Embodied Movement Practices / Spring 2025

      1     “Poetry Performance.”   Monica Claesson I have often said that more writers should practice dance. Writing is arguably one of the most disembodied forms of art, as it doesn’t involve any kind of tactile interaction with the physical world—it all happens inside your head. On the other hand, dance exists at the complete opposite end of the creative spectrum—all in your body. To me, practicing both keeps me balanced, and allows each form of creative expression to enhance the other. When I need a break from writing, I turn to dance and other forms of movement, and this helps stoke my inspiration. I’m continually curious about how these two disciplines can intertwine and inform each other to an even greater extent. This was a curiosity I carried with me over the course of the semester. I have spent the last few years focused on learning salsa and bachata , but it had been over 10 years since I had taken any other kind of dance ...

   GRADUATE RECITAL / SPRING 2025 DAN 720 N Embodied Movement Practices in the Performing Arts Wellness Center / Studio D  Frost School of Music  4/24/2025 -------------------------------------------------------------------- S O L O S  1 A Promise Left Behind Performer: Qianxi Sun Choreographer: Qianxi Sun Music: 烟花易冷 (Fade Away) by Jay Chou My theme of dance and the music is the feeling of loss. In life, people always lose someone or something important. This dance uses movement to reflect on loss and memory. Specifically, a personal expression of grief for a love of lose. The first half of the dance integrates elements of modern dance to show a person immersed in wonderful memories. In the latter half, the style of the dance has more theatrical, showing the performer waking up from the memories and realizing he have lost someone. This story encourages us ...

     Main Lesson 1   Undoing Character Stereotyping According to theater director Cristina Castrillo, from Teatro della Radicci, when one works the character from the text, one's tendency is to relate the character's choices via actor's work on stereotypes. As a matter of fact, in a theater directing course at University of Miami, Theater Department, Steven Svoboda underlined the use of stereotypes as an initial way for the director to delineate the characters of the play. Like Castrillo, Eugenio Barba, director of Odin Teatre, thinks that dancing the character before one begins to memorize the text is the only way one can avoid stereotyping the character and work from the inside out. 2 Avoiding Movement Literality  When making choices on how to move in the space based on the story, choreographer Marianela Boan explains how one can avoid creating movement that, based on the text, may feel quite literal. For this not to happen, one has to continuous...

      Rehearsal Journal Rehearsal Log Suggested Guidelines Log each rehearsal by writing down the total length of the rehearsal and the tasks that were accomplished in chronological order. Reflect on each rehearsal in a journal entry.  The journal should provide a space in which you can reflect on the rehearsal you just had and consider how that might shape the rehearsal you are about to have.  My suggestion is to pick a particular question/challenge/discovery and spend significant time with it (as opposed to simply reporting in on many aspects of the rehearsal).  The journal truly should be a helpful step of your artistic process as opposed to  Here are some questions that you might consider while writing a journal entry: 1 ) What important discoveries were made during the rehearsal? 2 ) What led to those discoveries? 3 ) Towards where do those discoveries lead? 4 ) Consider questions #1-3 except focus on important roadbl...

  I   Unit: Rehearsal Theme: Ensemble and Solo Work   Introduction Today, we will combine in one class the dress rehearsal and the performance of the ensemble works. A dress rehearsal is the final rehearsal of a live show, in which everything is done as it would be in a real performance. The performance requires a special kind of energy that makes it an special instance of what has been rehearsed repeatedly. II Learning Objectives     Understand the demands of a performance piece Explain why rehearsing is a necessary part of the process  Gain an awareness of the importance of embodying movement and voice while performing full-out Experience what is like to tell a story using dancing images, movement metaphors and vocal abstractions.   III Warm Up   IV Dress Rehearsal   TIPS Performers often rely on classroom mirrors to help them with formations and spacing. Having a chance to dance without the security of the mirror before the perform...