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When creating my solo I struggled with the idea of using REP, so therefore to allow myself to proceed with the idea of using REP, I worked with Cerys as she is also doing Richard Alston. I worked with cerys as we were both sharing the same intention in our solo of learning and re creating REP, luckily working together worked in our favour as we were able to give eachother  peer feedback on what we need to do different and improve on. Whilst showing cerys my phrase that I learnt she was able to point out to me my strength and weakness within the phrase, One point she gave me was to make sure that when using a specific movement ( the curvature and bending of a movement) to make sure I fully execute the movement to its full potential as Alston is very specific and stylised in his approach. The way in which I was able to develope my movement of the curving was through workshopping ideas of how I can manipulate my body in different ways not just using my arms to create the shape. My strengths in learning my REP was that I was able to look how Alston dancers in “Over drive” used their focus and projection in their performance to allow me to recreate the same performance levels.
From today’s session of doing my solo I created 2 x 8 of movement just based on one specific action. I used motif development and used that specific movement as a stimulus in order to create phrases in the style of Alston. I also then thought of the ideas of how to travel the movement through space and using levels such as high and low levels in order to make my movement more difficult and technical.

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When creating my solo I would also write down after working on my solo In my notes on what I add or changed to keep track..

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I watched many videos on Richard Alston, one of video I watched was a video of one of his rehearsals. I found this very interesting to watch as it was an insight on how his dancers more in rehearsals and how Alston creates his pieces with his dancers. From the video Richard Alston talks about how before he starts his piece he doesn't really analyse it as he wants something fresh to happen I am looking for something thoughtful but spontaneous.

When using studio time I was very similar in the way that I was always trying to just move and workshop different material in till I found myself liking and including movement the I thought really worked for my solo. I tried to not over think and just to move around the space creating all different materials and sections till it all came together.

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My costume choice is very influenced by the Richard Alston's Dancer. I have decided where a black mesh dress with a leotard and hot pants.
Richard Alston Dance Company's Costumer Supervisor, called Rebecca Hayes says that the costumes are created to look authentic but still allow the dancers to move easily.
my chosen costume is very comfortable to move in, Also makes lines and extension noticeable to identify.

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Recently I have learnt and developed rep from Richard Alston's piece Strong Language. When working on this material I choreographed my specials and focus points within the movements. In my solo I include walks and runs, I have included these elements to transition to new areas within the space. This indicated my use of spacials within my solo creation. Having choreographed spacials It is now certain I am using all the space of the stage/studio. This is engaging for audience to watch as the solo is forever fluid, moving with in and out different parts of the spaces.

Also on that note another feedback given in solo showings was my projection, To avoid looking down to think about projecting out toward the audience. Having now worked on my specials and focus point which in my new sections it will now help with my projection within out. now when rehearsing and performing my solo I am also challenging my focus and projection when dancing, always thinking about my audience.

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well like just say repping from youtube on a phone is a weakness of mine. I really need to learn how to achieve this properly. After finding repping material rather difficult I watched a few more of Alston's work I thought I would film them from my laptop and put them in slow motion to slow the movement down to see if this would be a easier way to rep the material. I thought this much easier to work with. this help me see so much more detail in the movement. it showed all the exertion and detail in the feet I need to pay more attention to when working on my solo. it helped me realise that my solo needs to be strong and well presented, to reach this I will need to much sure I am always working on my suspension through out all the movement and really pushing through and emphasising all the movement using my capability and all strength. really focus on my feet placement when moving through material also when jumping and landing turns. To accomplish the same approach as Richard Alston's dancers I will repeatedly need to challenge myself on all these and make sure they are a choreographer within material created.

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Applying the feedback 'Think about how you can really tilt  your body in the titled material.' After being given this feedback I decided I would watch some of Richards work In order to see the intention behind the body tilts. After realising this was something I need to work on.
In my next solo rehearsal I thought exploring the curves and tilts. this rehearsal was very much based around curves and tilts. I was concentrated on my upper body, I found myself finding this difficult as my body was very up right and stiff. I was finding to tough let lose of the upper body I was thinking to much about the placement and alignment. I began to just move around the room doing all different embodiments of curves and tilts trying to free my body to feel like stiff when dancing the material. I was focusing on the bottom have of my body being placement with extension detailed feet and turn out and then thinking about freeing the upper body but still achieving the lines and placement in the arms. this was a difficulty of mine for a while but I feel the more I work with studying and learning Richard Alston's choreography and intention the more it is developing within my body.

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The understanding and intention is there its clear.

Go with Richard Alston I think your very suited to his technique.

needs more Energy

How can you use your projection? Don't look down when performing.

Own your own work.

Be confident when performing your solo.

Think about how you can embody the movement more.

Think about upping the energy through out.

I think your on the right track just need to see some more material.

instead just doing the movement how you showing the technique in the tilts and curves.

Think about how you can really tilt  your body in the titled material.

Think about the upper body being free but still placed and curved.

Spacials, travel more. Use all the space.

Think about not starting in the centre.

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After deciding I was going to go with Richard Alston I looked more into what dance piece had he done. I watched multiple pieces I was particularly interested in one of his older piece at first. The piece is called brink which was performed at the place in 2013. I was drown to the piece as it had a build up behind it, The dance starts with a slow paced solo then builds up through out the piece including turn jump and fast sharp movement. After looking into this piece I decided I wanted to have the same intention with my solo. I wanted to start my solo in the space slow and then building it up with a fast sharp speed.
I watched the piece a number of time in order to rep some of the choreography. I personally found repping from this piece rather difficult at first, I was very unsuccessful with achieving rep as I found my self over thinking the movement or forgetting what I just watched and then putting it altogether for myself, so I decided I was just going to try other solutions. So... I decided to create my solo by not using rep from the piece but using the same intention with the build up. I started to work shop ideas together of my own interruption of Richard Alston's choreography. Using a few of the movements I had picked up from watching Brink, I created in total four eights by the end of my first rehearsal

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Wednesday 13th September 2017: First Solo Lesson

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Wednesday 13th September 2017: First Solo Lesson

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In today's choreography lesson, We were asked to create a solo. This solo  was slightly different this time round. We were asked to create a solo based on a famous choreographer. Craig then explain the brief on all about the elements and stages that the solo will need to include. We were then given a list of all the famous practitioners  that we could pick to base our solo on.
The list of practitioners

1. Matthew Bourne

2. Akram Khan

3. Christopher Bruce

4. Bob Flosse

5. Hofesh Shechter

6. Richard Alston

7. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui

8. Jerome Roberts

9. Jasmine Vardimon

The ones that interested me the most out of the nine were Akram Khan, Richard Alston and Matthew Bourne. firstly I thought Akram Khan would be a real challenge for me as I would be working really closely with the dynamic range. This is something as a dancer I am alway working to improve and be come a stronger dancer.
I also thought of going with Matthew Bourne as this would also be a big challenge to set myself, Mathew Bourne's works includes contemporary dance and dance theatre, after researching and watching a number of this works I think its clear that Matthew Bourne's work is very focused around facial expressions and performances skills. I find Matthew Bourne's work would be a challenging process for myself as I feel my performance skills are a weakness of mine I feel Matthew Bourne's work being my stimulus this would help me improve this weakness.  Most of the names on the list were familiar to me there was in total three names that I didn't know as much such as Jerome Roberts, Christopher Bruce and Hofesh Shechter. After noticing I didn't know some of the choreographers on the list I decided to research and learn about them. The last practitioner that really stood out for me on this list of big names was Richard Alston. I watched some of Richard Alston's work on youtube, I was instantly intrigued by his work. I was really interested in the contemporary and ballet embodied approach. i really liked the use of the contemporary upper body and the ballet detailed feet. I am very interested in both genre of dance so them being put together really hooked me Ito studying Richard Alston's work in more depth.

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One of my feedback from solo showings in class was to have more energy when performing my solo. From having this feedback I have really thought about how I can up my energy consistently. After performing my solo Craig game feedback about being more energetic, working on this feedback Craig and I workshopped the difference in my solo when including energy. Craig had me to run around the room twice at first and then I would start my solo again, I would repeat this with an extra run everytime. This made a massive difference in my energy and my class members related that my solo was much more affective and engaging to watch from an audience point of view. This really made me think about how I can bring energy when performing my solo, made me think about how much the energy had an impacted. From doing this I now know that I will need to be warm before doing my solo in the next show as it makes all the difference on the performance. Not being warm enough for my solo could also fault with injury due to my solo being made up of jumps and many turns, along with affecting my technique such as my extension, placement of feet when landing jumps, turn out avoid sicilian. looking into energy this meant I would have to consider my dynamic range through out my solo. Having a build up within my material I had to think about how I would use energy through out the whole piece but show the different dynamic range for both the sustained and more faster shaper sections. thinking about this in the more sustained sections I would need to be engaging all muscles and really pushing through all the movement to all capability, this would really show of strength and made the slower parts strong and energetic. I would use the same intention within both faster and sustained sections as I am trying to imply good strength and energy constantly.

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Next Wednesday will be a filmed lesson where we will be teaching and performing our solos.We will be explaining the process of creating our solo.  This lesson will include 10 minutes of teaching and explaining our solos to our class members.

Plan for next lesson:

Show and explain to the class where I got my ideas and rep from, showing an insight into Richard Alston's work.

*Show Strong Language and Brink.*

Exploring task- explain how this is how you created one of the sections in your solo.

Teach my rep/developed version of Strong Language to the class.

1. What techniques and styles have you used to create you solo?
For my chosen solo I have used rep from the piece Strong Language, I have also used structured improvisation using a Richard Alston approach, and movement with balletic and contemporary intention.
2. What elements of the style are you exploring?
The elements I have explored through out my solo is the ballet bottom and Merce Cunningham upper body. Exploring the balletic feet, Curved upper body placements,
Body tilts, turns and jumps.
3. What is dynamic range of your solo?
There is a wide range of dynamics used within my solo such as sharp and stained movements. My solo beginnings with slow and stained movement and then builds up into fast sharp movements.
4. Are you using any old methods when creating your solo?
When creating my solo I used rep, this was something very new to me as it wasn't something I had done before when creating my own work. I found rep difficult at first but soon got easier as time went on.
5. What style does your solo use?
My solo uses a hybrid of styles such as both contemporary and ballet.