Daisy Stonier - First Year Choreography

This is my vlog discussing the impact that Crystal Pite has had on the industry and the ways in which she has achieved this within the community and on a global and cultural scale. 'You're not stretching your face enough' ' demonstrates with a lop-sided grimace that distorts her rather beautiful, open features into a kind of agitated question mark.’ : Mackrell, J. (2019).  Crystal Pite: 'In ballet, girls are less likely to be prized for being mavericks' . [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/may/12/crystal-pite-girls-ballet-choreographer-prized-mavericks  [Accessed 28 Nov. 2019]. “You have to feel invested in what you’re creating because otherwise it doesn’t gel.” 'feel passion and unease under your skin’ : Culture Whisper. (2019).  Choreographer Crystal Pite Interview . [online] Available at:  https://www.culturewhisper.com/r/things_to_do/preview/6689  [ Accessed 28 Nov. 2019].

‘Emergence’ by Crystal Pite is a powerful ensemble piece inspired by the idea of many, ‘swarm intelligence and the nature of bees and ants and how their societies work and function’. Pite looked closely at ‘the writings of Thomas D. Seeley and his colleagues at Cornell who have identified some basic characteristics of a swarm that they believe define the nature of highly intelligent groups’, which allowed her to explore the collaborative decision-making of bees. Avoiding the restrictive hierarchy of a ballet company, this excerpt from ‘Emergence’ shows the powerful force of dancers each providing their own contribution to create an electrifying energy on stage. Each seemingly simple movement connects with another, forming an entrancing piece of choreography derived from the collaboration of Pite and her dancers. The swirling, black, intimidating backdrop provides a menacing and dramatic atmosphere for the swarming dancers on stage, almost as if they have emerged out from the black ...

Looking at the aims and learning objectives for this module, I believe that I have achieved most of the criteria and I have also seen areas for improvement in the final weeks of the course. Throughout the course, I have analysed and evaluated a variety of works by my chosen choreographer, Crystal Pite and have taken inspiration from her fluid and expressive movement. I have also explored techniques that I have learnt in previous tasks, such as improvised movement and symbolic sequences that have intent and purpose behind them to help me to create and design an original dance. Furthermore, I have looked at choreographic devices such as repetition and augmentation, as I have repeated the beginning of my piece at the end, breaking apart the sequence with interruptions of new movement and aiming performing them with more dramatic and wide arm lines and impactful execution. Although I have maintained a focus on my stimulus through the quality of my movement, after my studio performance in ...

‘The Season’s Canon’ by Crystal Pite is a vibrant and thrilling piece, showcasing intricate group work, unique patterns and breath-taking, sudden changes in dynamics. The ambient, burnt orange lighting and fiery backdrop in this piece immediately creates an illuminating and passionate energy on stage, which is intensified by the eruption of dramatic and exhilarating violin playing towards the start of the duet. As to not distract from the technical and inspiring choreography, the dancers wear simple grey combat trousers and sheer vests, giving the piece an authentic and raw feel. Pite once again has kept a detailed concept in mind when choreographing this piece, as she draws her inspiration from “mineral life and an idealized state of nature.”, capturing the “essence of life”. A review by Jade Larine describes: “Its pulsing energy comes from the bowels of the earth and the human being feels irremediably vulnerable, at the mercy of larger-than-life forces.” and this idea of human’s feel...

This is my vlog discussing how I feel my creative process is going so far, evaluating whether I have achieved my starting objectives and talking about any challenges that I have faced.

This week I both created more choreography and developed my movement from last week, as I realised that if I am going to complete my piece before the deadline, it will be useful for me to refine and polish my work as I go along. Recently, I have struggled with having the pressure of a small time limit to choreograph my piece and this has led me to feel the need to rush into making decisions, which I am then unhappy with and eventually change later on in this session. To overcome this, I recorded what I had choreographed halfway through the lesson, rather than at the end, so I could identify areas that I didn't like whilst I still had time to change or develop them. This means that next week I will be able to choreograph much more of my piece, instead of spending time developing my work from the previous session. Since researching into my stimulus further, I have had more inspiration for my movement development. For example, I have thought about the 'voices' and 'shado...

To develop the ideas behind my piece I have done some further research on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), including the cause, symptoms and some people’s personal experience with living with this disorder. Firstly, I discovered that the cause of this illness is likely to be an attempt to disconnect from a memory of severe traumatic event in a person’s past. This complex psychological disorder is thought to be a way of coping with haunting memories of a damaging experience, for example physical or emotional abuse. However, a person may also dissociate due to a current situation, such as dealing with stressful issues or difficult and complicated relationships. By disconnecting from their identity and feelings, the mind no longer has to handle the violent, emotional and frightening thoughts that are consuming the affected person. I would therefore like to explore including moments which show a remembrance of the past and then quickly trying to forget it through a change of dir...

This is my vlog discussing my first creative session.