My Strengths in Dance Composition
For an artist of any genre, identifying strengths in our creative process is one of the hardest tasks. Being someone who is never impressed with my own work, I am eager to state that, thus far in Composition II, I have discovered my strengths swiftly through each study. Recognition of success alone is a personal accomplishment. I have learned that my two main aptitudes as a choreographer have morphed me into a better mover.
I observed my first strength during the up-down study. The nature of this study made the act of composing simple. Shortly after performing my phrase, I realized that playing with transitions was enjoyable because it came to me naturally. Ever since, I came to the conclusion that one of my choreographic strengths is creating transitions. Consequently I became conscious of my transitions as a mover outside of the realm of composition. My obsession with the movement between points A and point B complicates my dancing but also refines my movement throughout the space without any difficulty.
Another strength I hold as a choreographer is understanding set choreography and altering it. Playing with and morphing set movement is stress relieving. The task forces me to continually think outside the box without forcing new choreography. My editorial strength allows me to eliminate choreographer’s block and changes my psychological approach to set choreography as a performer. As a mover this strength is beneficial when choreographers give dancers the assignment to create movement for a new phrase that retains the essence of the set
work. In this situation, I know to not formulate new choreography but take the set movement and change an aspect of it like retrograde a section.
Overall, I am thrilled to be reaching a point in my artistic career where I can identify my personal strengths and use them to enhance my overall performance as a dancer rather than simply harboring over my faults. My ability to understand movement connectivity and to toy with set work will continue to help me create work that is not only within my voice, but remains original and interesting to me. Additionally, these skills are transferable to my life as a performer and teacher and I will carry them with me beyond this course.
Here you can see my strengths being applied in my final composition study below: