11th sep - kat

In dance, we started off by exploring different types of stimuli. A stimulus is a starting point, often used in dance as a basis for creating movement.

• Auditory: This includes songs, noises, percussion, human voice etc. 
• Visual: This includes photos/paintings, films/clips, colours etc. 
• Text-based: This includes scripts, poetry, literature, news items etc.
• Concepts/themes: This includes telling a story, conveying an idea, examples are war etc.

A text-based stimulus we have used in Musical theatre before is scripts. In WWOD this largely relied on the script as it was very detailed in terms of sounds, lighting and props as well as the lines.

We also went over the choreographic process:
(in order)
Stimulus
Research
Improvise
Select and Refine
Create a Motif
Add Choreographic devices
Create Climax
Structure Motif

How to refine s Motif:
Use of dynamics
Use of spacing
Timing
Focus
Use of relationships

Then, we started learning the dance movement to the song 'La Vie Boheme'. We watched the a clip of this scene from the film, to help us recreate it. This involved 2 rows of chairs parallel to eachother, with a gap down the middle, representing a lengthy table. The scene is set in a pub/restaurant and the main characters have entered coming from Maureen's protest. It is a very busy, fast paced environment which is shown when the song starts and the energetic interaction between everyone in there. We reflected this through our movement which involved some of us dancing and jumping off chairs, showing the bouncy, fun-loving atmosphere.

In partners, we then learnt a short phrase performed after our group phrase as we split off into different spaces on the stage. We have to improve our timing accuracy as everyone performs this section at the same time, meaning we had to look neat and in sync.