This week while working with Linda Lehovec, I truly believe we were all tested as both thinkers and movers. Until now, each choreographer has come into rehearsal and has, for the most part, not changed previous choreographers’ work. Each chunk taught to us has been added onto what we previously had learned—that is, until this week.

Linda entered her rehearsals wanting to both shape the piece while trying to make it a more cohesive work of art. This melting of movement styles and choreographic choices together was a very unique experience for me. I knew it would be challenging working with so many different kinds of choreographers, but it was much more manageable than I thought. Before now, I could simply jump from one idea to the next as we transitioned from one choreographer’s movement to another.

Now much more familiar with the material, we were challenged by Linda to meld it all together into one structured work of art. Pieces of choreography were completely changed or removed all together.  Allie’s high heels from the work were taken off, the interaction between the dancers in Phillip’s choreography section was changed, and essentially all verbal statements were edited out of the piece. There were also moments cut from one choreographer’s section and placed into another. This on top of learning new material from Linda, it’s needless to say it was a growing experience for all of us as aspiring professional dance

November Dance Ground Plan

Comments, Questions and Ideas are welcome! Feel free to click on the images below to enlarge.

I love the idea of having movement in this white void. The space is stripped of environment for a moment and there are only bodies. Movement. The bodies are not necessarily defined. They are unidentifiable; a silhouette in space. They are known only through the movement that they make.

“The Exonerated” as seen in Chance Magazine
My interest in using haze is well defined in “The Exonerated” photos. The foggy effect in the air allows viewers to see beams of light and from which direction the beam is coming from, a visual that is quite intriguing to me.

“The Exonerated” as seen in Chance Magazine

This photograph stuck with me. It feels stark, but it still has so much texture and dimension in the landscape. Textured light on the bodies is an idea I have to create more intrigue and dimension to the dancers. It pulls the performers into a relationship with the space as the light in the air reacts to their movements within the space.

I want to play with angles of light that will cast elongated shadows of the dancers onto the floor. I plan to use this tool when the dancers are more upstage.

Some times you leave a design discussion with an exact answer, or at least a definition of concept. I will admit that I have left my discussions about this project more confused than when I enter them. The technical side of a project like this can really wear on your creative ability. That being said I am going to use this blog as a mind dump and look forward to whatever reaction it returns.

Dance with no defined music, both definitely will be happening. Ideally these too things line up, yet all I can think about it how is it going to be heard. I could drop a single wide-pattern microphone (large area of sound pickup) in the pit piping it into the existing center cluster of speakers in the hall and call it a day. What the listener may perceive is a very monochromatic sound environment. It could be either good or bad. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum every instrument/sound source can have a microphone with its own unique speaker and location throughout the hall. This is the much more technically complex route, but again is either good or bad. In this approach, the issue that could be posed is that the person farthest from the speaker may or may not perceive a given sound. That being said though when an orchestra plays there is typically no reinforcement, if you are extreme stage right you may or may not hear the instrument that is opposite of you. Again who is to say this is good or bad. I thought about the practicality of going in-between a monochromatic and very directional concept throughout the show in an interpretation of the dancers themselves. I think on a very practical level that this is unlikely. The way to accomplish such a task is to have a schedule of items, as a board op may not likely understand the concept on a fundamental level. They may or may not be able to accomplish such a free form transformation each night. Seeing as how there will likely not be the time and schedule to do such a thing I think we will be forced to choose one reinforcement concept and stick with it. My gut is telling me that the most practical approach is to go at this like it is a traditional L/R sound system. This would be easy to accomplish and would allow the opportunity to spread the sound of the instruments evenly so no matter where you sit in the house you can hear all the instruments. This approach is proven albeit boring, but it does work.

Having watched the dancing and talked with the production team I am not sure specific sounds as triggered by the production staff would really line up with what we are trying to do. The music, i believe, is free form and using a great deal of non-traditional sounds will be coving the emotional aspects necessary of sound. That does not mean that it is completely out of the picture though. As a designer I tend to really dislike attempts to recreate real sounds. For example if a script reads that a boy was chained up in the corner and you hear an obvious chain I get completely distracted. Whereas when I design that scene I would have may have a prepared piano piece in which you take a metal object and pluck away at the strings layering a bed of various distorted sounds. In relation to this project, I think if the moment for a sound or a weird effect bed is fitting it will present itself over the next couple of weeks. However I don’t think we are looking for a Doorbell or wind. I suppose those sorts of effects could be used and it would completely catch the audience off guard, like turning the house lights on mid performance for no apparent reason.

About traveling musicians, technically speaking this is not something that can be decided the week of the show. If it were something simple like a vocalist, or a guitar player then a 2-week notice would be plenty of time. If it is a tuba prop that is traveling back and forth through the dancers with a speaker crammed in its bell then I would say that that information needs to be known with in the next few days if not the next week. The unfortunate part is that nifty gear like that is hard to come by and having a finite amount of resources is the practical hurdle that we will have to fight with this design. Although I am not opposed to the idea, it just takes a bit of time to manage. During the most recent production meeting we talked about possibly elevating the pit to a level where the musicians could be special with lights and then possibly made to look larger than life with projections. I worked with music producer that used the Grand VJ software when performing that integrated sound and video (through electrical waves and digital information). We would take a camera feed and put it on soloist and manipulate the performer based on the sounds sent form the mixing board as well as from the keyboardist (triggering scenes). It is a concept of integration of sound and video that we could look into for just that effect in this performance.

I have not dealt much with dance in my time as a designer; thought the times I have it has been very rigid. The videos posted are far from rigid leaving me with a bit unsure of what is my course of action. All too often a sound designer is looked at as someone to provide a sound bed or a sound effect in conjunction with the directors vision, in this project I don’t believe that to be the case. I think honestly that my role in being a successful designer is too provide the best possible set of systems that help to enhance the visions of the musicians, provide seamless integration with the other designers, and add a level of contrast only if the project sees fit to it. Or………. I could be wrong about the whole thing. That’s the beauty of this project.

Music For Thought

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-JrXcTifyQ

In the fashion class we are immersed in a creative process led by Susan Becker to discover the costumes for the November Dance concert.  We have been riffing off images from the blog writings that choreographers have posted, and looking at the movement on video. From this source we have created story boards of found images and our own sketches, and created mind-maps as ways of brain storming and discovering direction for the costumes. At the moment we are draping forms and creating ideas using large tee shirts. The colors you see in these images are random and not the color scheme for the costumes themselves.

The idea is to make up some prototypes that students can wear during the dance jam next Thursday evening to see them on moving bodies.

Here are some examples of found images / sketches / mind-maps and draped forms from class on Wednesday October 2nd……………

This week with Philip has been one of the most unique dance experiences I have had yet. To begin his section of the piece, each dancer performers a part of the previous choreography. Although at that moment in the piece we are each doing something different, it creates a beautiful continuity with the previous choreographers.

Working with my fellow dancers and being given the same instructions, but projecting different variations of the choreography gives such a mature and interesting feel to the piece. With the simple instruction of “jump into each other’s arms” or “nudge one another”, we have not only created a dance, but an intriguing and powerful piece of art. The choreography of sitting on our knees, while looking side to side and moving forward and back seemed simple as an instruction, but with the right intention and connections between all of us dancers together, it is beautiful artistry that I know will capture the eye of the audience. I really enjoyed working with Philip because he tends to choreograph by feeding off of the the energy of his dancers.  His unique choreographic composition of movement was an honor to be apart of.

I always start with a collective warm up and on my first rehearsal we started with a focus on the breath. We spend most of the rehearsal doing some basic experiments with breath and ended up working in pairs. From there we worked on creating duets and one trio with the only instruction that the movement had to feel good. The dancers could decide to make a partner duet or make a phrase together. These duets had a strong sense of presence and attention to body and relationship. In the next rehearsal I started to put the material together and manipulated it minimally, mostly through speed and spacing. It was a satisfying and moving experience to work with the group. I was hoping to give them material that they could rest in at some point in the piece.

Video files are now here:

https://uofi.box.com/s/2op8tkxvnp5dvym9y6j9

Music files are here:

https://uofi.box.com/s/g9a8b7ovab52c2r8hzh8

This week we didn’t record any video. The mouse was dead, we were without batteries, and I am not enough of a technical wizard to control a computer without a mouse. I believe Jennifer got some video which may be posted later, but that is not the point.

What is the importance of video to this process? Do we really need to document each step of the process? On the one hand, it is great. We have a clean record of what is happening and what has happened to give us an idea of how to move forward. The production team, musicians and costume class that are working on the show have some visual information to work off of. I am truly sorry that I am not able to give those parties video this week.

But for the dancers and choreographers, I think this week’s lack of video poses different questions. How much control do we exert over this process? What is against the rules? The very nature of this year’s November Dance is to allow for an evolving dialogue that we have less control over. Does making videos leave us too attached to the results? With video, will we strive to bring back the qualities and original intentions of the work? Without video, might we find ourselves arriving at  a different place? Might we be able to better invest in or explore the ephemeral nature of our work? When do we let go, and let it be what it will?

As rehearsal director, I have noticed that the inclination of the choreographers is additive. The changes that they have made to what is set previously are relatively minor. There has been little cutting of material and rearranging of material. Some choreographers have exerted a desire to continue influencing the process even as it is handed off to the next choreographer through performance notes for me to give the dancers. I am not saying this is right or wrong, just bring it into question.

As a dancer in the project, I am realizing how quickly certain material changes in my and my fellow dancers’ bodies–when we have days off and when we shift to the perspective of a new choreographer and musician. My inclination is to allow these changes to become a part of the material instead of working to recover what a choreographer may have instructed us to do a week or three weeks ago. If the current choreographer gives us a note on how to do it or change it, great, but once they leave, we move on, and it is out of their hands.

This ability to move on is a unique type of agency to have as a dancer within a piece that is set by choreographers outside of our “dancer” group. And I am realizing that this agency is what this project is all about. There are many groups involved in the creation of “Big Tiny Little Dance”: the dancers, the choreographers, the musicians, the lighting and technical designers, the video artist… And there is nothing to say that even though we are coming together to make one evening-length work, we can’t all make our own decisions completely independent of each other. This turns the idea of collaboration on its head (or at least its side).

I am curious and excited to see how each of these groups exercise their agency. Will our lighting designer choose to turn out the lights on us for five minutes so that you can only hear the sounds of our bodies moving against the floor? Will the music be so full that it is prioritized over the dance? Will the video on its own take up a half hour of our hour-length show? Will we be left to our own devices to dance without costume, theatrical lighting and music to fill our theatrical images? Will all of the various artists involved come together in a moment of complete improvisation? These are all possibilities. I can’t wait to see what comes next.