Screen Dance Journal

Week 3: 12/10/17

This week we started by talking about Dance Double Bill by Charlie Morrissey and Paula Hampson. I found both pieces really inspiring. I particularly enjoyed Paula’s section where she used film to enhance her performance. I really enjoyed the fact she created her choreography by filming her nine-year-old son dancing. However, she didn’t just copy his movements, she was just inspired by them to create her own version of his movements, which I thought was really clever. The fact you saw her son on the screen whilst she performed her movements also allowed us to see this relationship, and it was beautiful to see her dance with her son.

After the warm up, we looked at holding weight, from the idea that stemmed from the idea of holding onto an object. This involved us getting into small groups and forming a close circle around someone. The dancer in the middle had to offer the dancers around them weight. To begin with I wasn’t feeling very comfortable with this idea as the people around me didn’t sound very convincing that they were going to catch me. However, I was soon able to relax into it as they became more accepting about taking my weight. I really enjoyed the feeling of being held, and was able to explore the ideas of being held whilst traveling as well as being static.

We then moved into threes to look further at the holding idea. One of us went in the middle, and the other dancers had to offer the mover support by holding them, whilst they travelled forward through the space. I enjoyed moving in this way because I felt supported, and the sense of touch helped me to visualise the connection of different parts of my body. From both these holding exercises, I feel like I am more confident with receiving and giving weight. I also feel closer to my class mates as I know all of them are capable to take my weight now in some form, and after the second exercise I feel that we had discovered a new way of moving as one unit, rather than individuals.

Our homework from last week was to create a solo based around our object or memory. When starting my solo, I wrote down words to describe my locket and its function. I took words such as: linked, circular, open and closes as a starting point. The solo I created to begin with felt quite basic, structured and slightly forced. During the class we began by showing our solo to each other. We the got asked to develop or remove all the movements that are liked to a particular dance style (for example a ballet arabesque or attitude, jazz roll etc.). This allowed us to discover alternative ways of performing movements. This also made more conscious about what movements I was putting into the solo. Rather than using moves that are already in my movement vocabulary, I discovered richer movements that were less about the technique, and more about the efficiency and alternative shapes and patterns created. Next, we were told to get into partners to watch each other’s solos. Our partner had to point out afterwards moments that they particularly interesting to watch. Sarah noted that she liked my linking fingers, and the fact it was quite detailed (like my locket). We then had to improvise focusing on the moments picked out by our partner. I decided to take the linked idea and enhance it. I performed my solo with my fingers link the entire time. I felt like this both enhanced and inhibited movement. To begin with I was struggling to find travelling movements that would work with my fingers linked. I was unsure about how I could emphasis the fact I have my fingers linked, whilst trying to cover the space. Our next task was to create a three-movement loop from our solo vocabulary, and add the loop into our solo. I found this difficult again as I struggled to get from my lying down position to standing with my fingers joined. I had to come up with the most efficient way of getting up whilst attempting to stay joined. I decided to get my weight transferred over my feet as quickly, so that I could then have the momentum to propel myself up to standing. Once we done this, we then taught and learnt each other’s loops to create some unison choreography. 


Birdcage from Tobias Gundorff Boesen on Vimeo.

In Birdcage by Tobias Gundorff Boesen, we are introduced to three dark, vampire like characters sat at a table eating raw meat and blood in a snowy woods. The film uses lots of editing techniques that help to create an added darkness to the piece. The close up shots of the blood dripping down one of the dancers pale face is a strong image as the red sticks out from the monochrome background and face. When the dancers begin to move, some of the dancers previous positions get frozen in time, while their body continue to move through the space thanks to editing. The impact of this shows gradual developments of the movement and allows us to see the shape of the body in the space. There are multiple close up shots of the dancers faces, whether that be their eyes or mouths. This is uncomfortable to look at as you are forced to look closely at these inhumane females in depth and you can see all their dark features.