Daisy Stonier - First Year Choreography

‘Flight Pattern’ by Crystal Pite is a moving and poignant piece, which explores the emotional trauma and heartache caused by the ongoing refugee crisis. In this sorrowful pas de deux, the story of a mother’s loss is explored, as the baby that the female dancer appears to be cradling is revealed to be just a rolled-up coat. The use of minimal lighting creates a sombre and depressing atmosphere on stage, with only a spotlight being used to create a focus on the dancers emerging out from the darkness. This harsh white light also enhances the vulnerability of the ‘refugees’, as Pite exposes the misery faced by those who seem to be forgotten about in our current society. The grey vest and trousers that the dancers are costumed in only add to the bleak and melancholy energy and their minimalism emphasises the harsh reality of the message that is being projected. Henryk Górecki’s ‘Symphony of Sorrowful Songs’ emulates the anguish felt and provides the perfect base for such emotional and power...

Vlog talking about my chosen practitioner: Crystal Pite Videos that I used to quote Crystal Pite and a dancer she worked with: https://youtu.be/SYv1vQ-5wKk YouTube. (2019).  Can art effect change? Kirsty Wark meets choreographer Crystal Pite - BBC Newsnight . [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/SYv1vQ-5wKk [Accessed 23 Oct. 2019]. https://youtu.be/FBe8Kc0i8nE YouTube. (2019).  Crystal Pite's Emergence (Pacific Northwest Ballet) . [online] Available at: https://youtu.be/FBe8Kc0i8nE [Accessed 23 Oct. 2019].

For my final piece I have chosen to use Stimulus Eight, looking at the idea of Multiple Personality Disorder - now better known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). My idea about each of the cogs being the ‘building blocks for someone’s characteristics’ made me think about this disorder where the brain is filled with a complicated combination of whole identities instead. Alternatively, I also found out that some researchers think that these identities are in fact different parts of one identity which aren’t properly working together, which would relate well to the cogs working together in the photo. In my week five, stimuli blog I also talked about a cog being broken or damaged, which I could relate well to the cause of DID, which is experiencing an extreme trauma or emotionally damaging experience. The contrast between the mechanical brain and the natural, muscular body could represent the disconnection between a person with DID’s thoughts, memories, feelings and identity. The f...

This week we looked at the stimuli for our solo performance and brainstormed our initial ideas for each one. Stimulus One In this photo I was drawn to the fact that the man's eyes have been blanked out, his head is low, the outline of his head can be seen but his mind is empty and the colours are quite muted and bleak. This led me to having these initial ideas: a struggle to see yourself the way other people see you feeling incomplete - perhaps losing a part of yourself when a family member passes away erasing a memory of a past event feeling shameful or guilty being blind - may feel like you are lost or trapped, unable to form images in your mind without a view of the world, dreams are only a compilation of sounds mental health, male suicide, loss of identity Stimulus Two The bleak setting made me think of an abandoned, broken and derelict city - similar to the result of the disaster in Chernobyl  I thought about being the only survivor of a natural disaster a...

In today’s lesson we researched two other key practitioners - Wayne McGregor and Crystal Pite. We analysed videos showing their choreographic processes (Rehearsing Genus), (Can art affect change?) and this inspired us to try another creative task using their methods. I was particularly inspired by their attention to detail throughout their choreography and the intense and thorough thought process behind each of the movements that they created.  In this task we had to recreate the movement of rain on a window. When watching the video of this, we considered how a singular rain droplet would move, any sudden changes in speed as a raindrop ran down the window, or the patterns created when different raindrops connected with each other. To begin with, we improvised on our own, thinking about the fluid movements of a singular raindrop. I found this quite difficult because our inspiration for the movement was very abstract and it was challenging to have to little interaction when...