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

The Emory Dance Company Spring Concert is only one month away! As the choreographers have begun to find endings for their works, they have also discovered a title for the concert: Searchlight.

___

Briana Keith

Senior

Anthropology & Human Biology Major, Dance & Movement Studies Minor

My creative process all started with a simple poem I wrote a summer ago. I entitled my poem, “Dream” because it discusses how I have battled the constant stress of being visually impaired and using glasses and contacts as crutches in my life. 
The poem continues on about the perception of reality and how life is not black or white, just grey. 

This poem encouraged me to create a piece of movement and place it on bodies other than my own. In this piece, I work through the constant battle of looking at life as black and white even though everything can be a blur, almost grey in a sense. Grey is a mixture of the good and bad, the right and wrong and the true and false. Grey represents the answers to many questions we have for ourselves like, “What is our true purpose in life?” “Why am I here?” “What should I do?” There is hardly ever a clear or right answer. Sometimes it is a mixture and maybe the answer is not an answer in itself. In this piece, I have incorporated the poem along with my dancer’s perspective on life and their daily struggles, like waking up and not being able to see clearly. I want to attempt to answer the big question of, “What is reality?” and through movement show how we perceive movements and gestures, through seeing, hearing, observing and grabbing hold of life itself.

Through this process, I have had the pleasure of receiving feedback from the other choreographers and our professor, George Staib. The feedback has not only helped my piece grow, but has also humbled me as a choreographer. Watching my piece over and over can often times numb my eyes to what is actually being perceived on stage. After each feedback session, I take a step back and review each piece of constructive criticism, advice and approval of my work and rework my piece bit by bit. For me, the creative process never ends and I guess I will only stop changing and reworking my piece on the opening night of the show.
___


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

Emory Dance has returned from Spring Break and is back in the rehearsal process! While we are glad that all of our dancers and choreographers were able to get some rest, we are so thrilled to have them all back in the studio and moving.

Let's find out what our next choreographer has been working on this semester and learn about what has inspired them!

___

Lauren Lindeen

Photo Credit: Lori Teague

Junior

Dance & Movement Studies and Psychology Double Major

This semester, I began my movement research by exploring the different aspects surrounding human connectivity through movement- What creates distance/closeness? Why do some relationships blossom while others falter? I think that communication is one of the largest factors that influences human relationships, so I began my process by asking my dancers to explore communication and connect/disconnect within their own lives.

One of the first choreographic methods I employed was asking my dancers to create two phrases centered around the idea of communication. The first task was to create a phrase expressing “what they would say to the world at large”. A few weeks later, I asked them to compose a phrase embodying “what they would like to say to an individual”. As I began to incorporate my dancers’ source work into my own phrase material, I noticed a distinct difference between the two tasks. While the “world at large” phrases felt very open and outwardly directed, the “individual” phrases reflected a level of deeper intimacy and introversion.

Noticing this difference lead me to reflect on the difference between interpersonal and “extrapersonal” relationships and how these identities affect the self. Is the individual defined by internal or external factors? The abstract or concrete? What exactly causes the disconnect between who we are and what we are? What forms the barrier between what we say and what others hear? Bearing these questions in mind, I seek to explore “the space between” human connectivity through movement from both a macroscopic and a microscopic perspective of human relationships.
___


Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert! 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

Ah, it's that time of year again. The midterms are flowing, dreams of Spring Break are soon to become reality, and the nine students of the Choreography II class are composing relentlessly as they prepare for the Emory Dance Company Spring Concert! 

We're halfway through the semester and the choreographers are well into their creative processes. Over the next few weeks they will share with us the challenges and rewards of making a new work, as well as their inspirations and aspirations for their pieces.

Let's find out what our first student-choreographer has been up to in the studio!

____

Mary Rose Branch

Senior

NBB Major, Dance & Movement Studies Minor

My piece this spring consists of four separate duets. I was originally inspired by the idea of physical and psychological distance versus connection. Though I can’t say for sure whether this idea will eventually evolve into something else, I am working with an unbelievably talented and creative cast of dancers. I am excited to see where the relationships they develop while working with each other through manipulating various phrases of movement will take the piece. 

I consider myself an experimentalist and I like to approach my work with an open-mind, and try not to wed myself to any ideas or concepts right off the bat. I think that allowing the piece to evolve and go in unexpected directions is one of the most rewarding and exciting aspects of choreographing. My first time choreographing last spring, I was more anxious about trying to find a meaning instead of giving the work time to develop on its own. This time around, I feel much more at ease and confident that everything will fall into place and all come together in the end.
____

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

Great Things Come in "Mini" Packages

Natalie Eggert. Photo Credit: Lori Teague

One of the many wonderful programs Emory Dance offers is our Friends of Dance scholarship. This year, Friends of Dance extended its range of funding to include mini-grants designed for dance majors interested in a focused area of movement research. Senior and Dance & Movement Studies Major Natalie Eggert received a Friends of Dance mini-grant, and traveled to Antioch University to learn more about Dance Movement Therapy. Read what she has to say about her experience and what she learned!

___

Upon learning the news about the expansion of the Friends of Dance scholarship program, I jumped to utilize the program and attend a workshop in Dance Movement Therapy. ‘What’s dance movement therapy? I’ve never heard of that before?’ Well, you’re not alone. I had never heard of it either until last summer. After spending a dismal three months in front of a computer screen at your run-of-the-mill college summer internship, it hit me that a career path without creativity, without movement, without my body would surely land me in a place of depression and lower back pain. I have known for many years that trying to ‘make it’ in the professional dance world would not suit my personality. Therefore, I researched dance related career paths until I found The American Dance Therapy Association website. I haven’t looked back since.

From that day forward, my choices have been driven by my intention to become a Dance Movement Therapist, or DMT. Our lovely director, Lori Teague, introduced me to several Atlanta DMTs, one of whom I now teach dance with at Moving in the Spirit, an Atlanta based non-profit that provides dance education and youth development to the local community. But as I lamented to Lori, I still could not answer the question What is Dance Therapy? She suggested a workshop to experience it first hand and together we found Antioch University’s three-day introduction to Dance Movement Therapy workshop.

I look back on those three days with immense fondness. I felt present in my own body as well as present in the room of like-minded movers. Our three teachers gave us a range of perspectives, as their work encompasses populations of addition recovery, trauma recovery, and children on the autism-spectrum. But unfortunately, I still cannot give you a sentence or two that sums up what dance movement therapy is; I don’t think anyone could. It’s not an experience that easily translates into words—maybe that’s the point. We hold valuable personal information in our bodies that we often neglect to explore. Dance movement therapy opens the lines of communication between our minds and our bodies, assuming that if these two are friends, having conscious dialogues with each other, the whole person can find clarity, contentment, hopefully growth. At least that’s what I found.  
___

Thank you, Natalie!


For information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

Learning from the Master: Noa Wertheim

Noa Wertheim (center) teaching class. Photo Credit: Lori Teauge

On Saturday October 18, Emory Dance had the honor of hosting a master class taught by Noa Wertheim, founder and artistic director of Israel based Vertigo Dance Company!

Emory sophomore and dance student Emma Neish attended class and now shares with us what she learned from her encounter with Noa. 


___

I have so much respect for the talented individuals who not only make art, but also incorporate it into their life. Noa’s movement and teaching immediately identified her as one of those gifted artists. 

Photo Credit: Lori Teague

In the span of a short morning class she helped me identify patterns in my dancing and aspects of my movement that I typically return to. While familiar movement can create a personal style, it can also be limiting. She first showed us how to continue with a movement. Instead of creating a snapshot image, we created a video. We began with a slow shift of weight and felt how one movement connects to another. Her movement felt very deliberate and grounded. She emphasized connectivity within the body, around the body, and between the body and the floor. By simply refocusing attention to my feet, core and the floor, I was much more stable- a key element in not only her movement but all dance. We continued with leaning and rolling, trying to make the movements feel effortless. Noa showed us that movement is simply weight transfer and if you can master and control your body in relation to gravity, the movement becomes “effortless”. 

Her advice resonated with me because after an hour of experimenting with weight transfer, rolling and falling I felt a new ease to my dancing. The feeling of effortlessness in dance is freeing and this inspired new movement and experimentation. Her suggestion to continue with a movement became clearer and instead of returning to my familiar affinities, I began to push the limits of weight transfer and balance. 

This class definitely inspired "aha!" moments and improved my self-awareness, creativity, and attention to connectivity.  ​
___


What great insight!

For information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

Restaging, Reflecting: Bebe Miller's "Prey"

Bebe Miller and the cast of "Prey"

This semester, Emory University students had the honor of restaging Bebe Miller's "Prey"! In a joint intensive with Agnes Scott College, students first learned the work from a Labanotation score, and later had the privilege of working with Bebe Miller herself! 

Emory University sophomore and dance major Talia Gergely took a moment to share her thoughts on the restaging process with us, as well as some of the wise words Miller left with her.

__

Working with Bebe Miller was an experience beyond what I could have expected. I also loved collaborating with Agnes Scott Dancers. I always enjoy working with new dancers and these dancers contributed such a loving and supportive energy to the rehearsal process. In the work, 

Prey, I perform a duet with dancer Diarra Web, from Agnes Scott College. Considering the fact that I was working with someone I have never met nor danced with before, we had a really great experience moving together. The one thing we did have in common was the mutual language of dance and sharing weight. Like Bebe said, "you may not know who you are dancing with, but you know how much they weigh".

A small portion of the Labanotation score for "Prey"

Learning from a Laban Score was also a new experience for me, but I enjoyed it! Every question that came up in rehearsal had an answer that could be found in the Laban notation, and as Bebe said, the Laban notation should also be helpful in a way that it includes the intention behind the movement, more than just the gesture or physical shape of the body. The purpose of notating a work is to record the intention and essence of the piece, which, as Bebe said, is stronger than a video.

Talia Gergely rehearsing

Bebe reminded us that when we move it is important to distinguish the energy behind movement as opposed to simply placing the movement in the space. In her Creativity Conversation, Bebe stated that her inspiration comes from "an unexpected moment of beauty" and "moments that become artful and 3-dimensional are what make life worth living for".

Overall, I found so much depth in this three day intensive with Bebe Miller and I appreciated how she encouraged us to be more grounded and connected within ourselves and with the dancers around us.

I'm so excited to perform this work at both Agnes Scott College and Emory University!

__

Thank you, Talia!

For information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website or check out our Facebook page.

EDC Spring 2014: A Few Words from our Choreographers (Part 9)

It's finally here! The Emory Dance Company spring concert, Pluto's Renaissance, is finally here!  We've also come to the end of our journey exploring the choreographic processes of our nine student-choreographers. Here is our last choreographer, discussing the inspirations, processes, and aspirations for his piece.

James LaRussa, Sophomore

The title of my work, Involuntary, spawned from my thoughts, experiences, and exposure to emotional manipulations.  Throughout my choreographic process of this work, I brainstormed different ways, reasons, and effects of emotional manipulation and control.  The movement in Involuntary explores the physical and mental effects of someone’s state of mind and self-control, becoming overtaken and misused by another.  Often times the victim of such control theft fails to realize what is happening until some tragic experience opens her eyes to the realization.  Other times if the victim sees the negative direction of the situation, what kind of heartbreak or betrayal will this individual experience after such intense deception, and how will she recover from living as a victim of dishonesty and deception?  Throughout the work, I experimented with different ways to embody these feelings and how to evoke an emotional reaction from the audience. 

I am rehearsing with 8 women regularly who embody the choreography and physically devote themselves to the movement.  I find it important for my dancers to connect emotionally with the movement, so that they may better evoke the emotional depravity of the work.  This spring I have been choreographing around this main vision; however, I highly value my dancers’ input and choreographic techniques as well.  Often times, the dancers and I collaborate on different movements and effort qualities, adding admired variance to the work.  Because of how devoted my dancers have been throughout the semester, I haven’t found any major challenges or obstacles that halted my flow during my choreographic experience, which I am greatly thankful for. 

I value the feedback sessions I attend every week as equally as I value my dancers’ dedication to the movement I create.  Watching the developing processes of the other choreographers allows me to remain aware of possible ways I can develop my own choreography.  During these feedback sessions, I also receive student and professional feedback on my created movements.  I highly value my peers and professors’ opinions and recommendations of my work and in what direction they see it moving.  I do my best to incorporate everyone’s critiques and to constantly reevaluate my work to produce a mature piece of art.  I’d like to give a final thank you to my cast for all your hard work and dedication, as well as a thank you to my fellow choreographers and professors who helped guide me toward my finished product.

Thanks, James!

Don't miss the Emory Dance Company Spring Showcase.  Click here for more details.

For more information on the Emory Dance Program, please go to our website.