How Did I Find My Topic?

Once I went to a studio to research but it was not a successful session. One or two weeks prior to that my grandfather died and as I was passing by the church in front of school I saw people carrying out a coffin which made me think of him. I tried not to think about it and to not let it affect me but unconsciously I was still aware of my grandfather's death and it really did not allow me to research. After this session (where I did not get much done in the studio), I got the idea for my topic. This unfortunate event stopped me from researching physcially but together with my prior physical and music research it led me to my topic. When I saw the coffin it was really like a reality switch for me - at one point I was feeling good and in a split of a second I was taken out of the world where my mind was only focused on my grandfather's death. I think this contrast, this sudden switch that happened gave me the idea to work with opposite worlds - dreamland and reality.

Improvisation Rules

• Closed mirrors - I cannot look at myself when improvising, especially when it is for research purposes. Looking at myself distracts me, instead of going with the feeling I go with what I like to see myself doing. I want to connect to myself and really dive into the research instead of being busy with what I see.
• One song on repeat - I realized that it is hard for me to choose music for doing research. I cannot do physical research in silence, it does not get me going, I need some kind of sound as sound is something that I pay a lot of attention to and it gives me a huge amount of inspiration. When the songs are just playing from a playlist I am always like "ahhh I love this song" or "I forgot about this one wow". Each new song took me out of my research and I had to start from zero over and over again. What I found was that playing one song on repeat seems to work. It can be any song, any genre but it has to go on repeat. It is becuase as the song repeats I get used to it, I get used to the sounds and with every new play it becomes less "jeez I love this song" and more just a casual sound. As it keeps on playing it transfers in a way into a tool to kill the silence. 

Music Cues With The Structure (1st draft)

FIRST ROUND

00:00

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| 8 x 8 - on the seventh 8 start moving the legs 

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00:29 - dreamy legs gain more movement and more speed

00:44 - start moving the upper body

00:59 

01:14 - hands go through the legs to the front 

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| 4 x 8 - 3x8 put the pelvis on the ground, 1x8 go to the back on the beat 

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01:28 - laying on the back facing the back

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| 8 x 8 - 2x8 lying down, from third 8 start moving 

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01:58 - roll back 

02:13 

02:27 - standing up 

02:42 - washing the body 

02:50 - building up 

02:57 - intense washing 

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| 8 x 8 - 4x8 washing, 4x8 magnet on the knees 

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03:26 - sound feet

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| 4 x 8 - 2x8 one by one, 2x8 both feet

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03:41 - crazy footwork 

03:56 - diagonal looking

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| 4 x 8

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04:11 

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| 8 x 8

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04:41 - adding arms

04:53 

04:55 - one 8 after this cue fall to the ground 

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| 16 x 8 - 3x8 crossing on the spot + going on the diagonal

               3x8 rolls with crossing

               4x8 crossing hands

               6x8 struggling + dreamy fingers

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05:54 - on the ground laying down like in the beginning  

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| 4 x 4 - last 2x8 start dragging the hands

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end of the song

SECOND ROUND

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| 8 x 8 - on the seventh 8 sit up 

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00:29 - daily positions

00:44 - make yourself small

00:59 - head banging

01:14 - start going up

01:28 - standing up

01:58 - more intense 

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| 4 x 8 building up the bounce 

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02:13 - feeling myself dance

02:27 - house steps

02:42 - 

02:50 - start making (building into the 4 hip hop step)

02:57 - sound on the beat (with the 4 hip hop step)

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| 4 x 8

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03:26 - brushing off the legs

03:41 - circle

03:56 - hands on the face

04:11 - hands start moving

04:41 - start going down

04:53 - 

04:55 - on the knees with dreamy fingers

05:54 - hands hands are in the front between the legs

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| 4 x 4 - get into the position laying on the back facing the back

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the music keeps playing until the 1st music cue in the third round of the song

How Did I Come Up With My Title?

What I did was that I went through all the writing I have - my notes from videos, my reflections as well as the feedback I got from my peers and coaches - and I worte down the words that I found interesting, the ones that connect most to my topic and the ones that were repated. I started with writing them all on my computer but that did not really get me anywhere so I grabbed a piece of paper instead. From the list of words on my computer I wrote on the paper only some of them, the ones I felt most connection with. Then I played with them - I was arranging them differently, adding words, taking words out, it was really like a word play. I also searched for synnonyms for some of the words becasue they might bring me some inspiaration. At one point I got to the word "somewhere" and I felt like this is it. "Somewhere", "elsewhere", "here", "there", "not here". What I liked about these words is that they do not precisely describe a place, they give you a general idea but they are not specific. This is somehting that connects with my dreamland, it is in my imagination, it is in my head, I am in a different state that I cannot really describe, it is just "somewhere there". Later I asked one of my friends for their opinion and she said that because I do not give the specific place it makes her curious where it is, it makes it mysterious and thus she would want watch the solo to find the answer. And this is how I ended up with "Not here, elsewhere".

Dario's Class

- using the time well

Once in Dario's class we were supposed to show what we have so far for our solos (it was one of the first classes). He said that we will do a warm up and afterwards we will share with each other what we have. We started to warm up - everyone by themselves improvising and getting the body warm  - and the warm up never finished, we continued dancing for the rest of the class. In the beginning I was indeed warming up my body but as we went on I thought it would be a good idea to use this time to research. I actually found a lot of new things such as "magnet", "manipulating the leg" or "dreamy fingers" (look at videos e & h).

Peer Feedback

• Like the beginning pose
• Contrast with the pose and the beat - nice
• Contrast between the soft movement and strong music - nice
• Itching (the washing my body part)
• Nice how the glued hands were introduced before standing up and then it develops further
• I am making the music (especially when I start cleaning my body because that is when a high head comes in the music and it seems like I am making that sounds with my hands)
• The sudden look to the diagonal - a bit random, the connection is not clear
• Very in yourself before the diagonal and suddenly I am very out of myself - again the connection is not clear, maybe I have to start building up not being in myself or find a different transition into the diagonal 
• It seems like I am fighting with myself
• The crossing - it looks like I am looking for a way out
• My signature is that I am building up movements, I am using elements and building them up instead of doing a phrase or a set choreography 
• Never really facing the audience - a choice?
• When facing the audience with the back make sure your back is engaged (because that is what the audience will see so it has to project something)
• Getting information (when I am not on the music) and making it your own (when I find the beat and follow it)

Dreamland

Characteristics

In control of my world

Easiness, carelessness

Imagination

Following my path

Physicality/Movement Qualities

Soft, delicate

Flowy, wavy

Turning

Swinging

Tip toeing

A lot of arm movement

Movement of the fingers

Spontaneous

- following my instinct & flow, not forcing anything

Once I went to a studio because I felt like dancing. It started with me playing "KILL DEM" by Jamie xx, a song that I love and that really gets me going, and I just freely danced to it. I was so energized and happy that this freedom and just enjoying the movement turned into improvisation research for my solo. I found many things becuase I was not forcing myself into anything, I was in a flow and I let that flow take the direction that it needed. 

How Did I Choose My Music?

One day when researching the dreamland qualities I played "Red Armor" by Niki Istrefi, a techno song. That was when I realized that the soft, slow and delictae movements of dreamland look really intreasting with a very contrastic song. What I also realized then was that dreamland is not only about being careless and doing what I want to do but also feeling myself and techno music really allows me to do that. When doing the first showings of what I already have for my solo, I used the "Integrate" song, it was not my definitive choice for the solo but I wanted to go in that direction so I wanted people to watch my material with this song and see what they think about it. Both in my first peer feedback and first feedback class everyone said that this song works well and that was when I made the final choice to use this song. The decision was made based on my own idea and instict with combination with the feedback I received. 

Reality

Characteristics

The world in control of me

Overstimulaiton

Reality

Adapting to people and surroundings 

Physicality/Movement qualities 

Glued hands

Threading 

Palms as magnets

Touching only with the outer surface of the hands

Messy, constant, uncontrolled footwork

Thoughts

In this whole process I got a lot of feedback - in Dario's class, in Dirk's class and also from friends whom I invited to watch my rehearsals and run throughs. The feedback always helped me to see if I am on the right track, what I should work on further, what works and what I should keep etc. At the same time it was very overwhelming - there were so many perspectives given, sometimes what worked for one person did not work for another one and it made me really lost at times. I did not know what to take, what to leave, what to do with it. With time I realized that I cannot satisfy everyone and that some will like/understand my solo and some will not and that is ok. I should take and apply the feedback that I feel will support my solo.

30 Minutes

- no plan, no preparation

After one of my coachings with Dario he told me to try going to a studio and improvise for a longer period of time without analyzing anything (as I tend to analyze everything). I did that and it was one of my best improvisations - I was not thinking of the things I have already found, I was npt thinking about what I want to find or achive in this improvisation, I was just danicng. Of course I had my topic at the back of my head so that I can still in a way guide my improvisation but I was not doing any conscious choices, the movemnet was just organically evolving. I came with no plan to the studio (which also never happens) and let the things come to me. It was really freeing and once again I found many different things (look at videos h, i, j & k).

m: beginning (1st draft)

n: beginning (final version)

a: covering my face & messy legs

b: crossing hands

c: circles with hands & bouncing