Bryttni Pugh

Huskey

DANC 2216-002

10 May 2017

Final Solo: Process

The spine or concept of my final piece, Reinchamation, was difficult to come across. I first

considered the idea of the action potential of a neuron, but I could not find the most interesting

movement. I was stuck on the same few shapes and movements that were short in duration. I also

could not see a climax nor a trajectory as the process of a neuron is naturally fast and continuous.

I yearned to create a piece related to the concepts I learned as a psychology major, but I lacked

passion and commitment with transforming that original idea into a dance work. I had thought

about potential spines for a couple of frustrating hours, and I finally began to sprout the spine that

I had settled on. Commuting to campus, I had been saying words that came into my mind and that

fascinated me; the word dismemberment lingered in my thoughts.

I immediately thought about creating a piece about my limbs falling off, but then I asked

myself why and had difficulty conjuring up a possible story or reason behind the missing limbs.

Therefore, I had thought about making the dismemberment my climax. Now I became stuck on

what to do before and after the act of dismemberment. Honestly, my mind started playing with the

retrograde tool and made me wonder what it would be like to reattach my limbs. However, that

did not fully satisfy me, so I thought of another tool embellishment. What if I regained my limbs

and embellished the reattachment with a new quality, such as the gracefulness of a bird? The only

problem was that I did not want to embody a bird as the animal is highly used in dance already.

During some leisure time, I looked up many creatures on YouTube and settled on a lizard,
specifically the chameleon. What about the beginning? Fortunately, the feedback from my peers

and instructor aided my thinking, and I was told to find some contrast in order to truly have

readable and identifiable movement of a chameleon. During one of the work days and through

much frustration about how to create captivating movement, I had thought of a contrasting

beginning to show the movement of a human. During another work day, I had realized that my

concept in progress would not have an effective trajectory; but, with the help of a peer, I had finally

thought of a complete idea that filled in the missing pieces I had encountered. My concept was

reincarnation: I would be a human with fully functioning limbs. Then, as life or evolution

progresses, my limbs would become immobile, one by one. I would regain the limbs in reverse

order but would now incorporate the characteristics of a chameleon, showing reincarnation. Lastly,

I would retrograde the sequence all the way back to the beginning of the human section in order

to show how reincarnation is a cycle. I knew that the spine that I had decided upon would be a

good one for a solo dance piece because of its specific and rich content, its structure, and its need

of only one person to get the concept across to the audience. The spine was spontaneously created

after an excessive amount of pondering, and I became more committed and interested in the topic

as I continued to alter it.

I tested my idea for movement potential for possible gestures and motifs through the use

of images, videos, and pure self-exploration. Movement was created in the studio during work

days and in my living room. I spent the entire work time in class trying to generate new movement,

and I spent a few hours at night during a couple of days a week. The ideas for the chameleon came

from images and videos of them. I had to learn how they walked, ran, positioned their hands, curled

their feet, and used their limbs. The resources were highly beneficial because they helped me to

distinctly display the characteristics of a chameleon. The ideas for the humanistic movement came
from self-exploration, further explained later, and some images that I used to verify the postures

within evolution. The ideas for the dismemberment came from pure self-exploration as I had to

figure out how to move with one, two, and three limbs. I would state that the dismemberment

section was a challenge, but its limitations made my decisions on the movement easier. I had only

so much that I could generate, and I showed many of them in phase three to figure out which

movements were the most and least effective. One of the movements I did not show was the

vibratory left leg. I further explored how to dismember the left leg after viewing my video, and

vibrating it seemed like the limbs struggle. I then brought the vibratory leg back during the

chameleon section which showed a different quality and way of using that limb as well as a

possible struggle to hatch or be born as a new creature.

The choreographic tools and devices I used in my creative process to expand and develop

my initial movement motifs include repetition, retrograde, embellishment, transposition, levels,

stillness, large and small range, acceleration and deceleration, irregular rhythm, stage facings,

focus, pathways, direction, percussive movement, sustained movement, active energy, passive

energy, and background.

The source of accompaniment was the first idea to enter the creative process. I was trying

to figure out a way to quiet my familys youngest dog as she was repeatedly barking. I wondered

if the dog whistle would actually work and used that until I found a better solution. The noise was

easy to become lost in as I found myself focusing my attention on the continuous high pitch. I had

realized that I found my accompaniment, and I found it quickly. I was set on making my

accompaniment this annoying sound as I thought it would be unique and interesting. I had searched

many videos about dog whistles on YouTube and ended up finding this entrancing hearing test

that progressed from 20 hertz to 20000 hertz. It felt right for my idea and initial movement motifs
because it is as continuous as the process of reincarnation. Additionally, it enhances the ability to

become mesmerized in the transformation I undergo.

I used the videotaping of each phase to assist my process. I would always go through each

movement and each section and identify what was effective and what could be changed or

eliminated. I wrote numerous notes and ideas to try. I used the comments from my peers and

instructor to help guide the development of the piece. Their feedback was essential because they

noticed aspects of my piece that I may not have realized were effective or ineffective as I am the

performer; and, they had various perspectives and fresh ideas that were useful in constructing the

piece and stimulating my creativity. Additionally, they were able to identify little details (i.e. shape

of my chameleon hand) that were inconsistent in my performance and needed to be cleaned up and

other details (i.e. getting up by using your hands as support and genuinely making a limb

deadweight) that could be eliminated or enhanced to make the piece stronger.

The challenging aspects of the process led to the satisfying aspects. I was at first challenged

to find the right concept, which came into the creative process in small bits, and it was relieving

to finally make the concept click and become whole. Another challenge I faced was figuring out

the humanistic movement. I did not want to originally walk and run as I did not believe that was

original or interesting. However, it was brought to my attention that executing simplistic

movements such as those would greatly contrast the chameleon and that I needed to use those

movements in order for my piece to be effective. I tried to zone in on the characteristics of a human,

such as standing on two feet, and tried to find different ways of walking. Through some time of

exploration, I walked slumped over, and it reminded me of the beginning of evolution. I gradually

sped up my walks as I straightened my back until I was running. I decided to vary the runs and

proceeded to run backwards. I was later given the insight that humans are unique because they can
run backwards; not many creatures can do so. I then allowed the runs to transition me into the

dismemberment. I was not fond of the simplistic movement at first because I typically like to create

odd shapes; and, walking and running were not the odd creations I hoped for. Although this went

against my choreographic preferences, I became satisfied with the outcome because the humanistic

section genuinely contrasted well with the chameleon and helped make the trajectory clearer. I

also faced the challenge of bringing back movement for familiarity. I originally decided on three

sections of movement that did not really repeat throughout, so I had to talk with a peer to figure

out how to insert familiar movement. We had discussed retrograde, which would not only bring

back previous movement but would allow me to more effectively shorten the sections I had created

as they were quite long and not straight to the point. I had made this change for my second to last

phase, and I received pleasant feedback on how well the change worked, leaving me overly

satisfied with the decision. The last challenge I faced was on not making the entire chameleon

sequence pantomimic. I played around with the movement I had created and was soon able to

interweave chameleon-inspired movement with pantomimic movement. I did not want to eliminate

the pantomime, such as the crawls or sharp head movements, because I believed that they were

crucial to have in order to effectively embody the specific creature.

As a choreographer and as a person, the creative process allowed me to learn that I will

persevere no matter how frustrated I become. I had a goal on creating a well-crafted solo with an

interesting trajectory, and I wanted to successfully achieve that. I also never knew that I could be

comfortable with and successful with being a chameleon. I realized that I can be more confident

than I believe, and I can embrace new characters as long as I commit. During the process I had

encountered personal issues that drained my mental state. I noticed that I could escape that pit of

anxiety, even if for only six minutes. I am stronger than I perceive myself to be, and I was able to
return to happiness by phase four, which was not a state that I would have imagined being in

anytime soon. Additionally, I do not always have to make each movement completely original or

have to contort my body into unique shapes because simplicity may be just as effective and the

sequence or idea behind the movement can consist of originality.

When I approach another similar project, I would perhaps discuss any and all of my ideas

with the instructor and/or my peers sooner. I had kept them to myself for a little longer than needed

because I thought that I would be able to figure it out on my own. However, when I opened up, I

received beneficial feedback that guided me to create a satisfactory solo. I would not do much

differently as I believe my process and outcome allowed me to face and solve multiple challenges

that I needed to encounter and to carefully and effectively construct a piece that I do not regret.