Creative Process

As the name of our group suggests, we worked in a process of creating a mirror image not in a way of copying, but in a way of reflecting. To support this idea I looked up the word ‘mirror’ in the Cambridge dictionary and that is what came up:

1. noun a piece of glass with a shiny, metal-covered back that reflects light, producing an image of whatever is in front of it.

2. verb to represent something honestly or to be very similar to something.

So, I knew that during the process I could not leave this main idea independently of its modifications and surrounding thoughts.

We started looking for movement mirroring ourselves. For that, we stand in a circle and copied the simplest movements of the person who was beside us. Together with the definitions, I already had an idea of what could be the main concept for the piece: reflecting the energy that a certain song would give me and trying to represent the simplest sound I would be able to hear. To summarize: mirroring the beats.

Soon, Connie suggested working with ‘Three preludes’ by the American composer and pianist George Gershwin, as she got inspired by a classical music concert she went to recently. Straight away, I research this composer and I found out that jazz singers such as Ella Fritzgerald and Nina Simone, among others, recorded songs from him and that made me think that I could use some jazz dance techniques such as body isolations for its precision. 

Three Preludes by George Gershwin (2020)

Afterwards, the thought that the beats and dynamics of each instrument were forces caused because the conductor’s moves, was brought up. So, I decided to distribute the instruments in sections splitting the orchestra into three groups (strigs, metals and woodwind) and allocating them to a performer although knowing that I would be facing a problem in the future for a lacking of hands as Emily was filming. So, when I start working on the choreography, I did it in a particular way knowing that not all of us could be on scene at the same time. 

1st draft of the storyboard

When it came to the creation of an understanding of the performers, we realised that the only character with feelings was the conductor. To contrast it, the other performers would be the instruments instead of the musicians away from any feeling.

I was so curious to study how to perform an instrument so I first asked myself what an instrument was. Initially, I thought that an instrument was a kind of box capable to touch anyone’s emotions or feelings by making beautiful or strident sounds. But that is the music that comes out of it, and the way it sounds is produced by the musician. So, I decided to be more literal and I finally found what was closer to my main concept.

An instrument is a dead object that depends on someone to be alive and if we were going to represent the instrument itself I wanted everyone to understand that we had to get away from any human aspect. So, I started explaining that we had to lose the facial expression feeling dead as a piece of wood. As a dancer, I have always been told to not forget to express emotions. So, I knew that would be one of the toughest things to do for the ones performing the instruments. After having explained it, I wanted everyone to have the internal thoughts that made them feel like an object, something with dead feelings.

Afterwards, having an idea of a possible structure, I knew that the choreography part would have a big charge in the piece but I wanted to face it. And with all this information, I came up with my main inspiration which made me clarify the mess.

From the first minute that I started working on the choreography, I suggested everybody start listening to the song. I knew I was risking the fact that everybody would get bored with the music, but that was an extremely important step as there are plenty of beats that you can just hear properly after being very familiar with it. 

  

The addition of the parallel story to the main framework came after having the project clear. I was that involved in a very mathematical structure interpreted by a dead object without emotions that I was scared of having made a monotonous and boring pattern with no waves. But, then is when home came to my mind. I am not going to lie and I admit that I am a home bird whose emotions are mainly related to family and Mallorca, so as I get inspired by it most of the time I felt like using it in the project. So, keeping the structure I took the only humanized character and relate it to a story that is sensitive to me but open for the audience’s interpretation. 

So, during Christmas, I recorded my niece Júlia representing the past of the conductor showing how lucky some artists are of having had a family supporting us in our careers. This is represented in the piece in form of flashbacks where the conductor gets into it through music as a way of gratitude. I thought that including the final lighting and the breathings would be a satisfactory getting back to reality. Despite this, I was aware that someone could see it as a cliché story of a little girl achieving her dreams but others might feel grateful instead. So, as a group, we decided to include it as a dedication to those who have helped us to get where we are now.

The filming process was very challenging but fun as we were constantly surprised at any given moment by the others crossing in front of each other or ending movements where someone needed to move. So, then is when we had to make instant decisions without losing character. But to be fair, that is what I find truly interesting and excited about this piece, that thanks to its freedom of displacement and depending on where has it been filmed, different shapes can be seen. 

We filmed it in two days and despite my worries, I had so much fun. Everybody in the group was so involved and bringing ideas. For sure, we had to face some unexpected facts regarding the dressing and filming, but this time, we collaborate to carry on with it. And I think that is a beautiful part of a process: facing difficulties and solving them together having in repercussion an interesting and unexpected result.

     

So, even the main idea was recording it from different angles and experimenting the new and improvising shapes, when it came up to film the instruments, Connie could not come, and although it was a bit frustrating as we were getting closer to the submission’s deadline, we were lucky to have all her clips from the first filming day. So, we ended up deciding to play within the static. 

We envisage this work for all kinds of audiences as it can be interpreted in so many ways. I think that depending on who, how or where you are at the precise moment watching the piece, it is going to make you have different thoughts and feelings, or simply nothing; someone could get more engaged with the story behind it or with the dance.