Music

Even though I studied music growing up (piano & music theory) I was introduced to a broad range of music through dancing. I was fortunate to have a teacher who had eclectic taste, drawing from classical, jazz, different cultural styles to the most contemporary music—a mix of time signatures and instrumentation which helped me to colour the way I moved. Now as I teach I try to do the same, to source a spread of musical accompaniment to shift out of our habits and to try on other flavours, detail, nuance.

So, as requested ...thanks Leyla :) ...here's my playlists this trimester:

Week 1/2
Fire —Des'ree
Big in Japan —Tom Waits
The Point Beyond Which Something Will Happen —Single Gun Theory
Thirteen —Julian Barnett
Sunny —Dusty Springfield
Darwin Star —Des'ree
Quiet —Panoptique Electrical

Week 3–5
I Want It All —k. d. lang
Justo Agora (Brasil) —Adriana Calcanhotto
Worlds Keep Spinning —The Brand New Heavies
Army Dreamers —Kate Bush
Nierika —Dead Can Dance
Light Out At 11 —Baby Animals
Glycerine Queen —Suzi Quatro

Week 6–8
Falling Water —Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra
Aethenaeum—The Necks (extended warm-up track week 8)
This Masquerade —George Benson
Ride On —Little Axe
Erotica (Confessions Tour Live) —Madonna
Tell Me —Laleh
Unisex —B(If)Tek
We Float —PJ Harvey
Djobi Djoba —Gipsy Kings
Sweet Design —Sia

Week 9–11
Kothbiro —Ayub Ogada
African Journey —Baraka soundtrack
Out There—Dave Graney
Lost in the K-Hole—The Chemical Brothers
Musicology —Prince
Walkie Talkie —DJ Shadow
Burning Down The House —Tom Jones & the Cardigans
Sweet Design —Sia
Man's Dance —Counterfeit Gypsies
More Than A Woman —Bee Gees
Scatter Frost Like Ashes —B(If)Tek

Riding the phrase

Imagine that the movement phrases exist in the space, like invisible radiowaves, traces... and we merge in and out of them. We have physically moved the air and left traces of our bodies as we dance so in a sense we have carved them into the three-dimensional space. This imaginative idea helps us to visualize the pattern of each phrase—it's pathway, levels, intensity (a stronger movement might imprint more heavily like pressing more deeply with a pencil to make a darker mark)—it becomes a way to remember a phrase and move more confidently within it, supported by a framework outside yourself.

And it also brings attention to how we move together as a group in the studio...and how we support each other with our witnessing when we are not directly involved in dancing the phrase. Being able to enter the phrase at any point is a good survival strategy, a way to continue rather than stop if we forget a section. This keeps the flow and energy moving for the group and cultivates positivity (to feel confident in your dancing by moving on and not worrying about missing a detail here or there).
Moving around the phrase as you watch others provides energy for those dancing, through eye contact and proximity, and being able to exchange smoothly from observer to dancer (passing the baton) cultivates your timing and spatial skills.

It can also be an engaging choreographic idea. Have a look at this section of
"Physical Business" (1994)
choreographed by Helen Herbertson for the Danceworks company and see this idea of moving in and out of a movement sequence (also see myself and Shaun dancing).