Next week I am performing a dance I have choreographed to music by Couperin called Golden Rays. The music will be played live and I am very much looking forward to performing it.
The dance explores the golden rays transcending from the
sun. I have often been very intrigued by the patterns and incredibly vivid
colours that I see in rays of sunlight and this dance explores some of those
patterns. I am also exploring a deeper spiritual connection associated with the
golden ray, the connection which allows us to be at one with our creator or
spirituality. The collage below is helping me through the choreographic process
and encouraging my artistic expression to shine through.
Today I have been busy at work creating my dragonfly costume for the performance next week. I have been trying to create a costume which is nice and light but also represents the creature well. Compared with Anna Pavlova's original dress, mine is very different but this is deliberate as I want to create my vision for the dance, something new and distinctive to me. I have also had quite a strict budget to stick to so had to bear that in mind too. Below are some shots of me in the creation process. I will share the finished piece soon.
I am currently preparing for My Pavlova Tea Event next week on the 31st of March. Busy rehearsing and finalising the programme ready for printing. I am very pleased with the response so far and am expecting about 27 to 30 people to come. Many of these people have already signed slips to say they are happy to fill out the questionnaire afterwards. The programme is made up of the six dances and between each dance the audience can help themselves to tea and pavlovas! The event has been advertised in the local paper this week and below is the flyer which I created for the event.
Following the Twilight Tuesday skype session this week, I
must say that I had a lot to think about. The most important points that
emerged from the session were the following:
When contacting participants for interviews it is sometimes
a good idea to look outside of the box you have created for your plan.
Sometimes change is a good thing.
Because I have been having difficulty with people not
replying to my messages to arrange their interviews, I am now looking further a
field and changing my specific idea of interviewing a freelance ballet dancer
to looking for a dancer who is currently working in a company.
I also managed to clarify that even if some participants are
just filling out a questionnaire they still need to fill out a participant
consent form. This was a point I was unsure of for a while, so it was great
that Henry was able to enlighten me!
There was also some very interesting points that emerged
about social media. How young people need to be careful about the way they
present themselves as future employers may be able to see what they post. The
idea of more education being given to young people and children about this was
brought up and I thought it was a really good idea. Also, I think it was Harry
L who mentioned that some of his employers have actually said that they check
out the people auditioning on social media before considering them for the job.
This astonished me!
Then the other really important point that was raised was
right at the end by Adesola. She said how important it is for us to observe
ourselves within the situation in other words how much we participated in the
conversation and why.
So I felt that I was quite involved with the chat, however,
there were some really frustrating moments when I wanted to say something and
the connection cut out and also some moments when I could hear nothing so they
were not that great! But overall a really good discussion!
For my inquiry event (Pavlova tea
afternoon) I am recreating Pavlova’s Dragonfly dance to the original music,
creating my own take on it.
Whilst preparing for the creation of the dance, I decided to watch a video about dragonflies to develop a better understanding of the creatures. I was amazed to know that for two years the dragonfly lives as a nymph under water where it engages in fierce hunting. It then moves out of the water and emerges to it’s dragonfly state in a two hour process. The dragonfly that we see only lasts about two months before dying. I had not realised that the dragonfly had this previous life and this made me see it quite differently.
The observation made me consider the following elements
for the choreographic process.
Strength
Patience
An incredible energy which emerges fast
The world would be very exciting as you
would not have seen the world above water before.
It is a race against time to live before
your time is up
Enthusiasm and zest for life
Hovering
Fast landings
A sense of a continuous motor when in
flight (this could be created with fast bouŕees and footwork.
Wings are very delicate and intricate.
I created this collage to inspire me in the
process too and continue to use this in the studio at this stage when I am still formulating the interpretation within the dance. It includes photos of Pavlova in her original version as well as real photographs of dragonflies.
Below is an extract from my journal after I did my first interview:
Today I did my interview with the marketing and outreach
officer in the ballet company. I must say that I was unbelievably nervous! I
realised just how difficult it is for me to be in a position of authority, to
be asking questions and guiding the talk. I am very much used to being on the
other side. I think this is something that comes from the ballet world, we as dancers are used to be dictated to and not asking questions. However, once I arrived I was put at my ease with the staff at the
company. The interview was only 16 minutes long which surprised me. I was
expecting it to be double that length but I found it hard to know just how long
the participant was likely to need to answer each question.
I did generate all
the information that I required in a very short period of time though. After
listening back to the interview, I realise that I need to project my voice more
as when I am nervous it tends to disappear. Some of the answers that my
participant gave really surprised me as they were contrary to what I had
previously assumed to be the case and this really excited me. I am thoroughly
enjoying seeing how the inquiry is beginning to develop.
I have transcribed the interview and was pleased with the amount of information generated. I am currently planning the next one but am having difficulty because all of the three possible participants are now not replying to my messages, despite two of them initially saying they would be involved. This is making things quite challenging but it also made me realise that it is better to be honest and say no than not to say anything at all. I do realise that they are probably very busy though and this is something which I may include in the inquiry process.
As
I am reviewing literature in more depth I have begun questioning some ideas.
In the article Art is dying warns sadler’s wells chief, in the Independent (2011, accessed 15/11/17), Alistair
Spalding stated that ballet was a dying art because the leading companies were
continuing to do the same ballets and not producing sufficient new material.
However, he also states that the classic ballets which companies are continuing
to perform are selling and that the reason not so many new works are being
created is because ‘’new things are difficult to sell; the audience isn’t
expecting it.’’ This made me question is it because the new things are
not as attractive, not because they are new, but because of their content or
subject matter.
In this same article Homan’s, author of the book Apollo’s
Angels (a comprehensive history of ballet) then goes on to say that ‘’Alistair
is right, and we are at a conservative moment in ballet, and dancers need to
feel they are doing new work. Unfortunately, for the most part, the new work is
not living up to the old work.’’
This
is quite a different thought. Perhaps it is not whether the ballet is known,
but whether it is relevant and attractive to audiences today. Clearly there is
still something in these classics that people love to see.
If
anyone has any thoughts on this idea I would be interested to hear them.
