First Official Rehearsal

Tonight was my first rehearsal with my lovely cast, although we did rehearse last week before casts were set in stone for the semester. The piece will be performed in 5 movements. We have already reconstructed movement 2 from repertory and tonight we began movement 3. Choreographing the 3rd movement for me was quite a struggle because my goal is to created a look of frustration and organized chaos. This pulled me out of my comfort zone as I am normally inclined to create more structured, organized choreography. In movement 2, we see that the poet character is always in control of her creations and always maintains order. However, in movement 3, we see the struggle that happens when the poet cannot recreate the magic she had once achieved in previous work or when she experiences writer's block. In this movement, we see the poems taking on personalities of their own and asserting their own voices in the ultimate conflict of an artist versus her creations.

At tonight's rehearsal, we also reviewed movement 2, the repertory piece, and found moments where this cast could incorporate elements of themselves. One way that we did this was by looking at samples of each dancer's handwriting. Each dancer then created their own phrase based on the style and nuance of their handwriting and the way in which they grip their pencils or pens when writing.

This video shows the opening phrase of movement 3 which immediately breaks the soothing feel of movement 2 and therefore establishes a stark contrast between the two movements.