INDIA MALLORIE UNIT 2: CREATIVE PROCESSES by India Mallorie

What is The Protest Project?

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-05 18:49:05 UTC

Term two began with ‘The Protest Project’, an artist-led intensive choreography project run by Eva Recacha and Tom Hastings. Drawing upon the imagery, ideas, and perception of protest to inform our movement and going on to incorporate design and contextual literature, the goal was to create a ten-to-fifteen-minute work ready to present within four weeks.

There was an agreement that the pieces would not be political but rather an exploration of the social choreography of protest, investigating the intentions, relationships, and spatial organisation of bodies within a protest context.

Questions to answer following watching 'United in Anger'.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-09 21:19:01 UTC

Answers, notes, and drawings.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 10:27:29 UTC

On the right hand side of the page is some of our answers to the questions given to us by Tom and Eva.

On the left is drawings based on images seen in the documentary - that we later used to begin developing 'materials' and still images to use within the piece.

Using 'United in Anger' as a stimulus early on.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 10:29:23 UTC

One task assigned to our group was to watch ‘United in Anger’, a revealing documentary giving insight into the organisation of the ACT UP protests amidst the HIV crisis in late-80s New York. We were given a series of questions to answer, based on what we saw in the documentary, to help us begin thinking about protest. The questions helped to provide a neutral perspective, removing the contextual elements and encouraging us to focus on the physical, spatial, and relational aspects of protests—tools that would help us to generate material later on.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 10:30:28 UTC

Although the documentary was in no way specifically related to what we would create, I enjoyed starting the project by watching and discussing something real. It acted as a stimulus for us to begin talking about what protest was to us, and by simply observing what the protesters at ACT UP were physically doing, we were quickly able to generate what Eva referred to as 'materials’. Her use of the word materials referred to action words and still images, tools we could use to create effective and powerful choreography.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 13:40:36 UTC

Working with the idea of plaiting.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 13:48:31 UTC

In this video, we were in the early stages of exploring braiding or plaiting. Maddy Westhead, seen in the front of the formation in the blue fleece, would begin to knot the fabric that was laid across the studio floor, while we as a group mimicked the knotting action behind them. We chose to mimic the action to create a sense of unity and even solidarity, symbolic of working together towards a shared goal. Although this idea was interesting, our mime did not hold the same strength that the physical plaiting of the fabric did, and so the idea was developed, leaving just Maddy braiding the fabric while we created a still image behind them.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 13:54:05 UTC

From watching 'United in Anger' one of the things we noticed about the spatial organization of the protesters was that they created chains, linking themselves together with their arms to create a sense of unity. Our group was given a long piece of white flexible fabric to work with as our prop, and so one person in our group decided braiding the fabric could effectively mimic that sense of chain like unity and togetherness.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 13:56:01 UTC

We discussed a number of different ‘materials’ based on what we saw in the documentary and what we explored in our first group improvisations, but these ones in particular stood out to me, as they became the central focus of final piece.

-Pushing and pulling

-Plaiting and braiding

Using 'The Cult of Beauty' exhibition to inspire a piece.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 14:28:53 UTC

In this reflection, I will be accounting and reflecting on the experience of creating a piece in composition. At the beginning of the term, Athena introduced a new self-directed project, working in groups to create pieces inspired by the Welcome Trusts ‘Cult of Beauty' exhibition.

What is the Welcome Trusts 'Cult of Beauty' exhibition?

The exhibition explores ideas of beauty across time and cultures, featuring historical objects, paintings, digital media, and sculpture. We decided to work with makeup brutalism’s multimedia piece, ‘It makes no sense being beautiful if no one else is ugly’.

The piece is a collage of images, each evoking different ideas about beauty in our society, particularly the role of makeup. Two elements of the exhibit stood out to us: firstly, an image of a red lipstick within a glue stick, and secondly, the central focus of the collage, a mirror with the words ‘I think I’ve mistaken social pressure with self-expression’, made to look as if also written in red lipstick.

How did the exhibit inspire our work?

Choosing to use these two aspects of the artwork as the stimuli for our piece, we began to discuss our initial responses to the image and the statement. We sat down for a semi-structured conversation, brainstorming ideas and relating the piece to our own lived experiences with makeup and societal pressure.

CONVERSATIONS ABOUT MAKEUP, PERCEPTION OF SELF, AND SOCIETAL PRESSURE.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 14:33:56 UTC

SHORT FILM

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 15:03:25 UTC

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 15:08:46 UTC

DESIGN CHOICES

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 15:10:28 UTC

Using an image, a statement, and the idea of mirrors to inspire our work we began finding ways to begin creating a piece. We used the image of the glue stick to inform our design choices, deciding early on to use both the prop of a red lipstick and a glue stick.

Additionally, we wanted to draw upon the multimedia aspect of the exhibit and so decided to record the entirety of our creative process, from initial conversations to final rehearsals. We then edited these clips together, creating a short film that we projected onto the back wall of the studio whilst we performed.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 15:50:54 UTC

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 16:09:05 UTC

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 16:21:48 UTC

REFLECTIONS ON WORKING WITH DESIGN INDEPENDENTLY.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 16:51:42 UTC

In my time at LCDS, I have created a number of short compositional pieces within class, but this task was my first opportunity to really expand upon an idea, incorporating costume, props, and mixed media into the piece. I found that this made the experience of creating something more artistically rewarding, allowing the piece to come to fruition in a way that in class pieces cannot. However, I have not worked with props much in the past and have never edited my own videos, so the creation of the piece involved learning as I went, and due to time constraints, it often became stressful.

If I were to repeat this process, I would continue to work with design elements, as I feel they truly brought the piece to life; however, I may decide to work with either props or lighting and projection rather than both. When receiving feedback from Athina, she expressed that she felt some ideas were underdeveloped and, although they had a lot of potential, became lost on the audience. For example, some of our audience members felt unsure where to look throughout the piece, torn between the video projection and our movement in the studio. If we had had more time to develop the piece, I feel that using both could have been effective, but this was a lesson in simplicity and clarity: sticking to one idea and committing to perfecting it rather than choosing too many.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 16:58:44 UTC

Development of the idea.

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 17:35:29 UTC

This second video shows the beginning of the final piece, as we chose to stick with this idea. Starting in stillness, we aimed to move as slowly as possible towards another formation, placing hands on one another’s heads and shoulders. Working with this idea, Eva was persistent that movement must be gradual, encouraging us to move in smaller increments, more slowly, and in greater unison. I quickly realised that I have very little experience with moving gradually and continuously and struggled to avoid rushing and committing my whole body to slow and consistent movement. Overall, I would say I found this one of the most challenging aspects of the piece, working in our self-directed sessions to find gradual transitions from one idea to another. We asked ourselves how we could make things increasingly bigger, faster, or lower, attempting to find seamless transitions that left the audience wondering how we had arrived in these new places.

How has working with gradual movement in The Protest Project benefitted me?

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 18:16:14 UTC

Although we initially struggled, I found that throughout our time working together as a group, we became increasingly more in tune with one another, having developed the ability to notice subtle changes in trajectory, size, or quality of movement that allowed us to move gradually. I felt that this aspect of the piece was one that I took away with me. Seeing videos of our work, I loved the effect of the slow, gradual movement, finding it incredibly powerful and satisfying. Since then, I have begun introducing gradual movement into many of my own creative tasks and in compositional classes, finding it both physically and creatively rewarding.

Cₒₘₚₒₛᵢₜᵢₒₙ: ₜₕₑ Cᵤₗₜ ₒf Bₑₐᵤₜy

indiamallorie2 — 2024-06-10 18:18:56 UTC

KEY FIGURES IN DANCE: PINA BAUSCH

indiamallorie2 — 2024-08-23 10:00:17 UTC