Niamh Horn - First Year Choreography

Bibliography: Anon, (2019). [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/oct/13/wayne-mc [Accessed 25 Oct. 2019]. Studio Wayne McGregor. (n.d.).  Infra . [online] Available at: https://waynemcgregor.com/productions/infra [Accessed 25 Oct. 2019]. Mackrell, J. (n.d.).  Wayne McGregor: Zen and the art of dance | Judith Mackrell . [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2009/oct/13/wayne-mcgregor-interview [Accessed 25 Oct. 2019]. Studio Wayne McGregor. (2019).  Wayne McGregor . [online] Available at: https://waynemcgregor.com/about/wayne-mcgregor/ [Accessed 25 Oct. 2019].

  In this critique I will be evaluating McGregor's piece the Infra Duet. The Final duet comes from the ballet Infra, which was created by McGregor and performed by the Royal Ballet in 2008. (Studio Wayne McGregor, n.d.) Infra is derived from the latin 'below' and is the name of the piece to  present a moving mediation on human interactions beneath the surface. (Studio Wayne McGregor, n.d.)  The duet itself successfully portrays the intimate connection within a relationship and how relationships are complex, yet appear simple.  There are many ways in which McGregor has used the choreography to portray the complexity of this relationship, one being the constant use of  penchés within the piece. However, each  pench é is differentiated by either an isolation or the melting like transition into another movement. Using a pench é in a piece that presents the raw emotions of a relation...

The stimulus I have chosen is pollution which is depicted below: I am drawn to this picture as it relates to many of the major issues in our society today. In this photo it shows an industrial area which is most likely powered by fossil fuels. The consequences of using fossil fuels are potentially fatal and therefore I’ve chosen to base my choreography on the “journey” of a fossil fuel. How I will do this is by using initially small movements to represent the prehistoric marine creatures that form the oil. Trees also formed the oil so I will contrast this fluid dynamic with straight lines and sharp movements. Then as the pressure increases the movement will get lower and lower with resistance. Once I reach the floor I will then begin to move on to the heating of the oil by moving faster and faster. I will then symbolise smoke by starting off with small movements in to large movements to give a sense of the movements diapering as smoke does. To then show global warming through m...

This week we looked at various stimuli for our choreography. First of all there was a girl in a line holding a gun. We then created a list of annotations and things that inspired us from the picture. For this picture I mentioned dictatorship, as everyone looked controlled and also commented on the use of lines. In the foreground everyone’s in lines but towards the background it’s more chaotic. Therefore, to mirror this you could use movements only in lines towards the front and then towards the movements that are further back are less controlled. The second stimuli that took my interest was the DNA. This lead me to think about semi conservative replication. This is the process in which DNA replicates, during this process one strand remains the same but the other changes to compliment this. Subsequently, during a motif half could remain the same but the other half can be changed each time to compliment the previous movements. In addition, you could use fragmentation in the choreograph...

The three creative tasks we have completed have been different but also helpful in understanding how  I can develop my own creative process. The first creative task was the zodiac task, in this task we were given adjectives that described our star sign. During this task I found it difficult personify each adjective and then to think linking steps, especially with contrasting emotions. Subsequently I came to the conclusion that I find it difficult to choreograph from emotions or adjectives. The next task was inspired by Justin Peck’s creative process. Firstly, he listens to the music and then draws patterns on paper. To resemble this a piece of paper was passed around the class and shapes were drawn by each individual. We were then told to use this as a map to choreograph a motif. This task I found easier than the previous as I could visual and use the shapes in various different ways. An example of this was that there was a trapezium drawn and I used it as a 3D shape and stepped ...

After watching Justin Peck’s creative process we then attempted to choreograph using the same method. He initially starts by drawing shapes and listening to the music over and over again to create patterns. To recreate this we each drew a shape on to a piece of paper to use as a map for our movement. I started with the shape in the lower left hand corner and decided for this I would draw it in the air with my legs and arms to really get the sense of circular movement but with the rolling of the wrists too. Then I moved on to the squiggle where my foot drew it on the floor. For the rhombus I imagined it was 3D and stepped over it. After this I remained still to represent the dot and then did a pirouette to symbolise the swirl. For the last few movements I just used my arms and legs to create the lines drawn on the “map”.