Within Her Eyes Flashcards
Choreographer
James cousins
Company
James cousins company
Dance style
Contemporary/contact work — partnering
- using weight + momentum for flow
Choreographic approach
Material from the stage version ‘there we have been’
Collaboration and improvisation — recorded + selected movements
Lisa was not allowed to look at Aaron, spirals introduced — intimate + intertwined feeling
Starting point/stimulus
Love story with a twist - from personal experience and narratives
Friendship growing into love
Love + loss
Dependency + loyalty
Longing + memory
Choreographic intention/theme
To create a dance film with emotional intensity and energy
Abstract love story but open for interpretation
Dancers
1 x M = Aaron
1 x F = Lisa
Structure
A prologue and 6 sections — one seamless journey - narrative
Start = as far away from each other as possible while maintaining contact
End = as close as possible
Aural composer + overview
Seymour Milton
Create tension but be delicate to reflect relationship
Sound score with strings + piano — emotive + with fragile delicate quality
With electronic sounds
Collaboration between music + choreography
Costume designer + overview
Lisa = vulnerable, fragile + conservative = modest with light tones - ethereal
- thin shirt buttoned to top, white
- beige long skirt
- colour palette reflects natural environment
Aaron = strong support — khaki jumpsuit + brown trousers
- dark earthy tones — he is grounding Lisa
Lighting designer + overview
Natural lighting
Relient on welsh weather - grey - intense atmosphere
Added filters through editing for darker undertones to emphasise grey and make more intense
Performance environment
- sense of isolation — bare open vast landscapes
- raw delicate unstable relationship
- tension
- help reflect relationship - starting open mountainside finishing more intimate in forest - low in grass - quarry
Shadows link staging/set to stimulus
Love story with a twist: prologue species give a back story, highlighting girl as focal point and lonely, graveyard tells us she has lost someone close to her
Spaces are not warm or welcoming as you would expect for a love story, instead: barren + cold
WHE link staging/set to narrative
Space suggests different stages of relationship
Eg field is vast, windy, overcast making the dancers look vulnerable. Cliff might suggest risk etc
WHE link staging/set to lighting
Natural lighting matches outdoor spaces
WHE link staging/set to mood
Overcast outdoor spaces set a dreary sad mood
WHE link staging/set to costume
Natural colours of landscape blend with neutral colours of costumes
WHE link staging/set to aural setting
Wind sounds in aural setting are amplifies and match the outdoor location
WHE link lighting to stimulus
Starts with a night time sky, moving into day, dusk and then night time again - suggests a timeline for the love story
WHE link lighting to structure
Lighting gives structure to dance as it moves through the course of a day
WHE link lighting to mood
Dusk creates a melancholy mood as we understand the relationship is coming to an end
WHE link lighting to set
Natural light matches outdoor spaces
WHE link lighting to time
Night time sky at the start gives us a starting point for the dance - we can then assume that the light sky in the next scene is early morning (there is no one around)
WHE link costume to character
Girls blouse buttoned up to neck: sets a reserved character. Blouse is a delicate chiffon fabric: reinforces her fragility. Girls colours connect her with the sky. Colour invites a variety of possible interpretations
Man’s colour is earthy and connects him with the ground. Stable, supportive, solid, dependable.
WHE link costume to stimulus
Reserved character as blouse buttoned up to neck
Fragility = delicate chiffon fabric
WHE link costume to gender
Gender specific clothing
WHE link costume to set
Neutral colours blend with natural landscape
WHE link costume to lighting
Everyday clothing matches everyday natural lighting
WHE link costume to era
Modern day clothing
WHE link costume to narrative
Girls blouse has top 2 buttons undone towards the end, marking a closer relationship than at start
WHE link aural setting to location
Wind sounds set the dance outdoors
WHE link aural setting to set
Wind sounds support site sensitive environment particularly the field
WHE link aural setting to mood
Variety of moods: ominous and foreboding much of the time
Strings shake violently bringing tension. In contrast there are also calmer and more tender sections (moving closer) setting a gentle loving mood
WHE link aural setting to stimulus
Love story with a twist/torsion between loyalty and desire to move on. The contrasts between gentle violin notes and the shaking strings shows the uncertainty and inner turmoil the girl is experiencing
WHE link aural setting to lighting
Kneeling: intensity of music drops with many pauses and silences. Lighting intensity also drops to dusk
WHE link aural setting to structure
Music changes for each section
WHE link aural setting to movement
Flow Two: close relationship - movement whips and throws with build in speed, matching tension building in shaking strings
WHE link aural setting to camera
Flow One (forest) - strings shake and build tension ‘stabbing the air’
Matched by the camera which weaves through the trees, spying on the couple
The two features combine to create secrecy, apprehension and suspense
WHE link use of camera to mood
Variety of moods
Eg Prologue, camer follow girl closely from behind - sets a mood of mystery as we want to know who she is
Long shot on field makes dancers look small and so sets a mood of isolation and vulnerability
Close ups later on change mood to intimacy
WHE link use of camera to narrative
Camera angles move narrative forwards from isolation to intimacy - key moment of when the girl looks at the man fri the 1st time is highlighted with a close up to mark a change in narrative
WHE link use of camera to stimulus
Mood and narrative progression support love story with a twist- the ‘twist’ is reinforced in Flow Two when the film edits between settings to suggest the girl is still uncertain
WHE link use of camera to set
Camera works closely with spaces
Eg Flow One (forest) camera weaves between trees
WHE link use of camera to highlight action
Camera directs viewers eye so that we look at what the choreographer wants us to see. Close ups highlight key actions
WHE link use of number/gender of dancers to stimulus
2 dancers: 1m 1f are important for telling a love story
WHE link use of number/gender of dancers to movement
2 dancers are important for the contact work performed throughout the Vance and for one dancer keeping the other off the floor the whole way through
WHE link use of number/gender of dancers to set
Having just 2 dancers in middle of vast spaces eg field, cliff top is effective
Isolation and loss is highlighted
WHE link use of number/gender of dancers to narrative
Work starts with just 1 dancer, the girl - important for focusing the dance on her rather than the man
Using lone female dancer here tell us this story is about her and highlights her past
