This is something I’ve been thinking about quite a lot lately…
I mean, like they say here, it’s not rocket science, when you have a large number of dancers things look pretty impressive.
Same as if you have great dancers, crappy choreography can look amazing.
Same as if you do very impressive tricks, crappy choreography will win you prizes! :p (maybe I’m not meant to say this things, oops!).
My point was to speak about choreography with big groups…
And don’t think I’m going to give you only bad examples of this! I started thinking again after seeing MacMillan’s Requiem at ROH the other day, and loving the piece with all the guys, and seeing the powerful effect that the first piece had, with all the dancers on stage. MacMillan was a genius, and way ahead of his time in choreography in my opinion, so that was a very good example of clever use of groups.
Other choreographers have very intelligent use of large groups too, Bausch or Forsythe come to my mind first, but they are certainly not the only ones.
But what I really wanted to say before I started going around as usual is… Are some choreograpers really getting away with anything just by using a large ensemble? Is there anyway for us to see large groups but still look for the detail?
I don’t want to focus on the negative part, we have enough of that, so I’m going to try and find ways to train our eyes to see further than the big picture, the impression of a big number of dancers.
I will try and find works to analyse that give us some kind of insight about the power of numbers. I have a couple in mind already, but do let me know if you have any suggestions!
I’m hoping to have the first analysis ready for tomorrow, so write to you soon!
Author: Lucia
What Art should be
So here is the promised post…
Apparently this happened on the 12th of March, pretty amazing that it hasn’t gone around earlier (or maybe I just didn’t read it). Anyway, it’s worth sharing again!
So Verdi’s Nabucco was being performed at the Opera di Roma, conducted by Riccardo Muti. After the choir sang “Va pensiero”, the audience broke into applause and asked for an encore and wouldn’t stop. Just before the performance resumed, someone shouted “long live Italy” and this is (more or less) what Muti said:
“Yes, I agree, “long live Italy”, but I’m not 30 anymore, I’ve lived already. And as an Italian, one that has gone around the world, I feel shame about what goes on in my country. I honor, then, your request for an encore of “Va pensiero”. Not only for the patriotic joy I feel, but because tonight, while I was conducting the choir singing “ah my country, beautiful and lost”, I thought that if we go on like this, we are going to kill the culture on which the history of Italy is built. In which case our patria would be really “beautiful and lost”. I’ve been silent man years. Now we should give meaning to this song. I suggest you all join the choir and we sing together “Va pensiero”.”
And so they did, the audience and the chorus all standing up, many crying.
Here is the video:
Enjoy!
NB: A friend sent it to me via email and I’m most grateful for this! Thanks Miguel!
Individuality in Dance II
Yes, I’ve been terrible at keeping this blog going lately… but I won’t make any promises that I can’t keep, so let’s just hope I get better one day!
For the moment, I’m leaving you with another comparison between two dancers in the same piece of choreography.
In this case I’m going to go for McGregor’s Chroma with two different female dancers (Alina Cojocaru and Mara Galeazzi) but the same male dancer (Edward Watson)., which should give even more interesting aspects to the game 😉
So here we go… Just so that you know, and those of you who know me do know this already, I do have a favourite in this one, just because she is my favourite in general, but I’ll try my best to be as objective as possible!! 😛
Videos first:
Chroma with Mara Galeazzi and Edward Watson
Chroma with Alina Cojocaru/ Edward Watson
So generally speaking there is a clear difference in dynamics. Mara is more continuous and controlled while Alina breaks the dynamics more and gives more accents to her musicality (have a look at the end of the turn in 0;56 for Alina and 1:15 for Mara, Mara kind of continues while Alina turns faster and stops suddenly).
In terms of movement we can have a look at a very static position (0:53 for Alina and 1:09 for Mara) and observe the differences. While Alina is more “abandoned” and her legs are falling more towards the floor, Mara keeps a very clear line towards the audience. This trait can also be noticed in some choices of expression, for example in Mara facing forward (0:47) while Alina keeps her head to the back (0:27), or the line of the eyes directly to the audience (or camera) in the sequence of movements in Mara (1:02) but not in Alina (0:42).
I could go on about the differences between them two, but I think it’s better to leave just a taste of what could be read in these videos. Obviously there are lots of factors that could weight heavily in these differences, like their different training, bodies, understanding of the choreographer’s intentions… Even the fact that these videos are two performances of lots and that their interpretations could, and probably did, change along the way. It would be very interesting also to know who created the role and how that might affect the other dancer when learning the material (I haven’t been able to find this info, and though I have some idea myself, I wouldn’t want to give you the wrong info!!)
Now for another very interesting part of this comparison… What about Ed? He is the same person with two different partners, how does this affect him? Let’s have a look!
Let’s take the little sequence in 1:26 with Mara, or 1:09 with Alina. It does feel like he’s taking in the different movement styles of his partners, he’s got more of a controlled/fluid movement with Mara, while being more “broken” and sharp with Alina. Now have a look at his stance in 1:52 with Alina and 2:05 with Mara, interesting hey? (I was very excited when I found this bit ;)).
Now anyone that has ever done partnering will understand and accept this without question. Of course you need to change when you dance with different people! Not only to adapt to different partnering styles but also just naturally because of the different relationships you might have with the persons you’re dancing with. And that changes the dance too (I lived through a very clear example of this in my last period of rehearsals with the company I dance for in Wales, I had to change partners temporarily from a person I’m very used to dance with, to a person I had met the same morning, and that was a big change!!).
So for me, if I were to look at the dances without taking into account what McGregor was meaning to say (because I do not know what this was), Alina and Ed are having more of a physical fight, quite aggressive and fast. Mara and Ed are having a fight too, but there is more tension than physical violence, it’s more of an argument I guess.
How much can we read in two minutes of dance, isn’t our art wonderful?! 😉
More soon, but I do not promise!
What’s in a name?
Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
No, I’m not going all Shaskespearian on you for no reason. I’m getting the feeling lately that dance is turned into a matter of names and not so much movement. We see the same names everywhere and very rarely new ones. I could almost have written some shortlists or line ups myself without knowing anything about who applies for things.
I undersand that this happens when you become “famous”. We do say you try to “make yourself a name”. My issue is when you have a name and then use it to become accomodated and to do only half baked works. Or to repeat the same things over and over because they were original at the beginning, and just change the name or the subject (relative, anyway, when subject is only just touched upon and not properly researched).
Don’t missunderstand me, I like some names! I like names like Forsythe that, independent of how much you like or dislike the piece, always mean proper work and big research.
I don’t like names of people that can’t look outside their own little tunnel vision, or those that are yet tiny in artistical achievement but have a godfather/mother that writes their name in golden ink, for the future.
I believe that hard work is what makes tha dance world spin, and that only by working hard will you really make a difference.
Maybe I’m an idealist! But here it is to hoping that we will go back to the movement and what is behind it, and forget about the names and their façades!
Individuality in dance I
I know, it’s a huge issues, that’s why I named the post Individuality in Dance I, ebcause I’m sure there will be a II and possibly more.
Today, however, I’m just going to leave you with a question and a practical exercise to begin to understand how important that question is.
Have you ever wondered how much a choreography changes from one dancer to another?
Well, there are several things in charge of this, and I’m not only talking about the different ways different bodies move, but also about conscious decisions.
Dynamics, and musicality in general, have a great deal to say about this differences in interpretations, but for that I’m going to leave you with the lovely ladies from The Ballet Bag, and their post on musicality, really a must read!
What I really want to bring to attention today is how much the actual movement changes, and because a moving image is worth quite a lot more than all the words I keep splashing on to you… here is the practical example for reflection>
Hush, by Christopher Bruce, interpreted by…
Houston Ballet:
And Rambert Dance Company:
The changes in timing and accents are very interesting, but what strikes me most are changes in movement like where the head is going, the careful, or not so much, placement of the arms, the emphasis in one or another part of the body…
Two very interesting bits are the girl’s movement around second 34 in Rambert and 40 in Houston ballet, and the coming together of both dancers in second 43 in Rambert and 50 in Houston.
Does it make a huge difference to you? It definitely does to me!
Do you have a favourite or are both equally enjoyable in their differences?
And what would the choreographer think? 😉
Let us know your opinion!
Creative process, No una Explosión, un Susurro
So, as promised, here is a short video with bits and pieces of the creative process of my last piece, funded by the Centro Choreografico Galego (Galician Choreographic Centre), in Spain.
The video has text in Spanish but it’s all translated in the description.
And just to say a bit more about it, it explains the making of the piece from the beginning (the first phase of the creative process, back in December) and the changes to make it a group piece. Will try and explain a bit more about it, but for now, I’ll leave you with the video. You’re invited to ask anything!