Joss Arnott Piece - Final Evaluation
Our dance piece was about savage people who are protecting their land like animals, through the piece you see how all the dancers fight for the land until one remains. The inspiration was Joss Arnott's piece called "Rush" which is where we took certain phrases and intertwined them together to form our piece. An example of this is the hand gesture part after our solo parts. We used different motifs from the piece like in the main phrase the whole first part was taken from Joss Arnotts piece because it was so powerful and we all really liked it. We also took the idea of being "savage" and "animalistic" characters so therefore, are movements had to be sharp, powerful and dynamic.
The dance piece was inspired by the contemporary dance style. It was inspired by the contemporary dance style because Joss Arnott's piece was very contemporary based and it is because the contemporary dance style is very expressive and therefore, we could show through our movement emotion and also through our facial expressions.
In the performance, one of my strengths was my timing with the rest of the dancers. We were all able to keep together as a group whilst performing. An example of this would be the start of the main phrase were our timing was really good. Also, as a group we decided to be savage, amazon characters so I projected an aggressive and warlike facial expressions to show my character. Another strength of mine was I kept my focus (eyeline) up at the audience most of the time, I never really looked at the other dances or at the floor. However, an example of when I looked at the floor or the other dancers was when the group in canon, falls to the floor in a lunge. In addition, I did lower my focus to the floor and to the other dancers at this point but I feel this could have been effective because it could show how we all watched each other fall which links to the idea of us "fighting for the space" and trying to better one and other by coping the movement of the performer before in canon. Another strength in my performance was my musicality. At the start when I performed my solo part I performed a head movement where I tilted my neck to the right using my right hand when the song began to enter its chorus. Furthermore, I also performed with strong arms and legs. As shown through movements such as, leg kicks and jumps.
One of the main challenges I found when performing this piece was the pace of the movement. Throughout the piece the movement is fast paced and therefore can be difficult to perform as a group because it means we struggled with timing between the group, however on the final performance our timing was really good. Another improvement I could make is my flexibility. I struggle and cannot perform as well with certain moves such as, the leg kick at the start of the main phrase and the kick with a half turn on the floor with my left leg supported by my left hand. Another improvement I could make would be my spatial awareness. At one point in the performance I rolled into the side curtain on my right-hand side. I also feel I could improve on my extension of my arms and legs in certain movements. In the final performance I should have extended movements such as, the kick round on the floor and the straight leg attitude, if I had extended these movements they may have looked more effective. Another main challenge for me personally was not falling on the leg kick in the main phrase. In our first rehearsal I fell when doing this movement and therefore, panicked ever since, however, when we performed I did not fall and I performed the movement fine.
A challenge when composing this piece was the stimuli or the theme of the piece. This is because we had to make sure that the movement fit with the theme and new and different movement material that would be different to the other dancers. For example, at the start of the piece we were told to make a solo that fit our ability. Trying to think of new material wasn’t that hard however, the linking of each movement and making sure the phrase looked correct and not dysfunctional was difficult. For example, near the end of my solo part I was originally just moving to the back of the diamond by running to down stage right however, after a while of trying new things and exploring I decided to perform a balance with my left leg bent, my left foot flexed and my hands in claw shapes which then led me into a jump where I hit my fists against my knee caps in a ball/ tuck shape. One of the main challenges when composing was I found I wasn’t confident enough to put ideas forward in my group so when it came to me creating my own movement material I struggled because I didn’t feel confident enough with my own ability and ideas. I feel another challenge when composing this piece was having so much room for movement. The style of contemporary does not have many boundaries / rules and is quite free compared to other genres such as, ballet. Therefore, I feel as a group we kept exploring new movement which created discussions on which movement to use.
The groups teamwork was great, we all listened to others ideas and worked together as a group to create ideas. We also respected each-others abilities when composing the piece, for example, when we lunge and roll on our backs in canon, I struggle with floor work and take longer to get up so the rest of the group waited until I had got up to start the next part. When talking about my leadership skills I know I did not lead the group at any point and I feel I could have been more of a leader when composing the piece and therefore, next time when we compose a piece I will try harder to use my leadership skills. However, when we did our solo parts I was kind of my own leader because I composed it myself with a bit of influence from the other members.
Overall, I feel we performed the piece really well and I really liked the piece we based it off and the movement style we used. However, I feel I didn’t perform it to the best of my ability because I struggled with certain movements such as, leg kick in the main phrase and my timing was a little out sometimes. To improve for future pieces, I feel I need to focus on my flexibility, extension and alignment when performing and also my focus and to not pull faces when I am unsure of movement. On the other hand, I think the piece went really well and I really enjoyed composing and performing this piece.
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