Introduction

One part of my project was that I had to choreograph an original work on dancers from our conservatory. I chose to choreograph a dance in four movements titled "Flawed Beauty." I aimed to explore ideas such as aesthetic & physical beauty, the body, difference, and ideas we impose on ourselves relating all of the above. Below, I've outlined key points of the choreography and creation process as well as the administrative details.

Administrative Work

Between myself and Sarah, we had seventeen girls to work with, and having been blessed with so much talent, we worked very hard to give every girl a chance to participate and be on stage. Ordinarily, these girls get two performances a year - one in the winter and one in the spring - so our pieces were an extra performance opportunity for the dancers who wanted to work hard to showcase their talents. I took eight girls for my piece plus one understudy. Sarah and I also worked to make sure no one dancer was overburdened with learning choreography or attending rehearsals. Following auditions, we posted a formal cast list (below) and collected emails for communication. We then would post rehearsal schedules every weekend for the following week. After my rehearsals, which happened on Monday and Tuesday nights, I would send a follow-up email with rehearsal videos. I would also remind my dancers of rehearsal times by email as well.

Auditions

I held my auditions following an evening class during the last week in January. Ideally, this would have given us three months to complete our pieces. I structured my audition as more of a class - I took the dancers through several warmup exercises that I've learned across my study of modern dance. We began on the floor with a back exercise, moving through plies, tendus, and grand battements, incorporating their ballet work with back and spinal exercises. We then moved to across-the-floor work, where I pushed them a little further beyond their comfort zones. I experimented with changes in tempo, their speed at picking up choreography, transition from standing to floor work, and their willingness to let go and try something new. I was happy to see all of the girls giving it their best effort and trying things that many of them had never even seen before, especially the younger ones. For the final part of the audition, I asked the dancers to simply walk across the floor - something I learned that Paul Taylor used to ask of his auditionees. I've done the walk, but this was the first time watching it, and I was shocked at how much it really does reveal about oneself. I saw discomfort and awkwardness and all the ways the dancers tried to escape it, but I also saw confidence and calmness, and how hard the dancers worked to hold onto those qualities as well.

Rehearsals

As I stated above, my dancers met Monday and Tuesday nights following their evening classes. I did my best to schedule rehearsals on nights I knew my dancers would already be there, so that they wouldn't have to worry about coming in very late or scheduling an additional night at the studio. We would work for between one and one and a half hours each night.

For my first rehearsal, I discussed what my goals were for the piece, as well as the ideas I had and the basic structure of the movements. We listened to the music, and I asked for their immediate feelings, expectations, and questions. I tried to emphasize that my choreography would be a joint creation between myself and the dancers. If anything they did felt wrong or uncomfortable, we would work together to make it make sense in their bodies.

As we moved forward, we moved through choreography rather quickly. I ended up finishing two out of my four movements before our semester was abruptly ended. My dancers learned the choreography just as quickly and remembered it, which is an achievement in itself! There were definitely some parts that took a lot more workshopping than others - for example, in the first movement there is a running circle that changed two or three times from its initial state, because the timing was off and the dancers weren't getting to the spots I wanted them at. I recognized what wasn't working and did my best to alter it without compromising the initial gravity of the idea.

Movement I

My original ideas were more about exploring different qualities of movement, but about halfway through choreographing the first movement I discovered a storyline within those different qualities. There became a leader, a main character, who struggled to fit into and match with the other dancers in the piece. She reveals herself as different within the circle, then breaks free and asks for acceptance of the other dancers. They shun her, pointing at and touching her, examining the physical difference she brings to the stage. At the end, they run off, disgusted by her offer but also engaged by the possibility - the option to break free.

Movement II

I struggled more with the choreography for the second movement. The music is very repetitive and rhythmic, and I had difficulty with discovering the drive and reaction behind the movement. Following the first movement, the main character falls to the floor, angry and hurt that her vulnerability was rejected. I decided to channel that anger - at herself, at the others, at the system that discouraged difference - into the movement for the second section. The three dancers can be seen stopping each other from being vulnerable, hitting themselves, covering their bodies with their hands, and generally dancing in a disjointed and chaotic way. At the end, they fall to the ground, arms open in another offering, as if the spirit has moved beyond the anger and is desperate for comfort.

Movement III & IV

I was unable to choreograph the rest of the pieces, but I was able to film a movement study with my ideas for the third movement. This piece was the one that inspired the rest of the storyline. The fluid and lyrical music painted two dancers in my head - the main character, and the teacher, or guide. My goal was to show how guidance and acceptance from just one person can change the outlook of an entire group. I planned to have the main character and the teacher in a duet, beginning with the main character alone onstage following her "angry outburst." She rises, the focus inward on herself, exploring how her own body moves through space. As she turns, the teacher enters, her own physical limitations on full display through her movements. The interaction between the two begins with connection, the sharing of struggle, and moves toward encouragement, comparison of survival, of pain management. In the end, the teacher disappears, leaving the main character to move forward in her journey of visibility and vulnerability. The split-screen movement study below is not meant to explicitly represent both characters - it's simply two takes of improvisational dance to the music with these themes in mind.

The fourth movement was meant to bring the original eight dancers back onstage, but with an air of community and acceptance rather than the distrust and intrigue they left the stage with in the first movement.