Emory Dance Company Spring 2015: Inside the Choreographer's Mind

Tonight's the night! It's opening night for the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert, "Searchlight"! Read below about our eighth choreographer and what she's been working on this semester.

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Taylor Madgett

Senior

History Major, Dance & Movement Studies Minor

My choreographic process has helped me to further understand my style of movement and to know that there are endless possibilities to what I can create. From the movement, to the mood, to the music, to characters in the piece, there are many different avenues that I can explore. This process has also helped me to further understand myself and what exactly it is that I am looking to create. I have the entire piece constructed in my head and in a perfect world I would be able to easily create the movement I have pictured. However for me, the difficult part about this whole process is manifesting the idea in your mind to perfectly match the movement you are creating and putting on the stage. Thus far, what I have designed does not exactly mimic what I have been visualizing, and although it isn’t the perfect embodiment of what I had in mind, it has become a pleasant surprise. I feel that what I have created so far matches the overall aesthetic and feeling that I have been seeing. I am happy that what I have created is not the exact replica that I conceived because I think the piece could evolve into something that I never quite envisioned, which could be exactly what the work needs. As a choreographer I find comfort in knowing that there are so many aspects to consider, because I feel that it gives my work a larger amount of potentiality.

Currently I have not decided on a particular theme or overarching meaning for my piece. Right now I would say it is dance for dance sake. At first I was going to explore looking at movement and its relationship to music. I wanted to look at the music as a catalyst for the movement. All of the elements in the music, the melody, harmony, rhythm, and tempo serve to manipulate the body to make forms and shapes relative to the music. I wanted to pose the idea of the body being a separate entity from the mind, with the body only being controlled by the music. I believe I may be moving towards a different idea, but it is still pretty early in the process to know for sure. Looking at what I have made so far I would say that I could possibly be veering towards exploring a community of people and their relationships towards one another through their movement. I am excited to see what unfolds as I continue to journey through creating the piece.

One thing that I am truly thankful for having in the creation process are the feedback sessions. Although the choreographer may not necessarily always agree with the feedback, it serves as a crucial element in the editing process. A pair of fresh eyes is able to see what the choreographer looks over or never realized was there. Having feedback from others can give you new ideas for the piece as well as ways to solve certain problems you may be facing with your choreography or concepts. It also gives choreographers a chance to see how the audience could react to the piece. Depending on the choreographer, knowing how the audience reacts can inform them of their progress during the creation stage. Critiques of the piece could send the piece in a different direction if the feedback did not match the response that the choreographer was looking for or vice versa. I personally think it is valuable to know how your work is being perceived, because it allows you to really decide if the perception matters to you and your work, and how it influences it.

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Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert, Searchlight! Click here for more details. For more information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

Emory Dance Company Spring 2015: Inside the Choreographer's Mind

It's the final dress rehearsal for the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert "Searchlight"! The dancers and choreographers are all excited to present their hard work as they go through last minute notes and adjustments, and eagerly await opening night!

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Carolyn Whittingham

Senior

Japanese and Anthropology

Since I came into the semester with pretty solid ideas about my music choices, my process has been strongly driven by creating movement to complement the sound I picked. As a result, my choreographic process has operated in a very linear fashion, where I start choreographing from the beginning of a piece of music until I feel like either the musical or movement idea has been exhausted. For inspiration I would sit down and listen to my music, make note of significant rhythmic or qualitative changes and decided which points made sense as entrance or exit cues or when I would incorporate a transition. Therefore my piece currently has very structured, architectural feel to it based on the systematic approach I have taken to choreographing thus far.

​I always knew I wanted to make a darker piece incorporating physically intense and powerful movement. So far I have been fairly faithful to my original intention, and I have been thinking a lot about how to evoke fierceness from my dancers while maintaining emotional detachment. In doing so, I have ended up including some subtle (or maybe not-so-subtle) motifs revolving around power plays, manipulation and violence. So now my new focus is to continue playing with these ideas without wandering too far into the realm of being overly preachy or political.

My greatest challenge has been building confidence and just going for those difficult movements, subversive thematic elements and complex formations. Vetting my ideas through other members of the choreography class and dance teachers and peers has been extremely helpful in encouraging me to be tenacious and try things out before I tell myself that something is impossible. Consequently, my greatest triumphs have been witnessing the successful manifestation of the parts of the piece I was doubtful about. I hope I can continue to confidently proceed with my choreography and put something on stage in April that impact audiences profoundly.
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Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert, Searchlight! Click here for more details. For more information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

Emory Dance Company Spring 2015: Inside the Choreographer's Mind

The programs have been sent to the printer and Searchlight continues to make its way from process to product! Read about what our student choreographers have been working on as they enter into the final stages of their rehearsals!

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James LaRussa

Junior

Dance & Movement Studies, Biology

The concept of my work deals with complete loss of control.  I’m not referring to some sort of intentional, personal manipulation, but rather to the notion of someone losing her perception of self as a result of her devotion to another.  I came into this spring’s choreographic process with little more than this idea of unconscious loss of self-identity.  I don’t have any idea or expectations for where my work is going to end up at this point.  I’m enjoying the choreographic process and trusting that everything will come together the more time we spend with the choreography. 

The women in my work play an instrumental role in contributing their choreographic ideas, allowing us to mold together the quality of movement that I wish my piece to embody in order to reflect my indented concept.  Our first rehearsals together consisted of the dancers choreographing individual solos that they created using a choreographic phrase of mine as a template.  After compiling and molding their choreography, we created duos and trios to establish a backbone that we can build from as we rehearse throughout the semester.  This approach also gave me an idea of where their movement tendencies lie.  The duets and trios employ fluid movement in which the dancers constantly drop their weight into another’s body, establishing total physical dependency.  I plan to continue exploiting this idea of growing dependency leading to loss of self-identity throughout the progression of the piece.

Feedback sessions are always valuable when creating a new work.  Any different opinion brings up new ideas that can sway your vision for the work.  I also absolutely value my dancers’ opinions of the work I’m creating for them.  I do the best I can to create choreography that they enjoy performing but that still challenges their technical abilities.  Furthermore, I’d like to thank my cast for their dedication and support, the other choreographers for their constructive critiques, and George Staib for his choreographic mentoring and advice.  

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Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert, Searchlight! Click here for more details. For more information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

Emory Dance Company Spring 2015: Inside the Choreographer's Mind

Only two weeks stand between now and the premier of Spotlight, Emory Dance Company's Spring Concert! Lights have gone up, costumes are being fitted, and the choreographers are putting the final touches on their works as we head into the last week of rehearsals!

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Loris Takori

Senior

Neuroscience & Behavioral Biology Major, Dance & Movement Studies Minor

I think that I am a very spontaneous mover. Lately I have been finding myself making up bits of phrase work in the elevator as it takes me up to my apartment. Then, when I am in the studio, I will elongate these fragments into actual phrases. I think this shaped my work because it set me up to think in a non-linear way. I don't necessarily have a story I am trying to tell or phrases that build off of themselves; but rather, distinct sections of material that I am having to put together in some way.

Currently, I am working with the idea of "overcoming." I think everyone is so set and ready to put forth a facade of 'togetherness' in order to navigate successfully in their day to day interactions. I am interested in what happens when you are forced to break that barrier within yourself for whatever reason. Each of my dancers was told that this piece was about "the struggle" and I wanted them to have their own interpretation of that in the beginning stages of the work. Now that we are a little further into the process, I will ask them to get more specific with their motivation behind the movement. The questions will now ask them to define the theme of my movement, : Are you struggling to prove a point? Are you trying to win an argument with yourself or someone else? Do you want to overcome an insecurity or self-doubt?

My hope is that this probing will allow the dancers to connect more to the material and bring forth a sincerity and expressiveness in their movement--without which, my piece's theme will not be able to thrive.
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Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert, Searchlight! Click here for more details. For more information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

Emory Dance Company Spring 2015: Inside the Choreographer's Mind

Now that we're in April, the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert: Searchlight is just around the corner! With only two weeks until the beginning of tech rehearsals, our choreographers are beginning to bring their pieces to a close and starting to fine tune their works!

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Elyse Schupak

Junior

Business

I began this process with the concept of sentimentality, the idea of recalling moments of the past that are filled with meaning, but are nearly impossible to communicate to someone who wasn't there. I have taken on the challenge of trying to communicate some of my own deeply personal memories through choreography and I have called upon my dancers to do the same. Central to this idea are personal connections and relationships. Fond memories are often so, not because of the time or place or important event experienced, but because of the people or person the moment was shared with. Translating all of these ideas into movement has presented so many questions and challenges already, but I look forward to finding as many answers as I can.

The choreographic process started for me in a logical way. I created phrases in chronological order, and in true Type A form I came into each rehearsal with a typed out agenda. But as rehearsals progressed, it became clear that in order to explore the emotional themes I was interested in, I would need to relinquish some control. I started allowing myself to improvise more and encouraged the dancers to discover movement and ideas with one another. I am not used to letting go in this way, but the movement my dancers have created has been so impressive and so important in making the piece something personal for all of us. As the semester progresses, I am trying to value the process as much as the final product. I have the opportunity to take ideas that have been swirling around in my head for so long and turn them into something real. What an incredibly rare opportunity!

Looking forward and thinking about seeing my piece on stage in front of an audience is exciting and extraordinarily scary. I told my dancers in our first rehearsal that I want to make someone in the audience cry (and my mom doesn't count). Although I wasn't totally serious when I said this, I do believe in the sentiment. I want the audience, or at least someone in the audience, to feel an emotional connection to the piece, to the dancers, or to the choreography.  Emotional connection is what engages me in dance and I would love to offer this to someone else.

As we get closer and closer to performance time, I am excited to see how it all comes together. I am also incredibly excited to see how the work of my peers continues to develop and progress. This choreographic process has been a community endeavor and I can’t wait to see what myself and my fellow choreographers produce!

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Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert, Searchlight! Click here for more details. For more information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.