The following essay proposes a series of basic notions on choreography, notes based on a personal methodology with which to analise, judge and excercise composition in choreography. An analysis of choreography from the point of view of dance as a deeply musical activity which is governed, in its primary and most abstract level, more by musical parameters than by theatrical ones. An analysis that does not pretend to formulate an exhaustive methodology on choreography but rather to stablish parameters common to other arts and inherent to choreographic art; a personal meditation on dance composition open to disagreement since there are no definitive methods or formulas in artitistic creation.
Other aspects of dance which make for the totality of a show and were notions such as the treatment of a theme (if there is one), representation of characters and plot through movement, succesion, and duration of scenes (if there are any), costumes, setdesign, music etc., I will not deal with in this essay since it belongs to the personal vision of the artist.
I believe that we are at the end of this century in a period of synthesis of achievements. Creativity finds expresion through an interpretation and reclaim of our legacy. A re-mix which doesn«t pertain the consolidation of new "isms" and which mirrors the complexity and fragmentation of languages and styles. It is a period of interdisciplinary influences, reclaims and synthesis of styles which embrace such heterogeneous fields as :
Let us proceed therefore to analise the core of choreography in its
universality and atemporality, in other words, in its purest and most abstract
of forms ; without theme or decoration, disregrading music, costumes and
setdesign, or stylistic or temporary parameters, and rather, lets attempt
a synthesis of what lies behind pure dance, starting from a nucleus and
embracing all other aspects that contitutes a choreographic composition.
THE DANCE PHRASE
The dance phrase is the nucleus of the choreography and the Solo itself the nucleus of the dance phrase. In order for the Solo to be "alive" and for it to resist an anaysis -not only about the quality or aesthetics of the movements or an interpretation of these , but above all an analisis of its structure- it should consist of one or various phrases which invariable have a structure ; a beginning, a middle / development, and an ending or conclusion ; which would pertain a highly developed movement awarenes, rhythm and use of space.
POLYPHONI
"Polyphoni : simultaneous use of various instruments which do not execute in unison, or the assemby of various melodies in such a manner that it produces an harmonic combination of sounds".
Once analised the dance phrase through the Solo, let us proceed to analyse composition in a Duet. In it we pursue to achieve two phrases that have their own structure and that generate tensions and counterreactions between them, through the means of counterpoint or yuxtaposition, with a harmonious and coherent result ; in other words, two phrases which do not run in unison existing simultaneously in such a manner that the outcome is not chaotic, and if chaos is the aim, that it is a choreographed chaos. The aim is to pursue a composition which is not limited to the execution of a given phrase by two dancers or to "throw" two phrases together, but rather, that two phrases can subsist simultaneously, without ruling out the possibility that they coincide at a given point, and that the result contains the structural aspects analised in The Dance Phrase. As metaphoric examples one could suggest the following situations: a conversation between two people whereby one asks a question and is answered by the other, or two persons talking simultaneously (controled chaos), in the same manner , and using musical terminology, a counterpointing of a pizzicato rhythm against an adagio, two opposing adagios, or an static element against another in movement with connections between them, finally, an example from nature ; a trickle of water against swaying trees, etc.
These aspects are applicable, with a greater level of complexity, to
compositions involving three or more dancers were what I term "weight"
in choreography would come into play. For example : two figures against
one, three against two, a composition involving a solo, a trio and a duet,
etc. All of which would involve an interdependency of yuxtaposed phrases
that structure the space and the time of duration of a given scene.
POINT AND LINE IN A PLANE
Let us analise now not the dance or movements themselves but rather the space that it occupies and organises. The medium where it evolves. Choreography constitutes a series of planes spatially organised by the dancers . Contrary to where the dance phrase takes the dancer in space, it is the where you place a dance phrase in space, in opposition to which other dance phrases and the space created by these. Choreography as a sculpting of space.
Taking as a reference the suggestive title of this paragraph (taken
from Kandinsky«s famous book on painting "Concerning The Spiritual
in Art"). I«ll resort to notions of composition in painting to try
and explain the plane in choreography. The frame where tensions arise in
the very moment that one or more figures are placed in it, and were these
tensions are solved and balanced out like resulting vectors in an imaginary
graphic. Spatial compositions in dance are as planes spatially and temporarily
organised by the dancers and the phrases that they excecute, stablishing
in so doing a continuously varying structure. Likewise a dance work is
composed of a continuously developing series of planes, unlike in painting,
were the organisation of a point (the dancer), and the line (the evolution
of a phrase), happens in one only given plane whose limit is the canvas.
DANCE AND MUSIC
Of all the arts that participate in a dance composition it is music which exerts a major influence on a choreography, and the intrinsic musicality of a choreography, independently of the acompanying music, its main asset and support system. Its very existence. The influence of music on a choreographic work can be negative or positive depending on how it is used. Negative when it enslaves and bonds the choreography to following the patterns, phrases or melodies that the music, if allowed, enforces -what is known as "Mickeymousing"-, instead of counterpointing it and creating a dialogue with the music with a reasonable degree of giving into it, or downright ignoring the music when need be. Music is a positive influence when it gives the choreography an underlying power and a drive, and when it impinges a quality and an atmosphere in a choreography, without overpowering it or submitting the dance to its dominance. We frequently misjudge what moves us from a performance. Is it the music, the choreography, or both ?. In many cases, the music has no autonomy or is weak as a music score, but on the other hand, it stablishes a mood, an atmosphere and certain dynamics in a dance piece which allows a choreography to freely travel, breath and exist in its own right, and make its statement.
Having as a reference the structure of this essay, and drawing from my personal experience, I generally advise students embarking on choreography to work right from the beggining in the choreographic material itself, without external interferences from other artforms, to eventually achieve an adequate control over the totality of the dance work. Once achieving a grip on dance composition, were no thematic issues intervene, one can proceed to attempt a given theme. Depending on the level of immersion and interiorisation of the subject by the artist, it will deeply condition the language; the quality and type of movements, the rhythms and the phrasing (The Dance Phrase), the relationships between the characters (Polyphoni), the succesion of scenes (Point and Line in a Plane), the chosen music and musicality of the piece (Dance and Music), and the staging.
This I believe is a base or point of departure for choreographic excersise. With respect to the artist, he or she would additionaly require a wide ranging knowledge and experience of differing dance techniques purged till achieving a personal language, inquisitiveness, an innate musicality, broad culture, intelligence, talent and a highly strung personality.
Pablo Ventura First published in Por La Danza. Madrid 1992. Ventura Dance Company http://www.home.ch/~spaw1167/