Anna Manja Larcher and Professors Jennie Creer King and Jan Dijkwel, Dance
In my ORCA project, my aim was to create a contemporary ballet piece for the BYU Theater Ballet Dance Company that would then be performed and judicated at the ACDF (American College Dance Festival) choreography competition and art festival in New Mexico, March 2001. I have focused on four major areas of choreography, experimenting with a.) dance form and movement (dance choreography), b.) lighting, film and costume (scenery), c.) music, and d.) the whole piece as a work of art.
My experimentation with movement was enlightening and successful. My goal was to find new movement within possible extreme positions, in which the dancer experimented with his or her natural limitations of body shape and structure, limitations of flexibility, and his or her ability to inhibit and sustain movement. Moreover, I aimed for meaning in movement. Repeatedly, I challenged the students to develop individual creativity in putting expression and purpose to each movement that was found and created by both student and choreographer. I found that the dancers gained increased body awareness, and that they were able to dance and express themselves with more purpose. The movement did not merely exist of “empty steps” or gymnastic exercises, but contained meaning and individual expression, which later added to the presentation and purpose of the whole piece. With increased engagement in my studies of extreme positions, I found that I would be able to further improve the movement quality of the dancer, and the range of his or her ability to execute movement. In working with the company, I found that much work needed to be done in bringing the dancers together as a better functioning, more focused unit, an element I have not calculated into my time frame and that is crucial for the success of a team.
In my experimentation with scenery and costume, I faced many impediments. I learned that all the involved participants of my production would have had to work together more closely and more professional. In the university setting in which my choreography took place, I should have been more aware of my need to inquire of the level of competence or possibilities of stage crew and technical devices, and of my need to arrange and to supervise. More sufficient supervision on my side would have required heavy training in staging and in the use of lighting techniques, special effects and props. The stage crew and lighting staff seemed to not be able to work very independently and needed to get every detail from the choreographer’s hand. The creation of costumes likewise would have required better knowledge on materials used, and possibilities or constraints given in manufacturing.
Communicating the meaning of beauty in modesty through my art, posed another difficulty on me. The requirements high moral standards and high quality art, made choosing costumes difficult. I needed costumes that would beautifully and aesthetically show the dancer’s muscle work and expertise of the whole body, however costumes that would not be suggestive. Instead of the so commonly used unitards, I decided to use a two-piece, tight body covering costume. In a larger time frame, more experimentation on that type of costume in looking at material and color would have probably resulted in a more satisfying way.
The difficulty I faced in the production of film was to find a capable film person that would be able to catch my vision of the usage of film in dance. I found that as the choreographer in the given setting, I would have had to acquire a lot more knowledge and experience in working with film, in order to supervise the whole production better. The student I found to help me with film was probably the most talented individual I could get in my time frame, and with the resources available, however, we could have accomplished a lot more artistic quality and professionalism with more knowledge of equipment, technical possibilities, and film strategies. Despite all, I think I was able to open the communication channel between dance and film a little more, especially making students more aware of the possibilities given in such cooperation. A lot of technical problems occurred because there was not enough knowledge and preparation on side of the stage crew and prop masters concerning the usage of film in dance on stage.
I found that BYU has very capable and professional staff and equipment in the area of music editing. I used two composers for my piece and was able to produce a whole new music piece with special effects, such as surround sound, overlapping effects, echo, crash sounds, etc., after some of these options have been introduced and laid out to me. The equipment of the stages we performed on barely matched up with the possibilities of special effects given in the music.
During my project I came to reevaluate what art really was. I studied several art pieces in the area of dance, painting, music, film etc. I found that art was to connect with, reach, and inspire human beings in their chore being. Art reflects and represents, in a more symbolic rather than direct way, the intellectual world and introspective capability of man in his many different facets and moments. Besides reflecting and representing these core meanings of human life and creation, art can be a medium that brings into awareness, that teaches and that passes on values and principles. Art is different than craft, where an object or some other form of creation merely represents itself and does not stand as a symbol for any further meaning or expression. The art festival has done very well in educating the audience about art. In terms of morality however, the festival has not made a distinction. There was art with good moral sense and art missing morality in every sense. I think our dance company was able to take a stand and represent well some of the moral values that are so important to art. These moral values were shown in choice of costume, movement, expression and meaning of the dance piece itself. “earthCries” would have been a stronger piece, if all elements of the choreography would have been developed more thoroughly. In repeated efforts, I would amount about the same time I spent for all of the areas of my choreography to one area at a time.