Personal Review & Reflection

In my previous post, I observed how Kate Flatt's ideas on 'The Audience Reaction' had led me to 'focus on creating an ending that would leave my audience feeling captivated and inspired', and found my desire to fixate on cramming the depth of the novel into the final two minutes of my work much less valuable than the atmosphere and emotion I could create for those watching. The question of wanting the audience to be 'moved, touched, or affected' by what happened in my performance resonated much more with me as being a powerful and fulfilling ending to this project (Flatt, 2019, p.161). Therefore, I decided that my final section would depict a sense of freedom and growth, to emulate the thriving and brave young woman that Kya becomes through her development, learning from the troubling experiences she faces amongst the beauty of the wild. 

Drawing inspiration from a striking symbol throughout the novel and the comfort Kya finds within these fascinating creatures, I decided to base my movement upon the expansive flight of birds. The gulls that Kya feeds on the beach become 'the only family she's got', and the feather of a blue heron she finds in the marsh becomes a symbol of her newly found 'self reliance, independence, self-determination, and being able to take care of oneself' (Owens, 2019, p.75) (Cabral, 2020). 

(Masterkova, 2021)

In this final section, I hoped to create a sense of freedom through the use of expansive movements and replication of the sweeping quality of wings through the flowing extension of my arms. Furthermore, considering the use of my arms in this section, I was naturally led to the quality of my hands as they provide the final dynamic of the extension of the arm. In my piece, my hands have been a representation of different emotions of Kya's:

 - initially a symbol of exploration and discovery, showing Kya's connection to place and the earth

- transforming into Kya's longing for connection, providing Kya with the tenderness and comfort she desires from her mother

Finally, I have decided that my hands can become a symbol of hope, painting a future for Kya and leading her to places of wonder and security in her own company and independence. Therefore, I decided to take this quite literally, and created movement with the intention of being led by my hands, any rotation of my wrist or elongation of my fingers drawing me in a new direction. This was a stimulating method of choreographing for me, as I found I was drawn to experiment with off-balance and different changes in weight placement as the placement of my hands forced me to be pulled in opposing directions. Providing myself with this task has ensured that even in the final moments, my choreography has a sincere purpose and intention, which I was keen to fulfilling after my teacher reminded me of the importance of being consistent with my use of research and methods even in the last sections of my work. I feel as though it has made my piece more successful by applying this feedback, as it has encouraged me to remain motivated in the difficulty of the final weeks, which I have done by stimulating myself with research and creative tasks, as this is something I identified in my previous blog as being something inspiring for me as a choreographer.

Before my final performance, I feel it is very important for me to run my piece all the way through and record it, so that I can identify areas in which the fluidity of the choreography is broken and I can study the impact (or potential lack of) in certain sections. Twyla Tharp suggests that 'sometimes you can't identify a good idea until you've considered and discarded the bad ones' and so by watching back my work and encouraging myself to face the less successful sections of my piece, I will in turn be able to identify which areas are successful, and therefore rectify weaker moments, whilst highlighting and enhancing the most captivating ones (Tharp, 2008, p.192).

References:

Owens, D., 2019. Where the Crawdads Sing. London: Corsair, p.75.

Flatt, K., 2019. Choreography : Creating and Developing Dance for Performance. Chapter 7: Structure and the Choreographer's Eye. Ramsbury: The Crowood Press, p.161.

Masterkova, A., 2021. Flying blue heron. [watercolour on paper].

Cabral, C., 2020. Blue Heron Symbolism in Where the Crawdads Sing. [online] Shortform Books. Available at: <https://www.shortform.com/blog/blue-heron-symbolism-where-the-crawdads-sing/> [Accessed 29 January 2022].

Tharp, T., 2008. The Creative Habit: Ruts and Grooves. New York: Simon & Schuster, p.192.