Choreographer’s And Dancer’s Process Essay Sample

Choreography and dance are concerned with authenticity, appropriation and ownership. For this reason, although choreography has a direction (i.e. a pattern it aims to achieve), the process is more of trial-and-error. In other words, while the choreographer initiates the creation process, he/she often depends on the dancer, finding inspiration in the quality of movement of the performing dancer. Both the choreographer and dancer keep searching and trying until they find what best fits what they are looking for. As already noted, the choreographer brings him/herself to the dancer’s level, working with his or her abilities. The basic premise is to find what suits the dancer, the limits of the abilities, and use it to the optimum.
As for the dancer, he/she works with the created choreographic piece. The dancer interprets the choreographic piece through performance, all the while pursuing the ultimate destination he/she and he choreography aim for. The performer’s individual interpretation and experience influences their expressions in and executions of the piece. In other words, the dancer must look to ‘own’ the dance. ‘Owning’ the piece and the performance is like an actor allowing themselves to be possessed by the character they play to the point that they become that character. Without the ‘ownership’, the performance comes out fake. The ownership helps with the fluidity of the process.
Attaining the ‘ownership’ and fluidity involves a lot of appropriation, which is a highly intensive that demands the full attention of the choreographer’s and dancer’s mental faculties, physical instincts and emotional responses. Although each has a designated role, on the floor the choreographer and dancer work on ideas collaboratively in the dance process. Such collaboration transcends the differences (of nationality, ethnicity, as well religious and socio-economic backgrounds) between the two, such differences pushed to the background and the performance takes a life of its own.
Although there are many other aspects that come into play in the process of creating the dance process, this is essentially what it entails generally.