Overall I had a lot of fun with this inquiry. I learned so much about the different approaches that artists can take with their choreography and new strategies that I can bring into my own choreographic experiences. Ultimately, I learned that every choreographer is different and the way that they create is all dependent on who they are, the training they’ve had, the genre they are working in, the dancers they are working with, the intent behind a piece, and the space they are working within. There is fortunately no wrong or right way to go about choreography. Each process is an artistic journey for the choreographer and the dancers alike to try new things and gain new experiences. One of my biggest take aways from this inquiry experience is that it is okay to personalize your artistic process and it is okay to work alongside people and take ideas and inspiration from those around you. It helps to have people to go to for suggestions, or for a new set of eyes in order to gain insight or new perspective.

One of the things I think I did well within my process that ultimately benefited my piece was working with the dancers to create the movement. I am a big believer in going on stage and dancing for yourself. As long as you feel good doing what you are ding and you are dancing for you, the intent comes through and it can make a piece thatch better. By getting the dancers to come up with their own movement or phrases and by asking their thoughts and opinions while creating spacing, dynamics, or phrases they get to have a say and the dance becomes theirs as much as it is mine. They have the opportunity to put their own unique twist into it and make it their own. When this happens they evidently have more fun and enjoy the process and the piece more which I think is important for the integrity of the piece and the well- being if the dancers.

One thing that I have learned and would like to incorporate in my next choreographic opportunity is to allow time for more movement exploration at the beginning and possibly integrate it into various points of the process such as once at the beginning, middle, and the end. I think this would be interesting to see as dancers become more familiar with the purpose and style of a piece and how they may integrate that into their exploration and how their improvisation may benefit from that. This may also help provide more possibilities and open doors for new movement and phrases that can be added into the dance. It could be used kind of like a reset button when we need something new to add some new dynamics or cool factors into a piece. It further, would give the dancers more of a voice in the choreography if they get to include their own phrases at more than one point within the dance.

I hope you enjoyed following me on my inquiry journey of choreographic processes. I hope you learned as much as I did!

See you soon!

Kate 🙂