List the 3 elements of a demonstration that you consider to be most important.
There will be a prize(s) for the best/most original/??? entries, within reason. Also, no essay answers (I've got read these ;)
Closing date: 31 October 2008
Prize giving: 11 November 2008
(sounds just like school)
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4 comments:
Ok, I'll try to be brief (amazing what you can come up with whilst commuting).
1) The dances and music need to compliment each other.
2) Light and shade (in both the dancing and music)
3) Enough challenge that the dancers aren't bored, but equally not so much that they are terrified.
I did try to approach this from a "what do I like to dance" side and "what do I like to see" and realised these were the overlapping points.
you able to hide other people's answers?
clearly, looking at linda's post, one might think about the music and choice of dances, but as i am a (potential) dancer rather than a convenor, i am ignoring this.
1 looking like you've got the dance right (right figures, right place, right time) - whether you have or not
2 covering (although as you mentioned in your last class, if you are doing the right figure in the right place at the right time, this should follow; i include this for cases when you are merely trying to look like you are)
3 smiling (preferably a smile borne of actual enjoyment rather than a fake "dem smile")
ps to save the rest of you some time, although it says it accepts html tags, neither paragraphing nor bullet points work!
(Apologies for the length of this - it is as concise as I thought prudent).
Taking a view of this from an audience's perspective (since it is for them that a demonstration is performed) the performance should vary or keep static (possibly the same things as light and shade), as the choreographer requires to render their "vision" or "message", the following three elements:
1) Time: the speed each dancer and/or the music moves - obvious ways to vary this are by mixing music with different time signatures (e.g. Strathspey and Reel) but there are other ways too,
2) Space: the way the dancers move within the demonstration area to create and change shapes - obvious ways to vary this include the choice of figures or dances to include, the shape and size of set(s) and the use of any additional stage entrances and/or exits but again there are many more subtle ways to do this,
3) Energy: the way that forces are used to display the energy within a demonstration - obvious examples of ways to vary this are the famous uuurge (courtesy of Liz Green) in Strathspey time, the flight or lift of the dancers, the pace or speed of the dancing, the choice of figures or movements (e.g. spins, pousettes, promenades, marches etc.) and the tempo or time of the music, once more there are many ways to achieve the effect of variance of energy.
These three should bind together to create a whole so that the audience can see the choreographer's vision (at least in an ideal world). Since our dance form tends to be seen as a folk tradition these visions tend to be of a rather conservative artistic style however, like any art form, there is mileage to be gained from subverting this style so as to garner a broader or different appeal, as the choreographer chooses.
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