Passing the Time process continued
To continue, I have pictures in my mind / sources from the internet, scrapbook, ideas and associations of feelings, moments. I also have videos of improvisation to the themes, pictures and feelings that represent authentic movement from me.
Now I prepare the music/analyse it. It’s quite simply listening to music/soundscape, identifying any orientation points and counting the phrases and noting the timecode. I note anything that stands out to identify the phrase, a description of its feeling, which instruments are there, lyrics to the text. This I notate on the left next to the timecode. In a second column I add my thoughts, movement ideas and if there is a combination that comes to mind, choreographic phrases. The choreographic phrases come from both watching my improvisation videos and fantasy as inspiration. It creating a form - a thought process. Impulses from improvisation (feeling) give it a basis, but I find that they are not enough alone to be clear in expressing the idea. This is my process of combining the two - form and feeling.
I end up with each phrase of music having a connected idea behind it. Depth in pictures, feelings, thoughts connected to movement. As the music develops and phrases of movement develop, the idea is expressed. The path/story to the whole piece is always in mind and it is finding a flow in the content to the ideas to express them within the musical number. Here I can add in repeats/adjust the sound scape as necessary (though mostly it fits together!).
The process of notation and visualisation/thought out movement is a large step on the way back into the studio. It is forming a vision of what I am creating with details. In the studio is the process of bringing this vision into reality, trying the movements out.
Through experience I know approximately what works. There are always adjustments and surprises. As I physically move, I realise that a section is way too quick or too slow, moments come and go, there may be need for more rhythm or more pause. The sensation and realisation comes from actually trying out the movement physically. It’s a discovery process, creating an experiene.
If I am dancing myself, I video it again and analyse. If I am not dancing myself then I can adjust and let the movement be interpreted adding dynamic range to increase the clarity.
Notes to PTT choreography. To match with a rehearsal video coming out in a few days…