer(s)2 is not lit – be very aware of audience management (making them feel safe, comfortable, and ‘looked after’). This does not mean the work has to be safe! Audience size can be no less than 6.

Still more thoughts How do you organise the collaboration so that your voices are heard, nurtured and supported? To what extent can you foster a strong sense of experimentation and play as you develop ideas? How might ideas and possibilities emerge as you wrestle with the materials and stimuli? What are the ways in which you might reflect on—and document online—your experiences, thoughts, concerns, and understandings?

Primary Assessment Criteria •

Evidence in practice/choreographic studies of considering and understanding the experiences of audiences, and their role in meaningmaking in dance/performance

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Evidence of curiosity and experimentation in workshops, in the development and performance of assessment studies, and in the reflective blog/archive

Assessment Peer Assessment: You have been placed into peer assessment groups. Each of these will be responsible for assessing one other group on the following two assessment criteria: 1. Evidence of creativity, imagination and experimentation in choreographing time, light, stillness, sound/ambience (and movement3) 2. Evidence of considering the entire experience of the audience, and degree to which to which this contributed to the form-content of the work You will allocate a mark out of 20 that will contribute 25% of that group’s mark for AS1. This needs to be treated fairly, sensitively and with considerable seriousness! You are not assessing whether or not you liked it, but how the group’s work reflected the criteria.

2

Although the work is a supposed to be a solo performance, it is up to you if various people assume various roles during the performance. Again, this needs to be considered deeply, and be appropriate/sensitive to your ideas. 3

How is this movement appropriate and sensitive to the work’s form-content?

The Resourceful Choreographer: Week 2

Simon Ellis ([email protected] x3209)

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Intra-group averaging: I will assign each group a mark out of 20 (based on all of the above assessment criteria). I will email this to each group over the weekend, and this will represent the group’s average mark. You then have the option of adjusting the individual marks to reflect different levels of contribution to AS1 from within your group. These marks must average out to the original mark assigned. Both of these assessment contributions from you must be emailed to me by 5pm on Tuesday 13th October.

Reading Barthes, R. (2000). Camera Lucida. London:
Vintage. Berger, J. (1972). Ways of Seeing. London: BBC. Tanizaki,
J.
(2001).
In
Praise
of
Shadows.
London:
Vintage. Ellis, S. (2009). The Resourceful Choreographer [Blog]. Retrieved 29 September 2009, from http://resourceful.posterous.com.

The Resourceful Choreographer: Week 2

Simon Ellis ([email protected] x3209)

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