Conclusions
I will attempt to formulate a concrete answer to my research question.
Q: "How can I connect dance, music and story to communicate on a physical and intuitive level?"
A: You could look at your choreographic craft through the lense of film making, to find tools that will help you to communicate across layers and modes.
To guide the process it will be helpful to figure out what you are trying to communicate and make it explicit. Identifying the armature/central theme and combining it with story structure for film will structure your ideas and serve as a compass during the creative process. You now have a clear goal (I want to communicate "x").
This goal will inform all the decision you make and it will determine which tools you will use: How to appraoch the process of exploring and creating movement material, how to communicate with the performers and other people involved, how will the lighting look, which costumes will the performers wear, etc).
Some choices and tools will depend on the circumstances (which performers, what is their background / training, how much time is available, where will we perform, etc.) and other decisions will be made specifically to serve the goal (approaches to find physical expressions and movement material, which words and actions to communicate with all people involved, etc.).
For each decision to be made, you can refer back to your compass and check if what you are doing is communicating your intention using the modes of communication involved. This will help you to focus on the intention and let the shape emerge from the inside out.
Final Thoughts
Key points
The most important findings from my research are:
- Looking at choreography as a form of multi-modal communication.
- Finding a method to make choices throughout the creative process and across modes, disciplines and styles by looking at another craft that involves multi-modal communication.
- Embracing story in dance and thinking about story in a more open way.
- Looking at my craft through the lens of another craft.
- Not trying to define in which style I am creating (flamenco or contemporary), but instead embracing the in-between and fluid movement across the spectrum in between styles.
The question of positioning is a tricky one. Do I define myself as a flamenco or contemporary based maker? Who is my audience?
As an artist, I find the question of defining the style irrelevant. I don't care if what I create is flamenco or not. My goal is not to create within a certain container. My goal is to express myself and communicate through my work.
There are no clearly defined edges. Different people will have different opinions and perceptions depending on their point of view. Even my own perception is constantly shifting depening on the angle from which I look at my work. And each piece I create will have its own unique combination of ingredients from flamenco, contemporary (not to mention "contaminations" from other styles or techniques).
As an artist I would describe myself as a choreographer who moves fluidly in between flamenco and contemporary dance. Commercially it might be strategic to emphasize one style or the other, depending on the audience I want to reach.
As a researcher I think it is interesting and useful to step back from time to time and analyse how I am moving in between these styles. And also to observe how both the flamenco the contemporary dance scenes are evolving and interacting. What lessons can be learned? Which new ideas may emerge? Which dialogues could be interesting to pursue? This artistic research has helped me to gain new perspectives and to understand my own position and relation to it (however difficult to pinpoint it may be).