Choreographic Devices And Motif Development (4)

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 I'm using choreographic devices like creating and developing contrasting motifs that come from my stimulus of the protest against war and fight for peace. Christopher Bruce, "combines elements of the varied styles" ([Martha Bremser and Lorna Sanders] 2011) of dance in motifs, and brings them together to create a contrasting mixture which emphasises the movement. Prezi website mentions that Bruce highlights themes and creates emotional intensity by using repeated motif development, ([Clare Ellis], 2022). Bruce also shows awareness of social and ecological issues through his pieces. ([Martha Bremser and Lorna Sanders], 2011). I have created motifs with different styles and I think repeating and developing them will help to create more depth to my piece and clearly highlight ,similarly, 
the social issues of war. 

In an interview with Christopher Bruce, (on the Rambert website),  Bruce mentions how its sometimes more effective to have simple elements to the choreography. When choreographing,  I will take this into consideration. I want to display how peace should be simple to achieve, however is contrasted with more complex movements to show how it can be hard to stop the violence and anger of others. 

Contrasts used in Bruce's choreographic process also relate back to my stimulus, The Flower Thrower. Typically in Bruce's pieces, "The feet are often parallel, without concern for turnout", "small quick steps which contrast with bold circular gestures" ([Martha Bremser and Lorna Sanders], 2011). In my stimulus, the dark and shaded colours used to represent a man are shown through the "quick" movements, in these photos. Contrastingly, I've used lyrical and more "grounded" movements ,like plies and reaching arm gestures, to represent the flowers being thrown and the fight for peace. Alongside using Bruce's idea of contrasting technique, I think its important to show a contrast in energy. "Dance movement...works with gravity to show...sustained qualities...and other diverse and contrasting uses of energy and force." (Flatt, 2019). From this, I want certain movements to have more of an energetic feel, so it has a sharp and edgy tone to it. I can then contrast this by making the energy in lyrical parts more sustained and give a feeling of freedom and ease.                               



Bibliography: 

  • “A story I wanted to tell”: Christopher Bruce and Ghost Dances - Rambert
  • Crompton ,SC,(2018)"A story I wanted to tell", Rambert.org.uk 
  • Christopher Bruce- Stylistic Characteristics by Claire Ellis (prezi.com
  •   [Martha and Lorna Sanders ] (2011) Fifty Contemporary Choreographers. 2nd edn. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/1609011/fifty-contemporary-choreographers-pdf (Accessed: 20 October 2023).                                                                                                               
  •   Flatt, K. (2019) Choreography. [edition unavailable]. The Crowood Press. Available at: https://www.perlego.com/book/3157272/choreography-creating-and-developing-dance-for-performance-pdf (Accessed: 11 October 2023).




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