One minute of choreography a day. Four days a week for the
month of July 2012.
This project is keeping me on my toes & keeping me creative 4 days a week even if I don't fully like that minute worth of choreography that is created each time.
So… posting stuff online in a timely manner hasn’t really
happened. Here is a little bit about the multiple projects & performances I have been doing in addition to this personal 1Minute Movement
challenge:
I was lucky enough to be a yellow galaxy girl character in a
film by Alicia Berger that is being projected in the Seattle Center fountain
August 3 & 10 at 9:30pm. More: https://www.facebook.com/events/361562243913856
Another
day I got to be a ninja doing acrobatics all around the city, including the new
Ferris wheel, while promoting a new line of cosmetics called Emotional
Brilliance by the store Lush. On
the weekends I had fun (& bruises, floor burns, & sore muscles) dancing
for DASS Dance in their show, “Untitled, 1982.” More: dassdance.org
Rehearsals for the Seattle Opera’s production of Turandot
directed & choreographed by Renaud Doucet are also finishing up soon &
the show opens at McCaw Hall August 4th. It is truly an amazing production & I’m honored to be dancing
in it & working with such great people at Seattle Opera. More: seattleopera.org
In addition to all that I am still teaching circus classes
& flying trapeze at SANCA.
They have this great new pay-per-flight thing on Fridays from 6pm to 9pm
that is affordable enough to get a taste of flying without emptying your
pockets that I highly recommend to everyone (especially if you’ve never flown
before!) Flying trapeze is so
fun!!!
More: sancaseattle.org
Ok, here we go…
Here’s what I’ve done for the 1MM challenge:
Week 1 created a partner study with Terry Crane, two days I created
different 1 minute sequences for the “Wind Blown” concept, & began
developing “Project Benjamin,” a dance piece created with my friend Ben’s
strengths & movement character in mind.
Week 2, I continued developing “Project Benjamin” for one
day, setting movement to “Bird Song” by Florence & the Machine. The next day I began teaching the piece
to Ben for my hour of 1MM working time.
Day 3, I attempted to choreograph to a song called “Romantic Acrobat” by
Danni Rosner, yet I know the lyrics so well that I found myself “Micky Mouse-ing”
the words & being way too literal for my taste. I finished that hour of work feeling like the 1 minute I
choreographed was a failure. I
want to revisit that song & choreography, but find a way to move away from
too literal an interpretation of the lyrics. The fourth 1MM of the week came together literally at the
last hour. I was not feeling
creative as I was super tired & sore from the DASS Dance performances &
being an acrobatic ninja earlier in the day on Sunday. Finally, at 11pm before
going to bed, I went outside to sit on the picnic table in my back yard & cool
off. I started stringing together
a sequence of movements using the picnic table as my dance space & an
object to interact with. By 11:30pm
I had a minute worth of choreography that I liked way better than the “Romantic
Acrobat” sequence. I tried to film
the sequence, but it was too dark—which brings me to week 3.
Week 3 started off with choosing a costume look to go with
my back yard picnic table sequence & filming my 1 minute movement multiple
times & from multiple angles.
For working purposes this 1MM is called “Picnic Table.” Day 2, I used my hour of creative work
time starting the process of video editing the clips together into a sequence
that uses the most appealing views & dynamic timing. Unfortunately, I’m not as fast at video
editing yet as I am with choreography.
I had to start by converting the MP4 files into something like Apple Pro
Res 422 to get it into a format that works with my final cut pro editing
software… This short dance film is
still a work in progress, but I hope to spend time on it again & maybe
finish it in week 4. Day 3, I
created a fun little tango, salsa, & flamenco inspired sequence in the
living room because Ben was listening to Tango music before an instructor came
over to give him a tango lesson. I
have always admired Tango, but never tried actually it. Later in the week, I was lucky enough
to be there during Ben’s second lesson & the instructor let me join
in. Tango is awesome, & it’s
so fun to dance in those pretty ballroom shoes. Day 4’s creativeness wound up being working on the
choreography for the SANCA staff show, “Between Raindrops: A Seattle Love Story.” I am creating the opening & closing
numbers for the show, which will premier August 24th & run for
two weekends. I get three
rehearsals with the cast (who are mostly all used to being solo circus
performers, yipes!) to make two ensemble pieces. The opening act is mostly finished & uses lots of
umbrellas & acrobatic balancing.
I love how the energy builds in this piece & it will be even better
when all 14 cast members are on stage!
For the closing act I created a cute little partner sequence that will
appear somewhere in the act. I’m still
brainstorming ideas for the sequencing &the look/feel of the rest of the
closing act. I am hoping to
include things like juggling/passing, acro/hand to hand, diablo, &
tumbling, in addition to the dance movement… Only got one rehearsal left. Wish me luck!
Here’s the little sneak peek into the unpolished choreography for the closing act as it was
filmed for missing cast members:
Kiss Kiss!
Rachel