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Evaluation

In regards to the final performance of my choreographic solo, I believe the performance was successful and turned out exactly how I wanted it to. I think that my intentions were clear in the performance (alongside the movement material) particularly as I emphasised my use of expressionism to help demonstrate conflicting and contrasting emotions to portray the varying layers unravelling within the character created within the choreography. I felt confident that the performance produced my desired effects of demonstrating an in depth exploration into the mind and ways which a psychopathic person acts. Additionally, I believe that the emphasis of dynamic variation which I put into the performance really created two contrasting yet impacting atmospheres, something I desired to create and pull out of the performance. Overall, I am content and pleased with my final solo choreography performance. The overall experience I have received for the solo choreographic module has been a journey, in
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Further Creative Development

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At the very start of the creation and development of my solo, the initial message that I wanted to convey was the idea of disturbed yet juxtaposing personalities within the mind of a psychopath. I initially wanted the audience to feel put off and repelled by the character I have created in the choreography to show the manic traits I have discovered from researching psychopathic people. In my finished solo, I believe this has been achieved, however, I did have to alter and edit the intentions I wanted to convey to make it more apparent. Whilst the idea of portraying multiple personalities is still present, I took the idea of exploring the whole brain of a psychopathic person, which the choreography unfolds to reveal all the layers to the mind of someone (perhaps) mentally disturbed and the process they undergo to lure in innocent victims. I had to make some adjustments to my choreography to show a clear distinction between contrasting personalities and personas a psychopath adopts. I ma
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Critique 3 - Akram Khan: Zero Degrees

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Zero Degrees is an acclaimed and successful collaboration between choreographers Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui is a renowned Belgian-Moroccan contemporary choreographer and founder of his company, entitled Eastman. Khan and Cherkaoui are both “sons of Islamic families brought up in Europe, and both draw upon this meeting of cultures, combining complex Indian Kathak dance with the speed and precision of contemporary movements.” (Akram Khan Company, 2015). Both contemporary choreographers unite together and explore their similarities through an art form that pushes the boundaries of what dance can and can’t include. (Fernandez, J. 2005) Upon watching the performance, I found that it was very moving. I felt there was a sense of intimacy and a connection between the two choreog
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Continued Creative Development

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Upon reflecting the feedback I received previously for my solo choreography, I decided to re-evaluate and review the intentions behind section 3. This was another section where the intentions were not necessarily portrayed clearly through the movement content, with the section meaning to represent the loss of identity of the psychopathic character. In place of this, I decided to change the theme of this section to spiralling out of control and into chaos, with which turns and the idea of the spiralling of the spine and the torso would help to present this to the audience if implemented into the choreography. I decided to take a motif from the very last section, as I subtly utilised the idea of spiralling to help create the final image of a manic and chaotic personality. Taking the motif, I started off by changing the directions to make it more indirect and off centre, to enhance the idea that the spiralling out of control is unpredictable and uncontrollable. One of the movements in the
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Critique 2 - Akram Khan: Dust

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Dust is a collaborative piece between renowned choreographer Akram Khan alongside Tamara Rojo and the dancers of the established classical ballet company, The English National Ballet. The piece encapsulates the brutal and horrid nature of World War 1, which Khan states he wanted to explore the “concept of trenches” (Khan, A. 2014) as well as the “huge social shift towards women” (Khan, A. 2014) seen within this period of time. Throughout the piece as a whole, I thought the choreography clearly and effectively demonstrated the themes and starting points of the piece, which ultimately left a much bigger impact on my experience when watching this fantastic piece. (Liotardo, L. 2014) Upon initial reaction of the piece, the opening of the piece successfully enhanced the setting and themes behind the piece. The dancers individually walk on stage gazing down towards the floor, with a sense of shoulders dropped and hunched over. The music was silent to focus
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Creative Development: A Reflection On My Process So Far

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The music used for my solo choreography is entitled ‘The Untold’ by Secession Studios. The music utilises classical instruments and begins with a melancholic and soft tone. As the song progresses the pace fastens and the overall atmosphere builds up, ultimately making the music dramatic and gripping. It perfectly fits with the intentions for the choreography, so it was only right that I used this beautiful orchestral accompaniment. The melancholic and ominous tone from the start matches with my intentions of showing vulnerability within the Glam Jail (and that which a psychopath emits), which then progresses and begins to build up with the addition of violins. This matches the spiralling into the deeper secrets within the mind of a psychopath as well as correlating with unravelling their true persona (as the music begins to layer). As the music increases in intensity, the choreography unravels the layers to the mind of a psychopath furthermore. I have decided to use varying dynamics th
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Critique 1 - Akram Khan: KAASH

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Akram Khan, a globally renowned British-Bangladeshi Contemporary choreographer, created the work KAASH, making its debut performance in 2002 and was performed by a cast of 5 international dancers. The starting points and stimuli for the piece were “Hindu Gods, black holes, Indian time cycles, tablas, creation and destruction” (Akram Khan Company, 2015). I researched this before watching the piece by the company to see if I could correlate and distinguish this within the choreography. Whilst watching the performance, it was clear to see that there were significant and frequent moments where the dancers would perform simplistic gestures (almost like sign language). Khan clearly adopted this from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (a former collaborator who worked with Khan on Zero Degrees) who frequently uses Mudras, a series of symbolic hand gestures that are used in the Hindu culture to resemble the Hindu gods. I believe Khan embeds this into his choreography to not only enhance the theme of Hindu G
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