Hey everyone,
My name is Patrick Quinn – I’m a junior in Cabot House, and a dancer and choreographer for the Harvard-Radcliffe Modern Dance Company (HRMDC). I’m new to HarvardDances, and just wanted to share my perspective with you as a student choreographer!
I’m currently enrolled in Dramatic Arts 121: Group Choreography (DA 121), an independent-study style course in which I work closely with Elizabeth Bergmann, the director of the Dance Program, on finding my own voice as a choreographer. Specifically, the course’s goal is to guide me in creating a dance piece for performance this semester, and I am now hard at work trying to put together a seven-dancer piece for HRMDC.
Titled “No One Knew Me,” it’s a rather theatrical piece about connections and disconnections between people, the complex circumstances surrounding social situations. The idea that humans thrive on social networks, an idea becoming more and more explicit in recent times (Just think of how many hours you’ve spent on Facebook in the past week! Eek.). I’ve had this concept in mind for a while, but I’ve been wrestling with the details – who are the characters, what are they feeling, how can I expect the audience to understand something so abstract?
I don’t have that much time left to sort out such details. My piece will be performed in the Dance Program’s Dance Showcase 2, which means that crunch time is here – I have only one rehearsal left before we enter tech week, and the time pressure is definitely there. It all seems so strange – while the rehearsals began the first week of classes, over two months ago, I still find myself wondering where all of the time went! Yet here I am, with a little over two weeks left before the performance, struggling to find ways to “fix” my piece.
It’s hard to use the word “fix” in this situation; for all intents and purposes, my dance is fine. Except for a few moments where the dancers change formations, everything has been set and looks relatively clean. However, there is that intangible, irritating nagging in the back of my head, and I can feel that something just isn’t right. My latest showing for DA121 was yesterday, during which I decided the “problem” was in the second of the piece’s three sections. Granted, the first and third sections are due to be tweaked and fixed, but something just doesn’t feel right about the second. What exactly is the problem, you ask? I wish I knew.
I’ve worked so hard on incorporating different choreographic elements – there are plenty of formations, phrase manipulations, and motifs, and I’ve tried my best to keep the movement original, evocative, and striking. Uninspiring music has been replaced, confusing costume ideas trashed; I’ve been trying so hard to make the dance’s intentions clearer, and to make the dance itself more entertaining. So much thought and effort has been put in, and it seems like I am just missing something so fundamental. This is why I’ve been so frustrated; this is a choreographer’s dilemma.
1 Comment
Wednesday, 19 November 2008 at 7:19 am
I’m new to this blog and am finding the posts interesting! They take me back to my experiences in college.
As for your dilemma, I’m curious if you’ve had opportunities to get feedback from others in your class? I’ve found feedback is priceless when there is a “problem” nagging me about my choreography. Sometimes others can point out something obvious that you’ve overlooked or give their thoughts on what didn’t work for them. If your class isn’t involved in giving feedback, get friends to watch (non-dancers can give really valuable responses). Have some specific questions ready about the dance, its characters, and concepts. If you don’t facilitate the conversation, you’ll just get a lot of “I liked it!” reactions which are not really helpful.
Hope this helps! Best wishes!