ASSESSMENT DAY!!
Today we had our formative movement assessment. When I arrived at the performance space I felt nervous but ready for what was to come as we have been practicing for the assessment for a while. The assessment involved a number a group sections of improvisation and a section of partner work. The partner work has been particularly challenge for me and my partner as she suffers from weak ankles meaning that in any of the lifts performed I would have to be the one lifting. This being said I am not keen on being lifted anyway so it worked out well. This is something that I hope will change over the period of the module as my confidence and knowledge of lifting techniques develops.My partner and I have been meeting over the weeks to practice the sort section of choreographed movement given to us by our teacher Liz and then add on our own choreography. I have always enjoyed choreographing dance routines and I was able to use this to aid the creation of our movement piece. We chose movements that we fluid so that we could move smoothly from one to one. This improved each time we practiced the piece and by the end of rehearsals I thought we had moved on significantly.
The assessment began with a warmup that we had learnt and experience within the sessions and involved the exploration of a number of the fundamentals described in Peggy Hackneys book Making Connections. We had to take ourselves through this warmup correctly in order to prepare for the rest of the assessment. The warmup begins with us being laid on the floor, noticing our breath and transporting it around our bodies. It then went on to a series of movements involving head-tail connectivity. We experimenting with the use of our heads to turn our bodies allowing the tail to follow and visa versa. We also explored a range of core-distal movements through tumbles and contractions. Throughout the warmup each fundamental was explored through a range of movement types. By the end of the warmup we should being aiming to be stood up. The warmup was accompanied by a piece music we were familiar with and I found I got used to the length of the piece. As the warmup finished I found myself energised and ready for the rest of the assessment.
One of the other sections involved us being in groups of four or five and being situated in the four corners of the room. One group performed at a time and they were given a piece of music to improvise alongside. The other groups watched and gained inspiration and enjoyment from their performance. It was important that within these sections we built an appropriate relationship with the other performers and the space itself, using walls and the floor for example, to create interesting shapes and movements. Despite having practiced this in lessons the section was entirely improvised meaning we had to draw on what had worked in our past experiences, to ensure the improvisation was the best it could be. This meant thinking back to the discussions we had had after rehearsals to remember what had been considered strong and what had been considered weak. I enjoyed this section as it allowed you to work with your classmates but also have moments of self exploration, in which the use of the space and levels were important.
The final sections involved groups of three entering the circle and performing a silent improvisation in the space for a minute and then a improvisation that involved the whole group entering the circle when they pleased, alongside several pieces of music. Within the sections in groups of three it was important that you really worked within the fellow performers in the space and didn't allow yourself to become distracted in your own movement. This is something I often do and I have really tried to work on improving through rehearsals. The improvisation should include movements between the partners that compliment one another or even contrast for example. The use of levels and changed in pace is also appropriate and helps to generate material that innovative, interesting and meaningful.
I really enjoyed that final sections with the whole class improvisation, in particular because of the incorporation of music. I find that when music is involved you can really listen to the different rhythms and sounds within it and use it to inspire and influence your movements and style within a performance. I often find myself building up a story within my mind and picturing where my 'character' is and how they feeling. However as I have said before such group sections aim to generate a sense of ensemble within performance, something that I believe my group are capable of doing. I think that even after only this short time we have bonded well as a group and this has shown through group performance. I look forward to seeing what we can produce at the end of the year in the final assessment.
Overall I found the assessment an enjoyable experience, that differs from performances in the other modules where you have to perform learnt lines from a script.... Movement allows you express yourself in a different way and even if you have moments when you are unsure you can harness that insecurity to create a moment of stillness and silence for example which is often just as powerful as constant movement. I used to dance a lot when I was a bit younger and this performance reminded me of the real buzz I get my I'm dancing/moving. I can put my all into it in a way that different from spoken performance and use the nerves to energise my body and express myself through movement.
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