Rosemary Butcher

I didn't know what to expect from this piece becasue I don't think I've seen any of her work before, especially not live. I was anticipating what to expect because we had been recommnded so strongly to come and see it.

After watching the piece, I didn't quite know what to think. I had made plenty of notes throughout the duration of the performance but I couldn't quite sum it up. I tend to pick up on smaller details rather than the bigger picture and this is why I believe I didn't know what to say.

Here are the notes I made to try to help me explain what I saw and my views on the work.

• Basic hand gestures
• Crossing pathways
• Exploration
• Discovery
• Clear and defined
• Sudden shift
• Site responsive
• Rotations
• Touch and sense
• Pitter patter
• Careful
• Minimal
• Simplisitc
• Rebound
• Pressing
• Hypnotic
• Hollows in the skin

Spilt Milk

Wednesday 7th November

• Showing different Social Dances.
• Metronome.
• Dancing with the hands- gestures.
• Humour.
• Using classical music for more modern dances.
• Popular dance crazes.
• Dance theatre.

I really enjoyed watching this piece because everybody could relate to it in some way. Everybody knew the popular dance crazes even if they did not know the social dances as well. The use of repetition made it easy to watch because it would always come back to a familiar point you had seen before.

I think having now entered my second year I am becoming increasingly aware of my FMP next year and having to think of ideas for my own work. I am seeing work in a whole new perspective and retaining ideas others have used in order to widen my vocabulary for my own project.

Katye Coe- Work in Progress Showing

Replacing me with her

This work investigates how it is to be seen and heard... an interrogation of self and selves... a wrestle with the unknown without improvisation... inviting questions in space and thinking... and a little bit of English Dancing!

 Tonight is a work in progress and your thoughts are welcome

I acknowledge the text of philosopher Emmanual Levinas (Outside the Subject) and the poems of Jorie Graham (Notes on the reality of Self). Also thanks to Manuela Bondavalli and the To Dance Festival 2012 in Brescia, Milan where the first chapter of this work was realised in September this year.

Katye Coe

 

 

 

•  I understand the idea of being seen and heard in relation to the piece.
• I understand the interrogation of self.
• I can see the characteristics of the performer in the piece, ie. running.
• I understand the the English Dancing!
• Interrogation of selves? Who?
• Where did it come from?
• I don't understand the piece as a whole and I am fine with saying I don't understand. Its not like im trying to offend the artist by saying I don't get it, but I just don't? I understand aspects within it quite easily but I don't feel the title reflects what I saw and understood in the work.
   

Motherland

Thursday 1st November 2012
Motherland
Vincent Dance Theatre
Birmingham Hippodrome
Directed by Charlottle Vincent

I did not really know what to expect from this piece before going to see it. I've never heard of Vincent Dance Theatre and I haven't seen any other work by Charlotte Vincent.

After watching Motherland, I feel I have some much food for thought. There seemed to be so many symbolic meanings in the piece that I could relate to because we have talked about them in either Placing Practise in Context or Dance Analysis.

Motherland to me, was very hard hitting, raw and truthful.

I made some quite in depth notes during the performance which take a lot of explaining! Here are some of the ideas that I took away from the piece.

• Gender
• Age difference
• Unity
• Strength
• Naivety
• Male gaze
• Humour
• Traditional stereotypes
• Challenging stereotypes
• Nature
• Fertility
• Sexuality
• Repetition
• Frustrations
• Blood
• Roles
• Single Parenthood
• Apposing styles of music (Classical and Rock).
• Maturity
• Modern Society

Tino Sehgal

Here are two videos I took for Tino Sehgal's work whilst at the Tate Modern...

Trip to the Tate Modern!!

Monday 22nd October 2012
 
Tino Sehgal- Turbine Gallery

The Tino Sehgal piece really interested and intrigued me. It made me ask questions about what the piece was about/ based on...

Why the repetion of moving up and down the hall?

What were the stories? Did they represent an influential moment within their life?

Why did the speed change?

What was the starting point/ stimulus for the piece?

Would it mean something different if it was shown in a different place?





The Tanks

 

 

 

Lauren Moore- Body Stories

I found it interesting to see an MA piece of dance work because this is something I could always progress to in the future once I have finished my degree. We only saw one half of the piece because it was intended as a duet. It was based on as the title suggests, body stories and emotions recollected from childhood. The movement was initially improvised with the use of layering and repetition.

The creative process and research that Lauren had done seemed very deep and thought provoking. It took her quite a time into her making process to actually come up with the final ideas. She also made a lot of choreography that she did not use in the finalised piece. She discussed how the piece reflects memories from her childhood and the emotions she felt. She explored these different emotions through her movement. She was trying to make the movements feel literal to how she had felt. It seems harder to explain than how Lauren explained it but of course, she has dedicated a lot of her time into studying this.

The style of movement that Lauren performed was very fluid and easy to watch. I feel it will influence me in my own choreography and movement because I would like to dance with the same quality of movement that she had. I aspire to make work in a similar style to this because I feel there is a lot to explore and it is contrasting to what I have done previously. The movements were sometimes intricate and sometimes much more bold. She portrayed the emotion of vulnerability well not only through her movement but her expressions too.

I would have liked to have seen the piece as a whole with both dancers because Lauren said she could feed off her partner. I wonder whether she would have performed differently in that situation?

Map Dance Performance

Wednesday 28th March 2012

1.   See

Solo

Stillness

Intricate, small detailed hand gestures

2.   Edges

Minimalistic sound scape

Random became organised

Martial arts inspired?

Does the style of costume represent the possible martial arts theme?

Busy space

Intricate movement in unison

3.   Listen

Same idea as no. 1 but as a duet

Movement reflects quality in the music

4.   Strange Journey (2010)

Stomping

Dialogue on track

Lifting

Interchanging between solo, duet, trio and group dance sequences

Dancers speaking

Change in atmosphere

Unison changing patterns

Dramatic

Solemn/ Fear

Circling the space

Symbolism- 2 people

Traditional folk became tribal drums

Freedom

Dancers coming and out of centre in turn

Physically demanding

5.   Wrong Songs

Talking nonsense

Books

Clicking/ Whistling

Began without music but was introduced later

Piano music

Confusing

Gasp and pause

Random

Staring

Percussive

Comical

6.   Here

Same idea as no. 1 and no. 3 but with 4 dancers

Accumulation

All pieces has orchestrated string music

Same motif ideas throughout all three pieces

7.   XX

Change in lighting

Layering music

Adding clothes

 Stereotypes of men and women

Twitches

Shouting

Staccato movements

Imitating men

Foil

Rugby

Variety in styles of music/ sound scape

Abuse?

Fighting

1 dress became 2 dresses

Became more lyrical style of dancing

Heart felt

Representative movements

Speaking through the meaning of movements  

Year 2 IPP Performances

Fiona Jackson- The traces left behind

• I liked the idea of creating a journey through space as well as recording ti on the paper at the same time.
• The quotes hanging gave me an insight to what Fiona thought was relevant to her piece. Almost looking at it from her perspective.
• It was interesting to look at the process she has gone through and developed by looking at the work leading up to the work she was creating on the day.
• It was my first experience of walking around a space looking at visual art as well as the movement as well. There was so many things to look at and take in.
• Were the marks on the paper deliberate and thought about or completely random?
• Inspired by other artists using the body to create a picture.

Oana Rotariu- Stages

• Based on the textures of different materials. How you can explore them and mold them to be what you want to be.
• Movement was varied. Sometimes slow, sometimes erratic.
• Putting the material up her top and cradling it- symbolising the relationship of mother and baby? Touch?
• The idea of dancing with just a small lamp is something I hadn't witnessed before. Made me look for closely at what she was  doing.
• The atmosphere in the room felt different to what it normally would in that room. Everyone was almost in a trance watching the piece. Silence.
• The silence meant you could hear the material on the floor or against Oana. I don't know if this is something she intended.

Julia McCaughley- Behind the mask

• This piece seemed very emotional and deep. It seemed a significant thing for Julia to do on a personal level as well as sharing it with an audience.
• I liked the setting for this piece because it is something that I didn't expect and somewhere I haven't been before.
• Hiding behind something that isn't you and then stripping it bare again. Exposing.
• Thought provoking piece. Made me ask questions about myself and society.
• People laughing in the audience- through shock? I think Julia did really well to remain focused at these times in her piece.
• Cleansing away the insecurities, impurities, becoming a new person, coming out into the open.

Joana Tischkau- Fieldwork

• This task seemed to be very personal because all of the items she used belonged to her and obviously represented something.
• Joana was a brave and fearless performed in order to undress whilst surrounded by the audience, especially with it being people she is close to.
• She was organising and categorising the items she had. What groups was she putting them in to?
• I really enjoyed listening to her speak the German language, it made me concentrate so much more than just silence because I was intrigued by it. She was making a list of some of the items she had brought with her.
• The music was interchanging and intermittent. I think that she had selected songs that meant something to her or reminded her of a memory throughout her life.
• I would like to know if this piece was improvised or structured.

Replay

I recently revisited the Siobhan Davies Replay site to look for dances that I could take inspiration from for mine and Emma's duet. I looked in the Scrapbook at all the things I had previously saved in there. The one thing that stood out for me was To Hand.

To Hand
Date: 2011
Venue: Whitechapel Gallery, London
Choreographer: Siobhan Davies
Film Director: Neil Wissink
Dance Artists: Matthias Sperling

I have a lot of questions to ask about this piece because it interests and intrigues me. For example, can it be classed as dance? Where did this ideas and inspiration come from? Was it specifically made for Matthias Sperling? How long did it take to create?

I think I have an interest in this piece because I have seen the work he create for the Yr 2 dancers and their performance projects. To date, I don't know much about his background and other work he has done but I would like to look into this further.

Collect, Categorise, Recycle

Wednesday 22nd February
Old Lanchester Gallery

After our improv lesson inspired by the idea of Collect, Categorise, Recycle we actually went to go and see what they had been doing. I was a durational piece starting at 10am and lasting until 3pm. The group had collected items such as plastic bags, bottle tops, paper, china and material over several weeks. These items could then be organised into different categories such as size order, colour and material type.

They encouraged people to bring unwanted items to add to the collection and then take away any items if they wanted them. It was a recycling process, given something away in exchange for something new. People were also encouraged to join in with the organising process.

By the time we got to them, a lot of the clothing had been taken away. We joined in and help them organise the collection into colours and size before creating one final picture.

Once they had finished and they were tidying up, I decided to look through some of the items to see if there was anything I wanted. I looked through the papers they had brought with all their class notes on. I managed to find a book list that may help me as well as notes about a particular artist we were recently looking at. I also took the book of notes created by Influx in the first term for the performance projects to look at and find inspiration from.

After getting involved and helping the 2nd and 3rd dancers, it made me want to do a project like this one at some point. It probably feels like a long time when your doing it but it looked really fun too.

Pictures to follow

Nutcracker Review

Nutcracker!
Choreographer: Matthew Bourne
Venue: Birmingham Hippodrome
10/02/12

I have become interested in watching Matthew Bourne's work since I worked as part of his 'rebourne' project in 2011. So far, I have seen Dorian Gray, Cinderella and now Nutcracker! There's something about the way he regenerates classic pieces into abstract contemporary that makes me want to see it. It is so clever how he can keep the storyline similar but change the setting, the characters and the whole portrayal of the piece.

As soon as I found out Nutcracker! was coming to Birmingham, I knew I had to see it. I have watched a small clip of the show before and I wanted to see the piece in its

entirety. I did not know the storyline to the show before hand and I was hoping I was going to be able to follow.

The whole piece was very theatrical and comical for contemporary dance, but I guess that comes with the nature of Matthew Bourne's ideas for the piece. It was bright and colourful in every aspect, costumes, set and choreogrpahy.

I feel that even though he is a contemporary choreographer, his work is still very classically based. Many of the dancers within his company have been classically trained. Is this just for Nutcracker! or for his other shows aswell? I like his style of choreography because I am very much a classical dancer myself. I feel it gives him permisson to do ballet turned in, in a contemporary fashion. There's something about his work that I really understnad and grasp, I just don't know what it is myself.

Overall, I enjoyed this show so much, even though I may have a slightly biased opinion! Everything about it is witty and clever and mezmorising to watch. Now I just want to see it again!!

 

 

Inventory Review

Inventory
Choreographed and performed by Gabriele Reuter
Thursday 19th January 2012

 

I didn’t really know what to expect from the piece before going to watch it. I went in with an open mind to see what I would understand from the performance and to see if I could gain inspiration from it. The piece uses both movement and text which I haven’t seen before. I was interested to see her take and interpretation of how this could be done.

As the piece started, she asked us for some audience participation. We were asked to stand up, shake ourselves off and then relax into our seats. I have never seen a piece where the audience are asked to participate however; I think this was a good idea because it helped the audience to bond with the performer and become a part of the piece. It felt like we were building a bond or trust with Gabriele Reuter herself.

“This piece is a personal journey across a completely empty stage.”

This quote from the programme really helps me to understand where she was going with the piece and what she was exploring throughout it. She created boxes of space for her individual thoughts. For example, there was space for her political views and space for vague ideas that didn’t really have a particular subject area. She spoke about them in such detail and moved freely between each space. She filled the empty room with imaginary boxes and shapes using her body and gestures. I found it really easy to visualise and imagine where one space ended and when the next one started.

There was so much detail and information to take in and I would like to see it again in order to full engage in everything that happened. I loved how simple the movement was but how complex the text could make it. It really did make me focus on the piece and concentrate from start to end.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching the piece, even though it required intense focus throughout. It made me realise how you don’t need props or scenery in order to represent different spaces or shapes on a stage. It made me learn that text can be used with movements at the same time. It made me question myself and relate it to things I have learnt in my own practise.

Forward in Motion: Unwritten Dance Review

Forward in Motion Dance Festival 2011

Shifting Time

Choreographed by Andrea Buckley
Performed by Unwritten Dance

This performance was more like a ‘conventional’ one in the way that the audience were seated and they had to remain there throughout. There was no interaction made between performers and dancers unlike Influx’s piece. The performance had a clear structure from beginning to end and the same group of dancers were used all the way through. They had a very large area to dance in and they made use of the many different entrances, exits and small areas at the side of the performance space.

On the whole, I really enjoyed watching this piece because it flowed so well together. Each sectioned blended into one another and the dancers complimented this with their ease of movement. The style of movement was lovely to watch and it is something I would like to do if I had the opportunity to. It was so fluid and always continuing, I felt as if I could have watched them moving for hours on end. They used the whole space with their movements and they were weaving in and out of each other effortlessly.  I liked the use of props because it was different to the other piece I saw. It was very clever how they were used and where they were placed in the space. On the other hand, they also used vocals like Influx and it was interesting to hear people speaking in their native language.

From watching the piece, I have a lot of unanswered questions which I am still trying to figure out by myself. I believe that the title of the piece, ‘Shifting Time’, was reflected very clearly throughout the performance. When the dancers created a line it almost felt as if they were creating their own time line. The bouncing of the ball represented the seconds. When they created a diagonal line with the props it appeared to me that the old was transferring into the new. More antique, old props were used and they slowly became newer and more recent. This shows the shift in time.

I also feel the name of the company can be seen as a theme during the piece.  When the dancers were talking in their own language and whispering to each other, it made me think that the information was unwritten. When one of the dancers was writing on the wall it didn’t make any sense, this also made me think of unwritten.

Forward in Motion: Influx Review

Forward in Motion Dance Festival 2011

Walking Piece

Choreographed by Matthias Sperling

Performed by Influx

I was able to see this performance several times because I was a member of the front of house team for this company. I have never seen a durational piece before and I think this is what intrigued me the most. In conventional theatre, the audience come in as the piece starts and leave as it ends; they stay in the same place throughout.  However, in this piece, the audience could come and go as they pleased staying for a little or as long as they liked. They were also free to move around the space and interact with the performers. There were two groups of performers who took in turn to come into the space.

Overall I thought the piece was very entertaining and I liked the way in which it moved around the space, it wasn’t stereotypical of a normal dance piece.  The movements seem very pedestrianized yet random at the same time. They could play around with the piece and make it fun to perform. The piece consisted of the same elements every time but done in slightly different ways, this kept the performers on their toes. It meant they never knew what to expect and they could humour themselves without having to worry about keeping a straight face. I liked how vocal was also used by the dancers as it gave the audience the opportunity to interact and answer the question. I also liked the lifts used because I haven’t seen anything like that before in dance.

From watching the performance, I still don’t have a clear understanding of why it was called ‘Walking Piece’.  Having listened to the Yr2 students talk about how they created the piece, I can now understand why it seems so random. They played a series of games with the choreographer Matthias Sperling and then he put those games into an order and this became the piece. The piece did seem to have a lot of walking in it though so that may explain the reasoning behind the title.