Choreographic Tasks

During our first practical choreography lesson, we explored several different creative tasks to help generate movement. 

Within the initial choreography lesson, our first task involved using renowned dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham's 'chance method' of choreography. Within Cunningham's method, movements, placements, repetition and even music are selected randomly through actions such as dice rolling, coin flipping or a random number generator. After splitting into groups, we were each tasked with choosing a random number between one and twenty. Then, given a book, one person would hold the book and flip through the pages while another would randomly say when they were to stop flipping. We would then use one of the numbers from earlier to count to a corresponding word on the page, which I then noted. After repeating this process several times, we came to a completely random list of words. As a group, we then discussed different ideas or movement dynamics these words brought to mind. I enjoyed this section of the task as it allowed us to collaborate and brainstorm our perceptions of certain words which was very interesting. After creating a movement phrase with these words, we used a random number generator to dissect and rearrange the phrase. I enjoyed having insight into this technique as it forced me to be aware of and move away from my usual habitual framework and allowed for movement that I wouldn't have necessarily made otherwise. I am also intrigued by the concept of deriving movement from words that can be perceived in multiple ways.  I feel this process would be of much benefit to me if I find my choreography becoming repetitive or too predictable during this project.

Later in the session, we were to scroll at random to select a photograph from our camera roll, where we found a picture of one of our classmate's dinners from the night before. 

(Blackburn, 2023)

 With this image, we brainstormed words, feelings, and shapes associated with   the image and then work on translating these words into movement. From   creating this movement, I now have a better understanding of how to draw   movement inspiration from imagery. In my creative process, I would like to   use this technique to generate base inspiration for my movement in relation to   texture. I had never considered analysing a image in this way to generate   movement and I think it will be a valuable tool to keep in mind as I embark on   this project.






Bibliography:

Blackburn, E. (2023) choreographic task imagery.