Week 6- Choreographers Piece
I decided to focus on Wayne McGregor’s Infra due to it capturing different choreography and dance styles.
Infra is a Greek word which actually means ‘below’. Wayne McGregor uses this as his main stimulus and idea for his dnace and ideas behind his choreography to help demonstrate the meaning behind his dance. The meaning behind is dance is looking beneath the surface of a city and how things are there that day to day people ignore or don’t recognise. The context of Wayne McGregor’s dance came from the London bombings in 2007 and the particular feelings everybody felt during this time and how everyone came together as a country in order to support one another during this period of time. He then focused on how time had dramatically changed and we no longer worry or care for other strangers anymore due to us being very highly populated and being individual. An example of this would be public transport, no one talks to anyone due to us being focused on our needs and where we need to be by a certain time. He had an idea that everyone goes their on their day to day lives, walking past hundreds and thousands of people however not knowing a single things or fact about anyone and not knowing what a song person maybe going through and experiencing. In my opinion that’s a very strong message to convey to the audience, in addition he uses the black digital screen at the back of the stage with animated people walking in the back of the stage (as if they are going to work) this really exaggerates his idea making it clearer to the audience.
Also, he uses very simple costumes within his piece, he done this to stop the audiences attention from being on switched to the manufacturing of the dance instead of focusing on the dance, choreography, dancers, and the message itself. Another reason why he used natural costumes was to exaggerate the idea of normality and how his idea behind the dance does happen everyday a year on a day to day basis. In addition brightly coloured and loud costumes would not fit into his main idea or focus point and would leave the audience very confused and questioned.The men and women all have very similar costumes. Finally he puts the dancers in the same colours however different costumes, this allows the audience to pick out individuals.
Using past GCSE resources, I gave a video transcript of an interview with the choreographer Wayne McGregor. Here the interviewer asks “ How did you want the audience to feel when watching your performance?” Here Wayne McGregor responded “ I think what’s really important about making work is it all comes form you. Its not about having a voice that’s says you should work with this kind of music or the rule is that you should do this. It’s about having no rules, and about you really making sure, you do what you feel is about you” Personally I thought this was very interesting due to him having the ability to do and create a piece of work so abstract and different however still being able to tell and well rounded story behind it. It also shows how- due to him having different and abstract work- it not only allows the audience to experience something completely new however it also allows them to interpret Wayne McGregor’s piece into their own idea and allows them to use their own imagination to make the dnace personalised. This makes the audience have an emotion relationship with not only the dance but however the dancers and Wayne McGregor himself. It also allows the audience to go away with different assumptions of his work which will provoke debate making his work confrontational.
I really enjoy how Wayne McGregor involves partnership within his work. They dancers depend on each other a lot for example when doing lifts or weight transfers, this can demonstrate how society need each other and need to depend on each other in order to make the world run and work smoothly. In addition the dancers are continually moving from a arm gesture to and leg gesture and it all happeneds at the same time together. They also use many different levels in their partner work maybe to show how society has different levels, whether that’s individuality or society slowly falling apart as a whole. An example of different levels would be, a very low bend to where their knees are almost touching the floor and when the male dancer lifts the female dancer into the air. The partnership also influence each-others movements while creating many different shapes and patterns with their body.
Overall I really enjoyed watching infra as it had a heart full meaning behind it however allows you to interpret it to your own opinion and your own idea. It allowed me to be imaginative and original however my idea maybe completely different to another persons idea. Which I think is what makes a dance piece very special!
Bibliography:
GCSE resource pack
https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/infra-by-wayne-mcgregor.
These photos represent they partnership and also the different levels within his dance
Infra is a Greek word which actually means ‘below’. Wayne McGregor uses this as his main stimulus and idea for his dnace and ideas behind his choreography to help demonstrate the meaning behind his dance. The meaning behind is dance is looking beneath the surface of a city and how things are there that day to day people ignore or don’t recognise. The context of Wayne McGregor’s dance came from the London bombings in 2007 and the particular feelings everybody felt during this time and how everyone came together as a country in order to support one another during this period of time. He then focused on how time had dramatically changed and we no longer worry or care for other strangers anymore due to us being very highly populated and being individual. An example of this would be public transport, no one talks to anyone due to us being focused on our needs and where we need to be by a certain time. He had an idea that everyone goes their on their day to day lives, walking past hundreds and thousands of people however not knowing a single things or fact about anyone and not knowing what a song person maybe going through and experiencing. In my opinion that’s a very strong message to convey to the audience, in addition he uses the black digital screen at the back of the stage with animated people walking in the back of the stage (as if they are going to work) this really exaggerates his idea making it clearer to the audience.
Also, he uses very simple costumes within his piece, he done this to stop the audiences attention from being on switched to the manufacturing of the dance instead of focusing on the dance, choreography, dancers, and the message itself. Another reason why he used natural costumes was to exaggerate the idea of normality and how his idea behind the dance does happen everyday a year on a day to day basis. In addition brightly coloured and loud costumes would not fit into his main idea or focus point and would leave the audience very confused and questioned.The men and women all have very similar costumes. Finally he puts the dancers in the same colours however different costumes, this allows the audience to pick out individuals.
Using past GCSE resources, I gave a video transcript of an interview with the choreographer Wayne McGregor. Here the interviewer asks “ How did you want the audience to feel when watching your performance?” Here Wayne McGregor responded “ I think what’s really important about making work is it all comes form you. Its not about having a voice that’s says you should work with this kind of music or the rule is that you should do this. It’s about having no rules, and about you really making sure, you do what you feel is about you” Personally I thought this was very interesting due to him having the ability to do and create a piece of work so abstract and different however still being able to tell and well rounded story behind it. It also shows how- due to him having different and abstract work- it not only allows the audience to experience something completely new however it also allows them to interpret Wayne McGregor’s piece into their own idea and allows them to use their own imagination to make the dnace personalised. This makes the audience have an emotion relationship with not only the dance but however the dancers and Wayne McGregor himself. It also allows the audience to go away with different assumptions of his work which will provoke debate making his work confrontational.
I really enjoy how Wayne McGregor involves partnership within his work. They dancers depend on each other a lot for example when doing lifts or weight transfers, this can demonstrate how society need each other and need to depend on each other in order to make the world run and work smoothly. In addition the dancers are continually moving from a arm gesture to and leg gesture and it all happeneds at the same time together. They also use many different levels in their partner work maybe to show how society has different levels, whether that’s individuality or society slowly falling apart as a whole. An example of different levels would be, a very low bend to where their knees are almost touching the floor and when the male dancer lifts the female dancer into the air. The partnership also influence each-others movements while creating many different shapes and patterns with their body.
Overall I really enjoyed watching infra as it had a heart full meaning behind it however allows you to interpret it to your own opinion and your own idea. It allowed me to be imaginative and original however my idea maybe completely different to another persons idea. Which I think is what makes a dance piece very special!
Bibliography:
GCSE resource pack
https://www.roh.org.uk/productions/infra-by-wayne-mcgregor.
These photos represent they partnership and also the different levels within his dance
This is an excellent first individual review! You have given a clear structure to your post, going into detail when discussing your opinion as well as the visualisation shown in the piece. For further development, would you be able to expand on the different feelings you experienced as the piece progressed. In addition, what impact did the music have and how did this have an effect on the piece? Please link the video within the post.
ReplyDeleteAs the piece progressed I felt although it became very chaotic and confusion started to build among the audience due to the adaptations of the first couple dancing. What I mean by this is couples joining into the original couples which again created a feeling of chaos. Ina addition the music is very fast again giving the idea and emotion of chaos, this effects the piece due to it correlates with dance movements over exaggerating the idea of chaos.
DeleteThis is a really detailed blog based around your thoughts and opinions upon this work. Well done Lucy. You have clearly researched in detail about this piece as well as giving your own views upon it. I like how you have included the video of this work as it gives the reader a better understanding upon what you are discussing.
ReplyDeleteIs there anything you disliked about this piece?
This was a great blog.