Now that External Oblique is well and truly done with, this domain’s almost up for renewal, and I have a head filled with projects to get stuck into, I’ve decided to leave this here as a record of what I’ve done so far, and to move my online ranting to another home. So far I have the bones of this thing figured out, and am hoping to launch this new thing soon.
The Carclew Youth Arts Scholarship will be eating my time for one more week, and will most likely keep me in Adelaide until the end of October, and I’m going to try to put together some fun dance stuff over the next three months. I’m going to finally get my choreography workshops running, and maybe even get something on stage.
Thanks to all of you who’ve been checking back here to see what I’m up to. I’ll be posting more information as I pull it all together.
I know I seem scattered and distant at the moment. Believe me, it’s even worse inside my head. I’ve been struggling with a lot lately, and am slowly putting things together. My plans are vague at best, but I’m slowly defining some goals to help get things a little more organised.
Recently I decided to figure out just how much money I’ve spent on bellydancing. In the three and a half years since my first class, I’ve spent around $4500 on classes and workshops, and at least that much again on transport and accommodation. I’ve been fairly good with props and costumes, spending maybe $500 all up. It’s a given that I’m going to spend the rest of my life investing every spare cent I have into my dancing, and I’m at a point where I need to step back and make sure that each class I take is truly an investment. Looking back over the list of workshops and classes I’ve taken, some of them stand out as having taught me things that have changed my approach to dance, or have helped me to break through areas that I’d struggled with. I need to figure out exactly what it is I’m looking for as a student, not only to allow me to seek out the lessons I need, but also to start constructing classes that will be of benefit to other dancers.
From now until the end of the year, I want to focus on a few goals…
- Get back on track with my personal practice, initially by taking on the 90 day challenge - 90 hours of practice in 90 days (inspired by Carrara Nour).
- Complete one choreography a week, to keep my mind in creative mode.
- Produce one more independent work by the end of the year.
- Take at least one workshop in flamenco, butoh or any other complementary dance form.
- Film myself playing, drilling and rehearsing.
- Approach other dancers for advice about touring.
Also, I need to stop building safety nets for myself and just leap.
It seems I’ve developed a love/hate relationship with the way that we learn this dance. At first I fell head-over heels in love with the workshops and festivals, and would pay any price to take any workshop with any teacher - especially when it came to the more well-known girls, but now that it’s been more than three years since my first class, I’m getting a lot more fussy. I have my own goals that I’m working towards, and unless a workshop promises something amazing that I’d not even considered before, I’m not going to sign up for anything that’s not in line with what I’m working towards.
I’ve never regretted attending an event, because being surrounded by other obsessed dancers is always such a nourishing experience, but I’ve very rarely taken anything solid from them. I think my focus for the rest of the year will be to work on my own dance, developing my own style and vocabulary that suits my body and my intentions.
After a few things got in the way and my choreography workshops were postponed, it seems I’m just about ready to get them running now, and this space is begging to be danced in. I’m also re-thinking my approach to performing, and there’ll be more on that a little later because I’ve yet to find the balance there that I’m looking for.
Oh, and, I’m not in Adelaide at the moment, and aside from a quick trip back to pick up some things, I may not be around for quite a while. I will, however, have some more costumes and things for sale in a couple of weeks, and am hoping to both lighten my backpack and have a little more money to spend on studio rental. More details to come…
Things on the dance front have been really slow lately. I spent almost twelve months putting my dancing first and letting the rest of my life fall into place behind it, and I’ve never been so happy. While I was in the middle of it all, completely and utterly high on having a life revolving around the thing I love, I agreed to do a couple of favours for friends. My life has since become about taking on the burdens of others, and running around trying to keep the dreams of other people afloat. This isn’t where I’m supposed to be, and I’ve found myself falling into old habits. I’ve barely been in the studio since March, and it’s influencing every aspect of my life. I’m snapping really easily, and pulling away from my friends to save them having to see me like this.
I have made commitments to other people, and will stand by those, but am giving notice as of today. I’m taking back control of my own life, and in doing so, asking those around me to do the same.
I started work on some new choreography last night. Sure in was in my head as I was drifting off to sleep last night, but it means that my creative well hasn’t dried up yet.
There are some big changes on the way.
tiaramerchgirl:
I wish I was near you, I’ve wanted to learn more about choreography for ages!
No need to be wishing. Once I’ve finished putting these things together, I’m taking them on the road. The plan is to get a 20,000km Greyhound pass and stop in anywhere that will have me. We’ll run the workshops Monday to Thursday afternoon, then have a community performance on the Friday night, or have a full day of workshops and an evening performance on either day of the weekend, then I’ll jump on the next bus and get off in the next town.
I need to do a bit of networking and planning yet, but I think I can pull it off, and also explore the whole northern half of Australia that I’ve yet to see at the same time. I’ve done New York to LA, Adelaide to Sydney and Adelaide to Perth on the road before, and Adelaide to Melbourne around 50 times, so I’m sure my body can handle a couple of laps around Australia.
I’ve spent the past month putting together a series of choreography workshops, and am almost ready to present them. I’ve packed a lot of information into four 1.5 hour lessons and am looking for a willing group to trial them on, mainly to find out whether I’ve allowed the right amount of time, but also to get any other feedback that participants may have to offer.
Details about the workshops are here. They are open to adult dancers with (or without) any level of training in any style of dance.
As they may not run as smoothly as I’d like yet, I’m offering the initial workshop series at a reduced rate of $15 each or $50 for all four, and ask that in return, participants come with an open mind, a willingness to push themselves out of their comfort zones, and with the ability to give honest feedback (with the option to provide this anonymously if preferred).
The venue I’ve secured for the trial is in Ottoway, and is available on Tuesdays from 4pm, Wednesdays from 2pm and Fridays from 3pm. If you are interested, I’d love to hear which times or dates would be best. Please also let me know if it’s looking as if my workshops may clash with classes of another studio, as I’m hoping to add to the local dance community, not clash with it.
For any questions or to register your interest, please contact me at BridgettElizabeth@gmail.com
Bridgett xxx
Adelaide needs a website like this. So many spaces to fill with dancing!
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I’m realizing the number one element I look for in a performance is clarity of intention. If that clarity is there, I will follow a director or performer almost anywhere.
As directors and performers, clarity is developed by making choices about how we are present, how we move.
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Roslyn Sulcas wrote a year-end article in the New York Times summarizing the most memorable performances she had seen during the year. The article is called “Leading Bodies, Stirring Imaginations”, and it begins with a superb description of the art of choreography:
”CREATING a dance involves much more than inventing steps for dancers. It needs a judicious eye for visual and spatial effect, a sense of timing and an instinct for building attention, for varying the mood and creating an overall theatrical arc that draws an audience into the world of the dance. Thinking about my favorite dance watching moments of the year, I realized that they all involved a sense of wonder at the skill with which the choreographers had woven these elements into a whole, making every aspect of a dance feel not just necessary, but inevitable.”
The actual process by which a choreographer creates a work varies tremendously; in my own work with choreographers I’ve seen many approaches, and sometimes different approaches by the same choreographer to different works. Whatever that process is though, it must have as its focus that “overall theatrical arc that draws an audience into the world of the dance”.
As it turns out, there is perhaps no better description of the principles for selecting music for choreography, and blending that music into a Sound Design, than the exact same paragraph from Ms. Sulcas’ article. It could read like this: “Creating a Sound Design for a dance involves much more than selecting music. It needs a judicious ear for what will enhance the visual and spatial effects of the dance, a sense of timing and an instinct for building attention, for varying the mood and creating an overall theatrical arc that draws an audience into the world of the dance.”
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“For most of its professionals and for most of its audience, choreography is essentially a visual art, and dancers and choreographers are primarily visual in their perceptions. They react intensely to music, but often as texture more than as composition, the way a fashion designer perceives fabric. Although profoundly inspired by some music, they often perceive it almost as color, but rarely as artistic structure, much the same way that a painter perceives light.”
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The Process Of Choreography (Part 3): Music and Dance | All Over The Place Records
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve become intensely interested in the choreographic process, and am immersing myself in research from so many sources. I’m also searching for any intensives/courses/classes/anything to do with the choreographic process. This is looking like it will form the basis of the development of my next project.
