Making Movement With The Chance Method

WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE AMBITION?

To always feel accomplished in the material I have made and to motivate and inspire others to explore this energizing art form. I want to let my mind wander willingly, expressing my emotions through the use of movement. I want to be more aware of how words can manipulate creativity and that "in order to be creative, you have to prepare to be creative",(Tharp, 2008).

   WHAT ARE THE OBSTACLES TO THIS AMBITION?

1)Fear of disappointing myself and thinking it's going to be unsuccessful before it has even begun. 

2)Being aware of what other people think.

3) Having lots of motivation to having no motivation, "The desire to do everything fully, which, in the end, often stops us from doing anything at all",(Burrows, 2010).

  Twyla Tharp's, 'The Creative Habit', has allowed me to reflect on my goals and ambitions for my choreography and has aided me in leaving any negative preconceptions of my achievements behind. By reading this book, I have concluded that self-judgement is a factor that has always been an issue within my work. Identifying my incapability’s and recognising qualities in others that I don’t possess myself, makes me undervalue my strengths. 

  These questions have helped me establish new targets within my work with a new, invigorated energy, whilst challenging my ability to spontaneously present innovative ideas. During this session, I didn't want to over-analyze my work, so used Merce Cunninghams Chance Method to aid me in finding an emotive quality of movement. In my 'Chosen Practitioner' blog, I revealed that I was fascinated by Bonechelis sharp intricate steps, which is enriched by the movements being closely interwoven with the music. I wanted to add this source of inspiration within my piece, but finding somewhere to begin was difficult. 

This section of my piece is called 'NURTURE', in which I am only using the upper half of my body to portray the love I crave in my relationship. I thought of 7 small gestures that communicated the abandonment she feels and how she years for compassion and warmth. These 7 gestures are seen to the left. I then labelled them 1-7,  (1- top left, 2- top middle, 3- top right, 4- middle left, 5- middle right, 6- bottom left, 7-bottom right). Once I had ordered these, I then got a dice app on my phone and it randomly generated a number. I wrote down the sequence of the new sequence of numbers (7,3,6,5,4,2,1) and began creating my small motif

In Rehearsal:  

In performance: 

When I added the music to my movement, I felt a connection with my character that I hadn't uncovered before, The tenderness of the music overlapping with my motif gave me a sense of security and I felt like this part of my choreography would be my characters safe place. It's a place for her to feel vulnerable and for her to unearth her true emotions with no judgement from the audience. The fluidity within the movements allows the audience's attention to be completely immersed with the stillness of this section.

References

Burrows, J., 2010. A choreographer's handbook. p.54.

                      Tharp, T., 2008. The Creative Habit. New York: Simon & Schuster, pp.46