Unit 50 - Lesson 1

What is a Stimulus?

A Starting Point to provoke something new

Examples of different stimuli 

Visual - a photograph or painting  (for example Quinny Sacks' "Joy" )

Text - a poem or lyrics (Gary Synder's "The Dance")

Concepts or themes - war, love (for example 'Haka' a famous war dance)

Aural - music from around the world (Anita Macuacua's Mozambique dance)

Faultline by Shobana Jeyasingh 

What words came to mind when watching the dance?

talkative, rotations, dark, sharp, angular, tension, restlessness, linking, athletic, powerful

Themes and Influences include:

Youth Culture, Bling Culture, Vanity, Grooming oneself, Attitude, Popular Culture, Gender Stereotypes, Flirtation, Pack Mentality and Belonging. 

In this lesson we learnt the first section of the dance as a group, and then experimented with different ways of performing this routine, through use of cannons, synchronisation and the way in which we stand as a formation, in groups of 4.

After watching our performance back, here is what I feel went well, and what I could improve on both individually, and as a group

What Went Well

From the start to the end of the routine, as a group we were all in synchronisation with each other, even though there were different combinations of cannons. This specifically shows in the very beginning, when we all move from a lunge, facing right, to a formation of 4 facing to the left, with our right hand in the air at a 90 degree angle. This accuracy with being in sync is affective because it highlights some of the inspiration taken when choreography the dance, for example pack mentality (in that we are all doing the same thing, in the same way, at the same time) and youth culture. 

What we could do to improve 

I think that we could work on making all the movements clearer, crisper and sharper; for example when we turn with both or right leg and right hand in the air, making sure both limbs are straight and parallel in arch of movement, after the three steps starting with the left leg. By doing this, the movement looks more polished, 'sharp' and powerful through the strength an precision of a half turn, balancing on the left leg.