Sunday, 18 October 2009
Codex (1987) - Philippe Decouflé
Codex was a work I saw during my lecture on Post-Modernism. The use of lighting is really interesting with the use of silhouettes and then the squares of light aswell. Above is part 1 (I think), with the Egyptian-like silhouette figures. The shapes are very two-dimensional even though you can see the movements as three-dimensional. It will be interesting to see if I can recreate this during next week's session when we play with movements.
Week 3 - Assessment Study 1 (Choreographing Light)
This assessment was the next progressional step after the two weeks we've had so far.
For part of this session, we all had to perform and another part we had to assess. I enjoyed doing both but I feel that assessing is very difficult. Especially because you have to assess your peers and we've all been together for two years and know each other well. You have to put that aside from your mind and look at the dance as something seperate to the friendships you've created and think about all the criteria and how the dance fulfills it. Perhaps splitting the emotional attachment you have with the people and to evaluate the developing resourceful choreographers instead is the most difficult part. It would be much easier to mark a "random" person's dance.
I enjoyed all the pieces I saw and much prefered just being able to take the works for what they were and really appreciate them rather than having to critique them.
One of the criticisms that we felt was fair was the fact that the studio were we had placed our piece wasn't pitch black and there was still a slight amount of light, enough to make out a few shadows. Also, how do you signify and ending when a piece's main focus is use of light?? Its very difficult to distinguish and the only way I can think of now would be to run over to the light switch and turn on the worker (fluorescent) lights.
For part of this session, we all had to perform and another part we had to assess. I enjoyed doing both but I feel that assessing is very difficult. Especially because you have to assess your peers and we've all been together for two years and know each other well. You have to put that aside from your mind and look at the dance as something seperate to the friendships you've created and think about all the criteria and how the dance fulfills it. Perhaps splitting the emotional attachment you have with the people and to evaluate the developing resourceful choreographers instead is the most difficult part. It would be much easier to mark a "random" person's dance.
Assessment Criteria:
1. Evidence of creativity, imagination and experimentation in choreographing time, light, stillness, sound/ambience (and movement*)2. Evidence of considering the entire experience of the audience, and degree to which to which this contributed to the form-content of the work
* How is this movement appropriate and sensitive to the work’s form-content?
Mark out of 20.
I enjoyed all the pieces I saw and much prefered just being able to take the works for what they were and really appreciate them rather than having to critique them.
One of the criticisms that we felt was fair was the fact that the studio were we had placed our piece wasn't pitch black and there was still a slight amount of light, enough to make out a few shadows. Also, how do you signify and ending when a piece's main focus is use of light?? Its very difficult to distinguish and the only way I can think of now would be to run over to the light switch and turn on the worker (fluorescent) lights.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Previous works with light!
Reading Lee's blog, I remembered working with Rashpal Singh Bansal (who sadly passed away August 2009 at the age of 29) when I was in Surrey Youth Dance Company (SYDC). The piece was performed with other works by him at Woking Dance Festival. It wasn't the piece that I was in that I so very clearly remember the lighting, but it was another of his pieces we were able to watch during the tech rehearsal (I don't recall the name). It was a dark stage with only one dancer, lit by an oval bubble of bright purple light. The light was being projected up and back from the wings of the stage and I remember watching and thinking of how magical it looked, especially when the dancer moved. He had to change it though as the dancer couldn't see the floor and felt like she would fall over as the light was being projected into her eyes. So unfortunately, the paying public saw the purple light through the cyclorama from the flood lights instead. It really was something that truely inspired me and I was in awe of this "new" lighting! I had never seen it being used this way before.
(The Lightbox Art Gallery)
Another work I recall was one I performed in myself. Working in a community dance project with Carol Brown, I volunteered to take part in a site-specific piece - Glow (2007). The site was an empty, newly built art gallery (named "The Lightbox") and the experience of the audience was a tour of the gallery, visiting 4 different rooms with 4 different works. The work I want to focus on was called "Soul Candles". We experimented with small battery operated lights that would switch on and off everytime you depress the lens. They were placed onto still bodies, almost as if to sculpt, shape and define the positions they were already in, as the picture shows below. This is another way of using light to focus attention onto certain points on the body, as that is where the light is emitting from.
(The Lightbox Art Gallery)Another work I recall was one I performed in myself. Working in a community dance project with Carol Brown, I volunteered to take part in a site-specific piece - Glow (2007). The site was an empty, newly built art gallery (named "The Lightbox") and the experience of the audience was a tour of the gallery, visiting 4 different rooms with 4 different works. The work I want to focus on was called "Soul Candles". We experimented with small battery operated lights that would switch on and off everytime you depress the lens. They were placed onto still bodies, almost as if to sculpt, shape and define the positions they were already in, as the picture shows below. This is another way of using light to focus attention onto certain points on the body, as that is where the light is emitting from.
Light Manipulation
Light is an source of energy that we as humans find very useful. Without light, we would not be able to see as light is actually the only thing our eyes can "see". Those tiny holes in our eyes are used to take in light reflected off objects. Colours that we see is the colour of the light reflected from that object.
We are currently exploring light as resource and how we can manipulate it and incorporate it into a dance piece. I am working in a group with two other people and we are creating a study using stillness and light. Only one movement can be seen, ie we are only allowed to move within total darkness.
The easiest source of light we were able to use and manipulate is a normal desk lamp. We also examined the use of sounds that the lamp created when being switched on, bent etc.
As you can see, the desk lamp has quite a wide circuferance of visibility, depending on how far the bulb is from whatever is being lit. We chose to use closeness and focus on points of a body and use the light to investigate the shapes we can make using just one light source and a still person.
A question that Simon asked ~ Do you feel this is a dance piece?
My answer ~ No. I think, knowing that I like those classic, traditional works that this is of course completely different to what we are doing at the moment. I like working with the lights, however, and I feel this is a good stimulus for a dance piece. Doing this task has widened my mind about the uses of light and reminded me to think about all possibilities, not just the obvious ones.
We are currently exploring light as resource and how we can manipulate it and incorporate it into a dance piece. I am working in a group with two other people and we are creating a study using stillness and light. Only one movement can be seen, ie we are only allowed to move within total darkness.
The easiest source of light we were able to use and manipulate is a normal desk lamp. We also examined the use of sounds that the lamp created when being switched on, bent etc.
As you can see, the desk lamp has quite a wide circuferance of visibility, depending on how far the bulb is from whatever is being lit. We chose to use closeness and focus on points of a body and use the light to investigate the shapes we can make using just one light source and a still person.
A question that Simon asked ~ Do you feel this is a dance piece?My answer ~ No. I think, knowing that I like those classic, traditional works that this is of course completely different to what we are doing at the moment. I like working with the lights, however, and I feel this is a good stimulus for a dance piece. Doing this task has widened my mind about the uses of light and reminded me to think about all possibilities, not just the obvious ones.
Friday, 2 October 2009
* First Class *
Hello everyone who may have found this blog!
I am a student at Roehampton University in London, UK. I am currently working towards my BA(Hons) degree in Dance Studies and I am in my third and (hopefully) final year. One of the modules I chose is entitled "The Resourceful Choreographer" (DAN020X321A) and for this, I have to keep a running journal-type blog of my progress etc.
Today was the first class. Simon (our tutor) gave us the task of introducing each other via favourite film and dance piece. Mine were Mary Poppins and Swan Lake. From this, I was almost forced into reminding myself that I prefer the classic and iconic side to things. I'm not one for much abstract works and often wonder how things like a pile of bricks can be labelled as an art work.
Working in pairs, we questioned the use of stillness and the way you can perceive an object. You can zoom in and focus on the tinist fingernail or even zoom out so far, the object appears to be the size of a fingernail. In this case, our eyes were the "camera" in the sense that you can turn it on and off (by blinking) and blur the lens (by squinting). This helped to open up possibilities of where the audience can be situated and how you can change and control the way in which the object is seen.
Simon introduced a few different sources of light and the new task of experimentation with the light was given. We created a short study using a fresnel light closely focusing on the upper body. You were not able to see the body from the ribs down. In this case, you are more susceptible to notice the smaller movements of the hair and breath (as you can control these to be still on command, within reason).
For my own reference: Simon's Blog
I am a student at Roehampton University in London, UK. I am currently working towards my BA(Hons) degree in Dance Studies and I am in my third and (hopefully) final year. One of the modules I chose is entitled "The Resourceful Choreographer" (DAN020X321A) and for this, I have to keep a running journal-type blog of my progress etc.
Today was the first class. Simon (our tutor) gave us the task of introducing each other via favourite film and dance piece. Mine were Mary Poppins and Swan Lake. From this, I was almost forced into reminding myself that I prefer the classic and iconic side to things. I'm not one for much abstract works and often wonder how things like a pile of bricks can be labelled as an art work.
Working in pairs, we questioned the use of stillness and the way you can perceive an object. You can zoom in and focus on the tinist fingernail or even zoom out so far, the object appears to be the size of a fingernail. In this case, our eyes were the "camera" in the sense that you can turn it on and off (by blinking) and blur the lens (by squinting). This helped to open up possibilities of where the audience can be situated and how you can change and control the way in which the object is seen.
Simon introduced a few different sources of light and the new task of experimentation with the light was given. We created a short study using a fresnel light closely focusing on the upper body. You were not able to see the body from the ribs down. In this case, you are more susceptible to notice the smaller movements of the hair and breath (as you can control these to be still on command, within reason).
For my own reference: Simon's Blog
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