Meaning Behind Movement
What I have leant is that dance can become repetitive and loose meaning or association to what the movement was portraying in the beginning. In the studio I find myself focusing on technique and executing the choreography and then learning the emotion and adding my personality behind the movements. Hip Hop as a dance style within my training is new and exciting; to try new things, to learn and develop within my own dance practice and artistic forms from performing to choreographing to improvising. Natasha Gooden brought a lyrical, commercial routine to the class to challenge our ability to be emotional and perform in order to understand the impact of performing within a routine. This is good practice before running through the touring works in the studio as an insight and reminder that the studio is the place to act through dancing and believe what you are doing. As a habit, I know that I struggle to bring my performative quality into the studio due to a lack of confidence and active practice. Gooden wanted to see our own emotional interpretation of the music and find a reason to perform. As a result of this I re-learnt that dance is something to express how you feel rather than going through the motions. Following this, I rediscovered the reason why I started dancing in the first place. I enjoyed the reason to forget what was going on outside the studio and channel how I felt within the class phrases which was my main motivation for dancing and performing.
Relating to the touring piece and repeating the works, has been helpful for polishing and connecting with each dancer in the space, for practice and confidence within the movement; however, I personally felt the performative quality of each piece is lacking. This might be due to the tiredness and worry of touring becoming so close, in that what was focused on is the counts and movement, forgetting about the meaning of some of the phrases which became stagnant. Overall, I found that doing the same material and repetition of movement can cause an emotional detachment from what the essence of the movement is.
‘Movement is a vast communicating language...often it is a phrase of actions that portrays a single ‘word’ meaning, or conversely, one movement can give a whole ‘paragraph’ of content.’ (Smith-Autard, 2010, pg 24)
Movement, whether abstract or literal, should translate a meaning or motivation behind each action and if an emotional o performative state is missing then it is clear that the movement needs re-looking at regarding the intention and/or rhythm. Going forward, I aim to revisit the meaning of movement sequences with confidence to portray the reason for moving that way which had been forgotten. For example, in 'Arrival' by Kevin Finnan, I aim to continue with what I have learnt within performing and being active in finding the meaning to what the movement means to me. An interview with Finnan about the piece and what he hopes for as a choreographer, is for the audience to "have an emotional connection... not feel as alone in their own experiences" (Behind the Scenes Interview, 2022, 02:00). It is the responsibility of the performer to make the piece come to life and an experience for the audience which comes from believing the meaning of the performance and resonating with the movement.
[Edit]: After performing on stage, first time since 2019, I found myself embodying the movement and exploring new connections and emotions in the space. Each piece felt different each time I perform is as the meaning and story along the piece changes and adapts. Self feedback from performing is that I really believed what I was performing, that each gesture and accent had a motivation behind it.
Bibliography:
Smith-Autard, J. (2010) Dance Composition, London, Bloomsbury Methuen Drama. Available from: < http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781408167014.0006 > [accessed on 12.04.2022]
Emergence Dance Company Instagram (20th January 2022) Behind the Scenes Interview with Kevin Finnan, [online video] Available from <https://www.instagram.com/p/CY911SbpkP2/ >
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