Choreographing on Commotions

I've just spent the last week end in Manchester choreographing on a youth dance company called "Commotions". The company has about 12 members ranging from 12 to 18 years old. It is a very nice non professional company with varying dance abilities.

I was asked to come and create a 6 minutes piece on the subject of "secret", in two days. Sadly the lack of founding doesn't allow for more time but I thought that it would be a great challenge. Being a choreographer is still something new to me as I am more of a dancer and teacher. I started planning the work about two weeks before going to Manchester, mainly by making lots of material. By material I mean dance phrases. I also decided on what the music would be and I created a rough overall structure. Although the time with the company was short I also wanted to make sure that some of the material would come from the dancers.

I arrived on the Saturday morning and we got started right away. First I taught a big chunk of movement and then we started playing with the rough overall structure. I wanted to see if some of my structural ideas would work. When the dancers had done enough learning we moved on to a creative task. The task was to pair up and play with the idea of:
- one of them walking and staggering and occasionally reaching with one arm. As if lost or in need of help.
- the other one grabs the arm and pulls it. Playing with pull and push.

I don't think I explained it very well but they still came up with some great stuff. I should have broken it down a bit more and made the first instructions more physical. We would then have been able to move on to a more conceptual idea.
For the rest of the day we worked on setting each of these duets and we played with the general structure of the piece.

The following day we started by running through what we had done the day before. Then we carried on working on the overall organisation of the piece. By then a much clearer structure had started to appear:
1st part - group section
2nd part - duet,solo with group in the background
3rd part - group section to end

I then asked the dancers to make one duet out of all the duets they had made the day before (only using the best bits). We used that material for the last group section. We also worked on the duet and solo that are in the 2nd part.

The idea of "secret" evolved into something a bit different. My first idea was about an oppressed state such as a totalitarian regime. Trying to show people that are sad and with no individualities. In that sort of environment people have secrets, but only in their thoughts.

Debbie, who was helping me, shared the fact that it reminded her of "1984" by George Orwell. So we thought about it for a while and decided to call the piece "101" in reference to the room 101 in the book. This is the room where people get punished by having their worst nightmare realised.

So the piece became even clearer:
- group section (showing oppression and lack of individualities)
- duet, solo with group in background (expressing how the group feels inside)
- group section (oppression leads to revolution)

The darkness of the subject never seemed to be a problem for the dancers. It is nice to explore dark ideas every now and then. The ending suggests a positive future without making it too obvious.

By the end of the Sunday we had a piece. There was still some cleaning and rehearsing to do but the piece was there. The dancers worked really hard. I didn't give them any break apart from a 30 minutes lunch. They were so good, patient and understanding with me. I am very grateful to all the people that helped during these two days. Debbie, who invited me in the first place, was amazing. She was so good at pointing me in the right direction and giving ideas. I feel I have learnt a lot through this experience. This was really a great opportunity.

Thank you Commotions!

Big School Project end

This is it! I have finished the project last week. I managed to put on, a one hour production with 100 kids. I am really proud. It was hard and stressful but it was worth it. Most of the kids were quite sad that it was all over.

Since my last post I have been working on setting more and more of the choreographies. As the weeks passed the show was taking form. The media department was able to show me what they had done which allowed me to adapt the choreography.
In the after school sessions I worked with the time travellers. I came up with a script and we worked on it together. The three students would suggest changes so that they could say and learn their lines better. We worked on basic acting skills such as projection, articulation and timing.

Three days before the show we put everything together for the first time, the time travellers' scenes between each dances and the projections. I made a couple of adjustments with the time travellers. I had warned them to be ready for small changes at the last minute. It was very good that everything was ready at least a week before the show because when we got on stage to rehearse, the students could concentrate on all the new information they were getting. They didn't have to think about the choreography as they new it very well. They could work on their focus, their spacing and their entrances and exits.
These little details make a very big difference in the quality of a production.

The day before the show we did a dress run which went very well. It was a long day for the students. Technical rehearsals and dress runs can be hard for young ones as there is always a lot of waiting. The kids get easily bored so you have to make sure you have a good amount of staff to look after them and keep them busy.

On the day of the show we managed to do a rough run through, but not on stage. It allowed the students to have the choreography fresh is their heads.
The show went very well. The time travellers were brilliant and all the choreographies were beautifully danced. The projections were amazing and everything came nicely together. The audience (parents and school staff) loved it. It was rewarding for everyone. The hard work paid off.

One of the feedbacks I received was the fact that you could really see the kids' input. This is something that is very important to me and I am glad that people were able to see it. I questioned myself a lot on that matter. I could feel that some people along the process thought I should be teaching the students more moves. That is not what I wanted to do and I am glad I didn't. The choreography was made by the students and I. I came up with many ideas and moves but so did they. It was a collaboration.

The point of this adventure was to develop the students' creativity and it did. I had the last word on everything and I directed the whole thing but I got helped by the people dancing in it.

It might have been easier and less stressful to just come to each sessions and teach them every single move of the choreography but I strongly believe that it wouldn't have looked as good.

I am glad I kept going that way and didn't give in because the result was stunning.

Big school project

I have just started a new project with a technology college. It's a big challenge. I have four groups of about 25 kids aged between 9 and 15. Most of them with no dance experience. I see them once a week every week and after four months we need to have a show ready. It is very exciting and challenging. I have taught many workshops to similar kids but I never had to take on such a big project.

The show has to be about the history of the college as we will be celebrating its 140th anniversary. There is a media artist working with me. He is going to work with the kids as well. We also have the English Department involved. They will provide us with material such as poems, texts, etc. The show will be performed in the college so not on a proper stage but in a hall.

We're only just starting. I have seen the pupils three times so far. My aim is to get as much choreographic material from them as possible. It would be too easy to come and teach them every move. I want them to be creative and involved. It's not easy though. One of the groups in particular really needs to be spoon fed. So, for my next session I have decided to teach them a little choreography that they will have to transform. Other groups have been extremely creative with very little input so I think it will be easy to get something out of them.

The main reason why it is such a challenge isn't because they don't have much dancing experience. It is, I believe, because they are doing it as part of a school subject. They didn't really choose to be involved. The other thing making it a challenge is that each of the sessions are 50 minutes long. It is a very short time within which I have to warm them up and then create and rehearse a choreography. I have been talking with the teachers to maybe have some longer sessions.Creating with kids takes time.

The first three sessions went very well. I had them improvise, learn a choreography and make up their own. So from the next session on, we need to start devising choreography. The making of the show begins!