Dan020x321y: The Resourceful Choreographer

DAN020X321Y: The Resourceful Choreographer Autumn Term 2009

Week 4: 23 October 2009 Two strategies/methods for disrupting the known: Kinesthetic/Haptic initiation, with iterative ‘shaping’ of improvisations Fragmenting and pasting

Housekeeping •

Blogs – questions/thoughts/concerns, commenting on others, rhythm

•

Assessment concerns/questions, group averages

Task Create 20 seconds of material that focuses on idiosyncrasies, complexity and the unrecognisable1. The challenge is to make extraordinary demands on your capacity to: a) watch carefully and critically, b) alter, manipulate and focus the actions of the dancer, c) hone in on details beyond your usual concerns, habits and methods, d) experiment with the possibilities of the movement, and e) challenge your assumptions about what you like, what you expect and what you would normally settle for (and when you would normally settle for it). A sub-task is to bring the way you communicate as a team into the foreground. What type of listener are you? What kind of director? How much is enough to say? How direct or indirect should you be? Assigned watching: http://resourceful.posterous.com/on-conducting

Assessment Study 2: Complex movement Task In assigned groups of two or three, develop a 2 – 4 minute solo study that prioritises the development of complex and idiosyncratic movement. The work will have a single (fixed) light with no more than three cues (including beginning and ending). You are required to operate the lights. The emphasis is on an imaginative engagement with the possibilities and (once again) complexity of physical action/dance and time, as well as a creative and

1

I am thinking here of the distinction between class material and the choreographic

The Resourceful Choreographer: Week 4

Simon Ellis ([email protected] x3209)

Page 1 of 3

well-considered approach to ‘choreographing’ the audience’s experience of the work. Questions that carry over from the previous assessment are: How do you organise the collaboration so that your voices are heard, nurtured and supported? To what extent can you develop and maintain 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?

Assessment Week 5, 30 October (3 – 5pm).

General Assessment Criteria (from course outline) •

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

•

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

Assessment Peer and Self Assessment: You have been placed into peer assessment groups. Each of these will be responsible for assessing one other group on the following three assessment criteria: 1. Evidence of creativity, imagination and experimentation in developing complex and idiosyncratic movement 2. Evidence of consideration of light, time and spatial concerns in the formcontent of the work 3. Evidence of considering the entire experience of the audience, and degree to which this contributes 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 AS2. You are not assessing whether or not you liked it, but how the group’s work reflected the criteria. In addition, each group will assess their own performance in the task, based on the same criteria. You will give yourself a mark out of 20 and this will contribute a further 25% to your group’s mark for AS2. You may decide not to allocate these marks evenly, based on relative contributions to the working process.

The Resourceful Choreographer: Week 4

Simon Ellis ([email protected] x3209)

Page 2 of 3

The peer assessment (including comments) must be emailed to me by 5pm on Tuesday 3rd November, whilst I expect the self-assessment marks (including justification of your marks) by 1pm on Friday 6 November.

Reading Ellis, S. (2009). The Resourceful Choreographer [Blog]. Retrieved 29 September 2009, from http://resourceful.posterous.com. Forsythe, W. (2000) Improvisation technologies: A tool for the analytical eye. Stuttgart, Hatje Cantz Publishers [CD-ROM]. Huxley, M. and Witts, M. (Eds.) (1996). The Twentieth Century Performance Reader. London: Routledge. Talgam, I. (2009). Lead Like the Great Conductors [Vodcast]. Retrieved 22 October 2009, from http://www.ted.com/talks/itay_talgam_lead_like_the_great_conductors.html. Vason. M. (2009). Art Collaboration. Retrieved 23 October 2009, from http://www.artcollaboration.co.uk/

The Resourceful Choreographer: Week 4

Simon Ellis ([email protected] x3209)

Page 3 of 3