I’ve always had hard time with abstracting movement so that it is not a “mickey-moused” movement phrase. This is especially true for my pieces that could be considered representational dances. “In representational dance, the dance movement is necessarily unlike what it represents. The difference between the movement and what it represents renders representation a possibility” (Fraleigh 116). I couldn’t help but thinking that abstracting is one way to create that difference between the movement and representation that is coming from the intent. The movement of my solo has my interpretation of movement that would be found in a carnival. The inspiration was derived from characters you would find within a carnival such as the lady with a mermaid tail, the juggler, the strongest man, the tight rope walker, and the lady on the horse. The abstraction of these ideas led to the unique movement vocabulary within the first section. For the rest of the dance the difference is found within the scary derivation of a fun time one would spend at a carnival. With the use of abstraction I have been able to create movement that is different from what it represents so that representation of my intent is possible.
I was worried about how I would make my intent more about artistic value than entertainment when I first thought of the idea of working with carnivals on my mind. My first instinct was to go on a theatrical route that would focus on the unique characters within. The first few rehearsals I had with this in mind produced comical movement phrases that I wasn’t quite happy with artistically. Although this is a valid way of interpreting intent, I felt that the movement coming from this point of view was purely for entertainment and not for art. Looking back I can see how the idea that “art makes meaning” is important when starting to choreograph. “That is, art worlds are not life worlds, but create meanings of their own” (Fraleigh 116). The path that I chose as a choreographer gave me a chance to create a meaningful art world of my own. The idea of investigating movement creation from the darker side of carnival freaks made choreographing as an art form much easier. Instead of creating movement with entertainment in mind, movement came to my body organically as a way to create a new world of dance.
This different movement that came to me within the first week of my process was new, fresh, and more exciting. “Meaning in dance is integral with the body and its motion; yet the dance work in its entirety transcends this medium as it becomes a meaningful whole” (Fraleigh 117). I have noticed that when I give my dancers movement, it initially looks much different from what my body produces. It took several rehearsals before I could see my movement becoming prevalent in their bodies. It took time for them to really feel the direction I was going for, and I almost decided to change quite a bit of the dance before they got it. Instead of giving up and settling for a different movement vocabulary, I waited for them to truly embody the choreography. Now, the meaning of my dance, which is showing the dark and ugly side of those carnival freaks, can now be seen from the dancers’ embodiment of the motion I created.
Even though I have purposely created a piece of art that holds meaning behind the movement, I do understand that not all dance as art has to be “overtly expressive” (Fraleigh 118). Merce Cunningham who “had already cooled down expression in modern dance,” was a choreographer who executed this type of choreography excellently. His post modern work set a new standard for creating dance pieces, and his style was brilliant; however I have a hard time creating movement for movement’s sake. It is also by the contrast of those like Cunningham that the expressiveness of my piece, as well as others’, is able to stand out. “The attempt to destroy values embedded in vividly expressive movement (which extends the body’s capacities and indeed indicates its reach toward the world and others) pointed out the vividly expressive as a quality by which we recognize dance” (Fraleigh 124). This has allowed the modern dance of today which is moving away from post modern to go back to that vividly expressive quality but in a different way of those before post modern. This is the great thing about modern dance and its ever changing qualities of value.
What Cunningham brought to the modern dance world was his sense of focus on his dancers’ precision, dance ability, and technical strength. Instead of creating with expressive intention, he created innovative movement that was aesthetically appealing. This brought me to the realization that it doesn’t matter if I were to be creating with an expressiveness or formalist point of view, the success of my art would come from how innovative it is. “Audience responsiveness depends on vital and inventive dance, which draws forth visionary intelligence” (Fraleigh 139). When considering dance choreography this visionary intelligence not only entails inventive movement, but an ability to set other aspects of the dance like groupings and facings so that the art work as a whole reads to the audience.
Although I have a firm knowledge of the history of modern dance I guess I never really came to the conclusion that “the field of modern dance in choreography and performance, both professionally and in education, has been created and sustained by women, in a very large measure” (Fraleigh 143). With the revolt against ballet as the main reason of modern dance’s coming about it does make sense for the women of the time to accomplish this. The breaking free of point shoes, rigid spines, and the codified ballet movement has allowed my generation to enjoy the freedom to choose between choreographing with strong technique or not, expressiveness, formalist, or any of the many choices we now have within modern dance.
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