Transcript Choreographic Features

Choreographic
Features
• To help the Choreographer to convey their
Theme or Idea to the audience, they can use a
range of different tools.
• These are called the
Choreographic
Features.
Choreographic Features
• There are 4 main types:
1. Elements of Dance
2. Choreographic Devices
3. Choreographic Structures
4. Visual/Aural Designs
Elements of Dance
Locomotor
Body Parts
Movements that travel
through space
The parts of the body
doing the movement
Non-Locomotor
Body Base
Movements that stay on
the spot
How the body contacts
with the floor
Body Shape
The angles/shapes that
the body parts make
Elements of Dance
Individual
Environment
Relationship with the
audience
Pair
Relationship between
2 people
Relationship with stage
and set
Group
Relationship between
the whole group
Objects
Relationship with
certain props
Elements of Dance
Weight
How the dancer uses or
resists Gravity
Flow
How much restriction a
dancer puts on the
movements
Quality
The type of movement
they perform
Elements of Dance
Place
Where the focus of the
piece is.
Direction
Which way the
performers face
Focus
Where a performer
looks
Pathway
The direction of travel
in space
Range
Level
The use of the area and how
big the movements are
The height of the movement
and performers
Elements of Dance
Accent
Beat
The emphasis in the
movement
The timing of the music
Duration
Tempo
How long a move or
movement lasts for
How fast or slow the
movement or music is
Rhythm
The underlying beat in
the music
Choreographic Devices
• A Choreographic Device is a method applied
to a phrase that changes or develops the
phrase.
• They help to develop a
Motif (signature move) or
add interest to a dance
performance
• The Devices include:
Choreographic Devices
• Canon – movement exactly repeated by
each dancer in turn, as in a Mexican wave.
• This canon could be a single step that
is repeated, a phrase that starts one
count later, or a phrase that
starts after a certain period of
time.
Choreographic Devices
• Augmentation – making
a movement larger in
space and in time.
Embellishment - adding
detail to a movement
e.g. hand/arm
Choreographic Devices
• Fragmentation – breaking the
movements into separate parts, which
are then used in a different place or
order
• Insertion – putting new material into a
movement (i.e. a leap or turn)
Choreographic Devices
• Instrumentation – using another part of
the body to perform the same movement
• Inversion – turning a
movement upside down
• Retrograde – doing or
performing the movement
backwards, like rewinding
a film
Choreographic Devices
• Watch ‘Mauri’ again, focusing on how the
choreographer has used a specific
Choreographic Device.
• In your books write down 3 ways that he used:
# Canon
# Augmentation
# Embellishment
# Fragmentation
# Insertion
# Instrumentation
# Inversion
# Retrograde
Choreographic Structures
• These are the ways that movement is
organised to give form to a dance work.
• It is how a dance is put together after you
have used the Choreographic Devices to
create movement.
Choreographic Structures
• Accumulation – Successively building on
sections of movement. (i.e. A; AB; ABC …)
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For Example:
Turn,
Turn Kick,
Turn Kick Gallop,
Turn Kick Gallop Leap
Choreographic Structures
• Binary Structure: two movements or
movement phrases used in a sequential twopart form (i.e. AABB)
• Movement type A would be choreographed,
then it may be repeated using the same
theme/movements with slight variation.
• Movement type B would then be a complete
contrast of this. This may then be repeated.
Choreographic Structures
• Canon – in the structural form
where one or two themes or
motifs are repeated in
succession.
• For example: Kura with the
wave movements
Choreographic Structures
• Rhondo: Reoccurring and contrasting sections
(i.e. A B A C A D A E A)
For Example a Hip Hop dance –
has the same chorus but
different verses.
Choreographic Structures
• Chance: a random structure
• Narrative: a storyline
Choreographic Structures
• Theme and Variation: An original phase with a
variation of speed/space.
• Unison: Movement at the same time
Choreographic Structures
• Watch ‘Kura’ again. Pick out specific times
where the choreographer has used different
Choreographic Structures.
• Think about why he has done this at that point
– what was the purpose.