Since I haven’t seen any shows with dance incorporated, I decided it would be best to scour the Internet for something interesting to review/write about. I chose choreography by ‘The Rockstar Academy of Dance- Senior Trio” to the song ‘Missed Me’ by the Dresden Dolls. I went to a concert by the woman who wrote and sang the song, and hope to choreograph something of my own to one of her songs as my final project, if I am allowed. In her concert it was the most energetic, cathartic, and most movement oriented of all the songs, so I wanted to see what a group of professional dancers would do with the song.
At this time of writing I have not yet viewed the video, but based on how Amanda Palmer’s music motivates me to dance on my own I would imagine that the choreography would be somewhat ethereal and ballet-like but all together more staccato and jerky. I hope to be inspired by this piece to perhaps see her music in another way when it comes to dancing with it.
Upon watching it, the undertones of a creepy cabaret piano and their sneaky sexualized movements go really well together. They tiptoe and strut only to completely collapse in themselves, and crawl over one another within an instant. I cannot believe some of the ways they are moving; it almost seems like a subliminal message in how quickly they can perform a step and go back to the stillness they began with. The three dancers really work off each other well and act like a dance ensemble in how they move together so seamlessly only to purposely fall for the sake of the song.
On the other hand, though, it seems like, unlike my thoughts of choreography, they are merely showing off tricks they can do, as opposed to doing things that complement the context of the song. The song itself is extremely loaded in nuance and dark themes yet there are times it seems as if they are just prancing around and proving how high they can kick.
One part I loved was how at one point one of the girls mimes playing piano with the two other girls moving their appendages as if they were the keys. When the trio goes in a round of movements and reconfigures with the music it is so pristine and marvelous.
These three girls are obviously spectacular dancers, but I think that works in their disadvantage in a way since they seem so concerned with the intricate moves that they are distracted from the meaning, heart and true desperation of the song. It is sexualized, but they are playing it in a way to pontificate as apposed to the scary tone the song itself gives it.
It’s obvious that they are playing up the coy, cracked doll atmosphere of the song in how after they collapse at the end of the song, their appendages bop up and down until gradually stopping, and many of the movements in a way seem quite inanimate.
They certainly got the same idea as I with the jerky, yet classical movement, and of course used it to their full potential, being experienced and professional dancers. When I choreograph ‘Trout Heart Replica’, I shall utilize their idea of spinning often (which I was already considering, since I spin often in my own improvised dancing) as well as something I really hadn’t thought of. I know that what I have for choreography is somewhat stationary and heavy on arm and upper-body movements, and hence I feel like I aught to do more with my legs. What they did was smooth the floor with their feet and do very subtle lunges from side to side during parts of being stationary. I think that that idea for me would be helpful since it came off so nicely for these people.
I wound up watching another video to a slower song to see whether it would be handled differently since the song I hope to do is slower. This song was called ‘The Gardener’ choreographed by Jose De La Cruz.
At the beginning it’s far jerkier than the up-tempo because it is going off the drum line as opposed to the lyric, but soon it seems to slow down. Again there is lots of spinning and ballet technique, especially since once again it is an extremely skilled dancer performing the combination. It seems somewhat sporadic how the dancer switches from being so slow and calm to being so jagged and sudden in her movements.
I like how this person uses levels to their benefit and in the triumphs of the song she kicks her leg into the air, and jumps and does pirouettes, and at moments of defeat and longing she roles on the floor and becomes compact within the space. There’s lots of contact with herself, as she spins she seems to always touch her head, and when she brings her leg up to kick or to even step she seems to always touch her knee.
This is obviously a lower budget production compared to the first dance I watched, but this woman seems far more emotionally invested, pairing the movements with the words as opposed to just trying to embody a broad theme.
From this one I liked how she seemed to be reaching out to the audience at some moments, yet at other moments she seemed completely self-contained in her movement.
I really liked watching these dances, and although the first one was more professional and flashy, I preferred the second video I saw since the dancer seemed whole-heartedly invested and determined to show the truth of the music through dance. Subsequently I am far more inspired by the latter!
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