Artificial Things

Question 1

Company name

Answer 1

Stopgap dance company

Question 2

Choreographer

Answer 2

Lucy Bennett

Question 3

What was the stimulus

3 points

Answer 3

A snow covered urban landscape with an isolated figure perched on a collapsed wheelchair. The figure is being observed from a far as if through a snow globe.
Painting by Garon Djurovic also influenced the design, costume and choreographic image.
Dancers personal experiences also provided inspiration

Question 4

What was the choreographic intention

Answer 4

Characters coming to terms with life’s limitations and excepting them.
How we all live within certain confinements and constrictions of the snow globe theme signifies it.
Finding resolutions to the hurdles they have to over come.

Question 5

Costuming

Answer 5

Designed by Anna jones
The costumes consist of everyday causal wear and are a mix between late 50’s and 80’s styles to create a timeless feel.
The use of a wash of colours blue and green merging with the backdrop. It looks as if paint is running from the garments, which is a reference to being stuck in one of the paintings by Djurovic.
Outer garments are worn in earlier scenes are taken of to signify time moving on.

Question 6

Motifs from dance

Answer 6

Some movements are echoed (repeated from scene 1 into scene 3, showing history repeating itself. These movements when repeated would be repeated with growth and a sense or strength, therefore making the audience feel as though they experienced their battle of limitations with them.
There are a few tumbling sequences that get repeated in the dance, in one of them Laura’s movement vocabulary contain little details specific to her character, such as the movement and use of her chin and shoulders. All these individual details hook the dancers together, although they are physically different they are blending together nicely in unison. Shows them as one together.

Question 7

Date of first performance

Answer 7

5th February 2014

Question 8

Choreographic approach

Answer 8

Lucy Bennett uses a collaborative approach within her choreography. Dancers encouraged to actively contribute towards the process through choreographic tasks, Scene 3 wa derived by Laura jones’ movement in her wheelchair and has been translated by the standing dancers of David willdridge and Amy butler.

Question 9

How many dancers

Answer 9

4
2 male
2 female

Question 10

Describe the lighting

Answer 10

Designed by Chahine Yavrovan
For much of the piece the lighting focuses on on 1 or 2 spots. It opens out in the middle, with a blue wash and warm and cool side lighting before closing down to another spot for the final solo.

Question 11

How was accumulation (relationship) used

Answer 11

There’s accumulation of number in the opening tumbling sequence that starts as duos then develops to whole group. The interview says that the journey of the dancers have been on the previous scene so this could be suggestive of the group rebuilding and moving forward.

Question 12

How are levels used

Answer 12

Around 13 mins, dancers all move to seated position reflecting Laura’s wheelchair action. This moves into a trio, with clear use of levels to develop the action, particularly in reaching gestures as the dancers transition Laura across the space ending with extended arm lines. The transcript talks of an echo of the past, reflecting shapes from scene 1, therefore the repeated actions at different levels could be suggestive of this.

Question 13

Explain use of unison

Answer 13

Unison of textures with Laura in wheel chair and 2 other dancers doing similar movements

Question 14

Describe the motif development

Answer 14

All developed from Laura’s wheel chair routine- able bodied dancers develop this by changing direction and levels
Disabled duet - crouch, lung, roll, circular pathways, reach, spin, roll, arm circle, angular leg balance = actions
All based on the relationship with wheelchair
Floor bound duet

Question 15

Describe the Quartet

Answer 15

Fluidity of the use of the wheelchair

Helping supporting and assisting

Question 16

Describe trio

Answer 16

Dynamics pick up, jumps and circular pathways (snow globe shaken)

Question 17

Describe Daves solo

Answer 17

“Sunshine of your smile”

Reference to loss, most contact with the snow, location within snow globe

Question 18

What was the performance environment

Answer 18

Proscenium arch

Question 19

Describe the staging/set

Answer 19

Designed by Anna Jones. The set is influenced by several paintings from the ‘unknown secrets’ collection by Goran Djurovic.
Heavy back drop which the paint looks as if it is running down the canvas.
In scene 3 brightly coloured strips are removed to create calmer visuals.
There is a glass display case (vitrine) on its side with a snowdrift inside the cabinet. Paper snow is scattered on the ground. In front of the Vitrine are two stools and a headless suit on mannequin legs perched on a third stool. The dance floor is a light grey and around the edge is a wooden frame reflectng the colour, shape and restriction of the vitrine. This emphasises the fact that the audience is looking into the snow globe of artificial things

Question 20

Describe the aural setting

Answer 20

For scene 3 Andy Higgs wanted to create a futuristic atmosphere acknowledging that time had passed and that old ways had broken down. Used piano to create a cold ambient sound. Used sound of paper snow and incorporated other sound effects such as a distant rumble, wind and footsteps through snow. Elements of the song ‘sunshine of your smile’ were mixed into the atmosphere often sounding distorted or as if drifting on the wind. Daves solo uses the full version of the song

Question 21

Describe the structure of scene 3

Answer 21

scene three is described as the aftermath
It opens with two duets. The first us group-based contact work using the dismantled wheelchair. The second is influenced by the dancers improvising lead and follow. The group then united and uses ground-based contact work to stay connected whilst manipulating the dismantled wheelchair.
Then there is a trio which ends gathered around Dave when the re-enact family portraits from past family photos and paintings from Djurovic- stillness as if frozen in a snowglobe. David leaves the group and does a solo to ‘sunshine of your smile’ which has a spotlight and uses facial expression and simple story telling to the song his father use to sing to him