Movement projects! I'll first talk about my process with my own movement project and then I'll write about some thoughts watching my peers and their projects. :)
I already discussed this a bit in my 'practice makes permanent' post, but I struggled with this movement project. I had my idea and I had the piece of music that I wanted to use, but I was struggling to figure out what to do during the music. I had planned on just kind of improv-ing it from the top of the music and see where it landed me. The music is 4 minutes and 9 seconds, and I got done at the 1 minute and 30 second mark.
Oy vey.
I had accomplished all the things I had wanted to, but I had ended FAR too early and the storyline itself was a bit rushed. So. What to do? I initially just tried to add moves in between big events or moments that I wanted/needed in my piece. But that wasn't stretching out the time as much as I needed it to and it felt very false and empty. The moves were unmotivated and only put in there to fill up the time. I was stretching ideas across much longer stretches of time than they were capable of. So that wasn't working. Now what?
It finally dawned on me that this idea I had was very much so a folk tale or fairy tale of some sort. When I had originally thought of this idea forever ago, my intention was to write a story about it. I hadn't even thought of translating it to movement. So maybe that's what I could do. Maybe I could flesh out this world, this relationship and what it was like before they found each other. So that's what I did.
It took me about 2 days to get the first draft done. Thank heavens it was only a short story lol. But that draft gave me what I needed. I knew that my movement project could only reflect one of my character's perspectives, and from my draft, the Wind had more of a dynamic journey to follow, so I decided that the project would be from her perspective.
I revamped my movement project and went through the piece bit by bit. I would have moments or ideas that I discovered in my writing and I tried to express those moments through movement. I would workshop the events and try various things and practice little 30-second blocks at a time. I went chunk by chunk until I got to the end of piece. At last!! I made it through the entire piece and had everything figured out. I didn't go into such exact detail of "And on beat 4, my hand will raise and I will do a contraction." I didn't do that, but I blocked out the areas and the general ideas of movements I would do. By doing this, I had a set plan of what to do while still leaving enough room to have it still be spontaneous and fresh each time I did it. Certain things happened in different times, sometimes I did completely different things, but I had a blueprint, and that was the most important thing.
There was only 1 moment that I specifically did not block or choreograph or plan in any way though. In the moment where the Sun and Wind dance across the sky for the first time together, I did not want that to be blocked. I knew that that moment was a jubilant moment and I just wanted to do whatever I felt in that moment. How would that joy and celebration look and feel like when I got there after going on this journey beforehand? I had some ideas of what I could do in that specific block of time, but I never went through it trying to figure out the perfect movements to go with it. I let it be what it was.
I felt pretty good about how my project went in class. I accomplished all the things that I wanted to do and I hit all the things I had planned and yeah. And I didn't fall or break anything! Hooray! I definitely could have been more locked into my other and the given circumstances of the story however. I think I was so concentrated on hitting the moments I had planned with the music in the correct spots that I wasn't fully invested in the story itself. So yeah. That could have been better, but asides from that, I think the rest of the project went well. :)
Watching everyone else perform was so so awesome. I feel like this movement project was leaps and bounds different from what everyone presented in the first round. I hesitate to use the word 'better' since it's such a subjective term and there's a lot of baggage that comes with it, but also... I think everyone's projects were 'better' than their first ones. Which is good because that shows improvement! The stories felt clearer to me overall. The stakes were clearer, the other and the connection to the other in their scenes was much clearer, etc. etc. I was really invested in everyone's projects and I loved watching everyone. I'm really proud of us all and I think all of us have made great progress this semester and it was really moving to see everyone presenting really personal and beautiful stories.
Sidenote: I thought it was kinda funny. In the last movement project, I did a project that was very personal to me and my own life story, whereas a lot of people did random stories or things that weren't connected to their life. But this round, I did a random story that wasn't connected to my life while everyone else performed things that were related to their life. I just thought that was interesting and funny :) how the turn tables
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