blog 1- week 3- BTUK - Lucy Imamzade

Today during class, we adventured into an inspiring choreographer named Justin Pecks who mainly focuses on the shapes and formations of the dancers in order to convey different narratives and emotions.

First, we watched one of his choreography pieces called 'In the countenance of kings', as a team we came up with the idea of the female dancer (who is featured throughout) changing typical ballet stereotypes. An example of this would be the beginning of the video as she is staring at herself in the mirror however her mirror reflection is taking out her neat stereotypical bun which could further demonstrate how her reflection is encouraging her to change her normality. As a class, we also thought that this video could portray equality between the dancers as they were all wearing leotards with white trainers (making them look the same) however each dancer had a different style and colour of leotard which could further develop the idea of freedom. However, the last part of the choreography juxtaposes this idea when the women are being directed and controlled by the man, this is due to the woman not having a say into what they want to do next or where they want to go, it’s almost like they are trying to break free or escape however the men behind them are strictly stopping them from doing that. This leaves the audience confused as they are interpreting two different stories.

We also focused on the music which was very chaotic and energetic which correlated with the movements the dancers were doing. This makes the audience feel very intrigued watching due to them not knowing what’s going to happen next. In addition, the structure of the choreography changed too, for example at the beginning it was a solo which then changed to a duet which slowly transformed into a small group which later turned into a large group of dancers. Again, this gave the audience a feeling of chaos due to them not knowing where to look.

Next we picked out how many choreographic devices we could pick out, as a class we found 7:

- unison

- repetition

- inversion

-climax

-contrast

-retrograde

-argumentation

These were clearly shown throughout Justin's choreography making it automatically more intriguing and eye- catching to the audience. They also advanced his choreography making each section look completely different from the others, stopping it from getting repetitive and boring for the audience.

We then moved onto to how the choreography made us feel, in my opinion it gave me a sense of chaos due to the change in directions, running, loud music and group work. However, this was contrasted the balletic approach through the movements of the dancers.  In addition, this made, me feel confused however I was intrigued by the constitutionality of the movements. 

Finally, we look behind the sense of his choreography so we could really understand his thought process behind his work, he said; "there are no new steps only new combinations" which makes his work, in my opinion, personal and original. He also said he loves working in large groups and it creates more ideas and possibilities and although he may have an idea, it will change depending on the characteristic of each dancer. In my opinion this allows him to get the best out of his dancers allowing them to perform at their best also.

Overall, I really enjoyed Justin's work as it's very contrasting which allows the audience to interpret their own thoughts and ideas within the dance and its structure. I also liked the used od patterns and shapes he create throughout his piece and how the movements partnered with the movements beautifully