LESSON 9 - COMMITTING TO YOUR PIECE
Over the past 5 months we’ve spent dedicated time to bring together some of the most important components of choreography creation. Our path thus far has been:
Musicality & Song Mapping to organize and understand our music and how we want to use it.
Story Boards to envision the full concept for our piece.
Improvisation Approaches for Creation.
Creating a message to based our choreography around.
Building a story to convey that message and help guide our movement selection and choreography process.
Anticipating our audience and our setting to envision accordingly for the presentation of our piece.
Thinking about our performance space, and how we can use that element to support and convey our message.
The Dynamic Toolbox to create diversity with our current material.
Musical Cardiograms, envisioning the music, in order to be more specific with our musicality and understand our music.
Developing the Character, Energy and Projection we want to evoke and represent on stage.
Using our body energy and projection tactics to make sure our audience receives our message.
That is a lot of information, a lot of work on the part of all the students in this course, and a lot to take in. Do not expect yourself to retain everything on this first round. There is far too much conceptual information for it to completely sink in, it is after all, a process of evolving as a dancer and an artist. It’s like re-reading a book, or retaking a course that you felt like was challenging, every time you will have a larger capacity to take in more information, and details and more challenging concepts will sink further into your consciousness. This is a process that can only take course over time. Like an aged wine, your knowledge as a dancer, as well as like a person, only gets better over time. The more life experience you have, the more time you have to experience the information around you, a more learned person and dancer you will become. So don’t rush! Enjoy the ride, celebrate the little and big victories! Never judge what you haven’t accomplished yet, nor the quality of what you’ve finished creating. Your work, your development has value and beauty, allow yourself to see and feel that.
BRINGING IT TOGETHER
So in light of how much has already been covered in this course, we’re going to focus on bringing all of those aspects together, and committing to our piece in its entirety.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
How is my message clear or unclear in my choreography?
Is my story clearly developed within my piece? Have I accomplished a storyline that accomplishes my message?
Have I appropriately anticipated my audience and setting, and planned accordingly within my choreography?
Is my use of space conveying what I want it to be? Am I utilizing space to highlight my choreography as best I can?
Have I used the Dynamic Toolbox to diversify my piece appropriately?
Do my musicality choices bring the music out and represent it effectively for my style and message?
Is my Character fully developed? Am I successfully using my choreography to highlight my character and vice versa?
Am I projecting my energy out to the audience appropriately? Am I strong and confident in my performance of this piece?
DECISION MAKING - REVISITED
At a certain point, you just have to make a decision and eventually, you’ll have to decide to stick with something. This is one thing that plagues many dancers, “Why do I pick which move, and do I even really like it?”. Now that you’re nearing the end of the process, it’s time to let good enough be good enough, and not search for perfection when we can acheive finished. Settle with the fact that you won’t be 100% in love with every choice you make, or every move you choose and this is totally normal. Some moves are filler moves, some moves are starts, and a lot of them are more about the combination they sit in than the single move itself. At the end of the day it’s about how you dance the move, COMMITMENT and conviction, not the move you choose.
DECISION-MAKING QUESTIONS
Does it fit well in my combination?
Does it work with the musicality I want to express?
Is this a “go-to” move or am I working beyond what’s easy?
Does it help me express my message and ideas for my piece?
Do I like it?
IF it could be better, HOW? What would that look like? Be specific.
(If you don’t have an answer for this last question, either move on or ask for help).
*** DO NOT let this question hang you up on every single move. If you’re constantly arriving at this question and saying, “it could be but I’m not sure how”. Then ignore this question and refer to the others.
If enough of these things align, then you’re good to go, define the move. Remember, you can always go back and change it, but if you’re going to do so, re-read this list and think… but WHY am I changing it? And what could better express my ideas? Don’t just change moves because you can, that’s a waste of time and of your mental energy.
There is no magic move that is going to all of the sudden make your doubt disappear, but if your movement or combination is ticking off the boxes, if it’s following the concept of the material and theory we’re learning, then I think you’ve made a good choice. Then it’s time to LEAN INTO your ideas, commit to them fully and leave the doubt behind.
COMMITMENT
Commitment is leaving doubt behind. Commitment is being confident in yourself. Commitment is knowing that you’ve done the work that you’ve done, regardless of the expectations met, and now is the moment to commit. The moments that you may be unsure of, I want you to forget that feeling. I want you to smile harder, I want you to dig deeper, I want you to fully commit to every inch of the choreography. Commit to your mistakes, commit to your entrance and exit, commit fully to your piece, leave it all on the stage (or on video) with no regrets. No one EVER regrets fully committing to their performances, you only regret what you didn’t commit to, what you held back on. So don’t hold back!
MOVEMENT APPLICATION VIDEO
MANTRAS
Mantra 1
I am amazing.
I am the best dancer that I can be right now.
I am proud and I am confident in myself.
Mantra 2
I am brave.
I am powerful.
I am going to fully express my message.
I’m going to give 100 percent physically and emotionally.
Mantra 3
In this section I need to be ________.
I am strong.
I am powerful.
I am confident.
I’m going to fully commit to being _______.
I will not hold back.
I will give everything.
I am enough.
THANK YOU & CONGRATULATIONS!
I’m so very proud of all of you for taking on this intensive, growing, and pushing yourself to create choreography on a deeper level. This series isn’t about what you didn’t fully internalize, it’s about the steps you took forward to embrace your dance, your artistic vision and yourself. All of you are invited to take this series again if you would like, where you’ll have another opportunity to integrate the information and continue to push and grow to new heights. If you’re interested in working on a new piece, but without joining the next Choreography Creation Intensive, you can talk with me about private coaching where we can continue to evolve your skills and focus on your artistic development together.
LESSON 9 ASSIGNMENTS
DUE ON TUES/WEDS 21 OR 22 OF FEB
Final Performance Flyer Name - Please tell me how you want your name to appear on the flyer!
Video Submission - Send a video of all of the entire choreography as you have it, with the entire song, noting in your email if any sections are improvised. Remember to perform your piece, show your character and make eye contact with the camera!
Combo of Section for Group Critique In Live Group Session - Prepare to share a section of your current piece that you are working on and have hit a roadblock or want suggestions about. Prepare the video to be edited to include only the part of the choreography you want to share. Explain to your fellow participants what your overall Message is, what your focus is for this section, and what you want help with? We will be sharing in small groups in the next live session.
Private Lessons - Schedule any private lessons that you have remaining!
2 more LIVE GROUP SESSION & video submissions
Before the series is over, we have two more live group sessions and two more video submissions! Use this time to finish off your choreography and get the feedback you need!
PERFORMANCE VIDEO SUBMISSIONS
DUE MARCH 20TH
PERFORMANCE AND INTRO VIDEOS MUST BE SUBMITTED THROUGH WETRANSFER TO AMANDAROSEONLINE@GMAIL.COM
Performance Video - Turn in your completed performance video through WeTransfer meeting all the specifications from lesson 7!
Introduction Video - Also turn in your introduction video through WeTransfer meeting all the specifications from Lesson 7!
Promote the Show to Friends & Family! - The Show will be happening at 12pm PST on March 20th. Whoever you want to come to the show, tell them to save the date and I’ll be sharing a flyer for you to pass along. This is a semi-public show, please invite friends and family but not the general public.