4. Rehearsals

Today we had our 4th rehearsal and I started teaching them a dance sequence.



It is quite a hard sequence. A few steps I was just able to explane cause I couldn´t even do them myself.


I wanted to choreograph movements which they really have to practice a lot to get good in it and which are movements which more work out by coincidence than by skill.


Through that sequince I´d like to point out the failure through movement.


But after rehearsing the first part of that choreography I noticed that they really fast will get better and better.


So I have to look for possibilities how I give them a space they fail honestly.


I want them definitely to practice the piece a bit, cause I want them to really have worked hard on it.Cause I think that failing in a passionated thing is more honest. So they need to get passionated about that piece or at least related.


Also I don´t want them to feel humiliated but as humans, imperfect as they naturally are.

So the opportunity of just not let them rehersh the piece that much, drops out.

Another possibility would be to make the piece faster in the end of the process, to challenge them in the performance, or to give them some kind of restriction so that they are not able to move that well.


That idea I got from a picture (or scene) from Le Sacre Du Printemps.
Here we have a dancer who is caught up and restricted in her movements ( wrapped up in clothes arround her body).

But it is an outer factor which comes into the scene.An object, here it is the clothes and also in the scene the action of getting wrapped up, which I am not sure I´d like.

I could also create a movement sequence on paper, which they have to learn by heart and dance it out the first time on stage. The challenge would be to that they really don´t try the dance out before.

Summing up how to continue with the "failure piece":

• I can make it faster in the end of the process
• use some kind of body restriction
• create a movement sequence on paper

Another thing I got out of teaching them the piece is that I like more and more the idea of using somekind of music which is "failing" as well. That would just be an addition to the failing movemnts.
Therefore I could either use the music we will record tomorrow after the concept of the last tried version, where everybody was playing the same very hard music piece they practiced for themselves before. ( see clip in last blog version 1)

Or I could use another version which I recorded last time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClYRH2bsn_w

In this version, Mirjam is playing the turkish march on the Piano without any notes. She had the task to start anew whenever she makes a mistake.

In this version I like a lot, that the music piece is well known and that it has this almost annoying but happy sound. I think it works well with the idea of starting the piece anew every time when there is a mistake.

Cause this version puts the focus on the failure, since she had to start the piece anew as soon as she made a mistake, it´s much more clear what is happening and it also becomes a clearer relation to the audience cause it is annoying that she is failing all the time, and everybody knows how the song would sound right.
When I heard it, I first thought it was pretty funny, then I got really unpacient with her, and after a while I got annoyed by it and even angry and at the and it became sad.
I like how clear this version speaks.

Further thoughts on using the last music piece.

After recording that little music sequence of the turkish march by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I tried out to combine the "failure sequence" with the "failure music piece".
Watching and listing to two different failure situations made it really strong.

After I put those two failure situations together I also let them dance the sequence with another music, which was very hard and loud beat music. About that music I liked that it almost dub or outplayed the failing movements. It was almost as if something from the outsite was trying to cover the failure.

Todays rehearsals went OK, as fare as we got to start on the movements.

The dancers felt very challenged by the sequence but were also quite sure they could dance it out quite good if they practise enought.

Since they got to learn the sequence with sneakers, they felt challenged to make the movement smoothly, cause they weren´t used to dance in shoes.

That´s it for today.

Next rehearsals we will spent on recording the music pieces.