PROCESS
Research
Lauren chose her theme at her “optimum moment of panic": a few minutes before her first rehearsal. This idea came from triumphing over her own fears of rejection and being told “no." Two years ago, after being pushed to do unsafe dance movement, Lauren seriously injured her back. She bulged two vertebrae and ruptured two disks in her cervical spine; she also has horizontal scoliosis. These injuries changed Lauren’s plans as a dancer, since she had to take time off to heal. This time off forced rejection onto her, since she was no longer able to take dance class or participate in auditions. As she healed, she was often told “no” by people who worried that she would prolong her healing process or damage her back further.
Although this fear inspired Lauren’s concept, she does not want the piece to be about her own fear. At her first rehearsal, she asked dancers to open up and discuss their biggest fears as research for her piece. Lauren was somewhat surprised when this discussion turned emotional, since she was not expecting her dancers to open up freely about their personal fears. The dancers sat in a circle expressing frustration over fears they wanted desperately to conquer. Through her piece, Lauren wants to help her dancers face their fears and come out feeling better.
Rehearsal
Lauren strives to make her rehearsals a place where dancers can "escape." Her piece features pedestrian (non-dance) movement and has a “weird contemporary” feel. Dancers glide, press, jab, and suspend to express the theme of the piece. Lauren comes into the space ready with movement to give her dancers, but she does not want to give her dancers movement they do not “get”. Therefore, while developing movement she works closely with dancers through improvisation and adjustment to make sure that her movement fits their individual bodies.
Another way Lauren develops movement for her piece is through word association. She takes the definition of the dancers’ fear and creates movement based on the words in the definition. She also talks to the dancers about how they feel when their fears become reality, and from this description movement develops. For example, a dancer describes her fear of loneliness as feeling dark and cold. Next, Lauren develops movement based on the ideas of darkness and frigidity. This use of word association adds depth to the movement in Lauren’s piece.
Lauren has given her dancers the additional task of choosing personal, physical improvement goals to work on during her rehearsal process. These goals include increasing flexibility and strength and perfecting turns and leaps. She plans to incorporate each dancer’s goals into her choreography, so that by the end of the rehearsal process, each dancer has improved her craft. In this way, Lauren’s piece combines combatting physical limitations (by meeting physical improvement goals) with breaking down the emotional limits of their fears.
Lauren wants to positively affect the audience with her piece. She hopes that, through her movement, the audience can see that if a person has the right environment, surrounded by the right set of people, and with the right attitude, "fear doesn’t stand a chance."
Research
Lauren chose her theme at her “optimum moment of panic": a few minutes before her first rehearsal. This idea came from triumphing over her own fears of rejection and being told “no." Two years ago, after being pushed to do unsafe dance movement, Lauren seriously injured her back. She bulged two vertebrae and ruptured two disks in her cervical spine; she also has horizontal scoliosis. These injuries changed Lauren’s plans as a dancer, since she had to take time off to heal. This time off forced rejection onto her, since she was no longer able to take dance class or participate in auditions. As she healed, she was often told “no” by people who worried that she would prolong her healing process or damage her back further.
Although this fear inspired Lauren’s concept, she does not want the piece to be about her own fear. At her first rehearsal, she asked dancers to open up and discuss their biggest fears as research for her piece. Lauren was somewhat surprised when this discussion turned emotional, since she was not expecting her dancers to open up freely about their personal fears. The dancers sat in a circle expressing frustration over fears they wanted desperately to conquer. Through her piece, Lauren wants to help her dancers face their fears and come out feeling better.
Rehearsal
Lauren strives to make her rehearsals a place where dancers can "escape." Her piece features pedestrian (non-dance) movement and has a “weird contemporary” feel. Dancers glide, press, jab, and suspend to express the theme of the piece. Lauren comes into the space ready with movement to give her dancers, but she does not want to give her dancers movement they do not “get”. Therefore, while developing movement she works closely with dancers through improvisation and adjustment to make sure that her movement fits their individual bodies.
Another way Lauren develops movement for her piece is through word association. She takes the definition of the dancers’ fear and creates movement based on the words in the definition. She also talks to the dancers about how they feel when their fears become reality, and from this description movement develops. For example, a dancer describes her fear of loneliness as feeling dark and cold. Next, Lauren develops movement based on the ideas of darkness and frigidity. This use of word association adds depth to the movement in Lauren’s piece.
Lauren has given her dancers the additional task of choosing personal, physical improvement goals to work on during her rehearsal process. These goals include increasing flexibility and strength and perfecting turns and leaps. She plans to incorporate each dancer’s goals into her choreography, so that by the end of the rehearsal process, each dancer has improved her craft. In this way, Lauren’s piece combines combatting physical limitations (by meeting physical improvement goals) with breaking down the emotional limits of their fears.
Lauren wants to positively affect the audience with her piece. She hopes that, through her movement, the audience can see that if a person has the right environment, surrounded by the right set of people, and with the right attitude, "fear doesn’t stand a chance."