Chapter 6: Choreography: Skills and Ideas

Question 1

List some ways in which motifs can be developped?

Answer 1

1. size
2. level
3. facing
4. dynamic
5. relationship between dancers
6. tempo
7. accent
8. inversion
9. retrograde
10. fragment
11. embellish

Question 2

EXAMPLE

motif development in Threshold

Answer 2

deep lunge deveopped/varried by change in level facing and embellishment of additional arm gesture

Question 3

EXAMPLE

motif development in Swan Lake

Answer 3

arabesque change of arm gesture, increase in tempo, dynamic change from oozing with a sudden sharp flick to forceful and continuous, fouette addition of elevation and change of facing

Question 4

EXAMPLE

motif development in personal choreography

Answer 4

releve in fourth (arms in fourth) turn on balls of the feet drop torso from the waist extend bent left leg and sharply flick in a arabesque behind//ripple rise into fourth sissone torso leans backwards right leg extend forwards in ballance that is suspended then moves into an off balance fall to lurch forwards- dynamic, tempo, accents, inversion, change of dimension- horizontal plane

Question 5

Other thand motif development what are the Compositional Devices? (think about how they are used in other choreographies and your own)

Answer 5

Contrast

Highlights

Climax

Ballance

Transitions

Question 6

How is Transition used in Swan Lake?

Answer 6

swan lake uses traditional ballet convention of the front curtain closing between act to allow for complex scene changes when the Prince’s bed is turned around to become the palace balcony this adds a sense of theatre

Question 7

How is Transition used in Threshold?

Answer 7

in threshold transitions the dancers enter and exit the stage by running between sections this maintains the energy level to create a dramatic tension

Question 8

How is Transition used in your own choreography//Dyad?

Answer 8

controversial walking between section as the caesura after punctuated stanzas discontinuos breaks the flow to suggest the conflicting presentations of the river surreal surfacing that takes the audience out of the action the simplicity of the walking is monochromatic so as to appear unadorned rather than the staged theatrical feeling of Swan Lake

Question 9

What are the Compositional Structures?

Answer 9

Sequential :themes progress in definite order

Contrapuntal: weaving of material in which the main theme can be seen/heard against itself and othe themes in the complex structures

Episodic: narrative told in connective progressive sections

others…

Collage

Chance

Question 10

What are the 3 types of Sequential Structure?

Answer 10

Binary: AB repeats as many times and in any order

Ternary: ABA start end correlation for completeness

Rondo: ABACADA recurrent them running after each contrasting theme

Question 11

What type of Structure is used in Threshold?

Answer 11

Contrapunutal: Fugue: original theme appears and dissapears in various developped forms through out irregular complex structure movement motifs reversed augmented inverted makes for a dance full of surprise and intricate interest

Question 12

What type of Structure is used in Swan Lake?

Answer 12

Episodic story-type dance

Question 13

What type of Structure is used in your choreography/Dyad?

Answer 13

Rondo because the transition of walking becomes a section in itself that recur consitently between each contrasting section/stanza that express seperate themes the poems portrayal of the river