“In the end it’s not about how many breaths you took.
In the end it’s about the moments that took your breath away.”
―
Audience drawing for Celeste Miller’s “Once Upon a Time Wolf”
Time, Tempo, Meter, Rhythm, Heartbeat, Breath: Perform in class February 21
Start by wearing yourself out. Run, walk, jump, shake – for at least a minute to get your heartbeat and breath racing.
Then pause. Stand still, lie down, sit. Be aware of the pulse of your heartbeat and the movement of your breath. Understand your internal rhythm.
From this place, create a delicious movement phrase (or take movement from a previous solo) of about 30-40 seconds in length. Practice the phrase as “flat” as possible so that you can manipulate the phrase with beat, tempo, meter, rhythm, breath. You will create four variations on this phrase. Use Elements of Dance Organizer, “Time” to assist you. Return to Siegel and her discussion of “beat.” Return to Nii-Yarte. Come up with four time variations that you would like to apply to your delicious movement phrase. An example below:
- Variation #1: Use Tempo Variations .
- Variation #2: Use Meter Variations. Do part of the phrase in duple, part in triple, and part in an irregular meter such as 5, 7, or 11.
- Variation #3: Create and record a clapping rhythm, record it to last 60 seconds in length. This rhythm may stay the same or vary throughout. Dance your delicious movement phrase to this rhythm.
- Variation #4: dance your delicious movement phrase to your heartbeat and your breath.
Write out each variation will be applied to your your core phrase. Then put it into your body.
Arrange your variations in any order you would like. Are there transitions? What dictates the transitions? What kind of a structure would you like for these variations?
POST YOUR VIDEO HERE.
Carissa – TIME
This piece was a mix of new material and things I’ve done before in other studies or projects. Working with time, I played with repetition and tempo, both intentionally and unintentionally: at one point I forgot the next movement, so I just kept doing the same thing over and over, varying the speed, until I remembered my choreography. It’s also interesting to see now, with a few studies done and recorded, what kinds of patterns are emerging in my work – we all noticed that I have a habit of starting on the floor! I’m interested in playing with those patterns and habits as we go forward, seeing which ones I like to keep using and which ones are fun to break.
While working with time, I wanted to play further with repetition, by altering the rhythm and tempo in which I had originally choreographed a movement for the piece. I really enjoyed using momentum and suspension as an asset to playing with time, as it added in moments of unpredictability within the created movement as well! I also worked with the audience expectation of timing, such as by intentionally holding off from the “I End” of the piece.