PROCESS
Research
Kahrya decided to base her piece on a tough situation with which she recently dealt: the death of an uncle. She researches her theme by recalling her mother’s and aunt’s responses to his death. However, her dancers do not represent specific individuals. Kahrya chose a more abstract representation by forming her dancers into emotions displayed by the people in her situation, as opposed to assigning each dancer a specific person to represent. Kahrya also personifies death through her movement by exploring the feelings that death itself might have, were it a physical form, and translating those feelings to choreography.
By making her theme more abstract, Kahrya opens up her piece to allow the audience to connect to her movement through a tough situation they may have experienced. She hopes to evoke a sense of honesty from the audience by driving them to look into themselves and ask: “How do I handle tough situations? Do I act like any of these dancers?”
Another tactic Kahrya uses as movement research is dream-journaling. When she sees movement in a dream, she jots it down in a journal and incorporates it into her choreography.
Rehearsal
Kahrya cast dancers for her piece whom she felt could achieve a movement quality similar to her own. During rehearsals she works with her dancers by tweaking her movement to fit and flatter each of their bodies. In her choreography dancers push, suspend, and connect in natural ways, giving the movement an organic feeling.
Kahrya’s piece revolves around emotion, and through her rehearsals she develops the different emotions which her dancers represent. For example, when one dancer carries another dancer on stage and then allows that dancer to fall to the ground, the second dancer becomes a burden being dropped by the first dancer, and the first dancer portrays relief. When one dancer runs into a stationary dancer, the stationary dancer represents an emotional wall being hit by the running dancer. In turn, the running dancer represents frustration. Kahrya also develops contrasting movements, such as cradling and jerking, to evoke conflicting feelings of understanding and greed.
With this piece, Kahrya hopes to push herself as an artist. She will trust herself, and the audience, by opening herself up and putting a piece of herself on display. She also hopes to push the limits of her dancers by giving them difficult, but achievable, movement. She wants them to feel as though they are a part of something meaningful.
Research
Kahrya decided to base her piece on a tough situation with which she recently dealt: the death of an uncle. She researches her theme by recalling her mother’s and aunt’s responses to his death. However, her dancers do not represent specific individuals. Kahrya chose a more abstract representation by forming her dancers into emotions displayed by the people in her situation, as opposed to assigning each dancer a specific person to represent. Kahrya also personifies death through her movement by exploring the feelings that death itself might have, were it a physical form, and translating those feelings to choreography.
By making her theme more abstract, Kahrya opens up her piece to allow the audience to connect to her movement through a tough situation they may have experienced. She hopes to evoke a sense of honesty from the audience by driving them to look into themselves and ask: “How do I handle tough situations? Do I act like any of these dancers?”
Another tactic Kahrya uses as movement research is dream-journaling. When she sees movement in a dream, she jots it down in a journal and incorporates it into her choreography.
Rehearsal
Kahrya cast dancers for her piece whom she felt could achieve a movement quality similar to her own. During rehearsals she works with her dancers by tweaking her movement to fit and flatter each of their bodies. In her choreography dancers push, suspend, and connect in natural ways, giving the movement an organic feeling.
Kahrya’s piece revolves around emotion, and through her rehearsals she develops the different emotions which her dancers represent. For example, when one dancer carries another dancer on stage and then allows that dancer to fall to the ground, the second dancer becomes a burden being dropped by the first dancer, and the first dancer portrays relief. When one dancer runs into a stationary dancer, the stationary dancer represents an emotional wall being hit by the running dancer. In turn, the running dancer represents frustration. Kahrya also develops contrasting movements, such as cradling and jerking, to evoke conflicting feelings of understanding and greed.
With this piece, Kahrya hopes to push herself as an artist. She will trust herself, and the audience, by opening herself up and putting a piece of herself on display. She also hopes to push the limits of her dancers by giving them difficult, but achievable, movement. She wants them to feel as though they are a part of something meaningful.