Katie Murray Choreography Blog

    We have finished choreographing our solo. Next week, as it is the last week before our assessment we will focus on cleaning and embellishing the adding the last few details to some movements within our piece. We plan on running the solo a few times to make sure the order of movements is clear in our minds. We received feedback to slow down our ending phrase so we will continue to adjust and experiment with the timing and see what works best (before and after seen in videos below).    I have learned a great deal of information from researching about our chosen practitioner, James Cousins, and his pieces ‘Taste Water Again’, and ‘Everything or Nothing’. As we continued on our choreographic journey, learning about how Cousins creates movement and implements deep intentions within his pieces allowed us to choreograph more easily. It is Cousisn’s way of using motifs and deep intention that directly inspired us while creating our solo, more so than the movements themse...

  ‌  I have decided to review James Cousins piece ‘Everything or Nothing’,  (www.youtube.com, 2012)  Cousins choreographed this piece for Mathew Bournes annual new choreographers award, which he won in 2012.  This piece this piece is set on 10 dancers. It is about becoming aware of a concept, “ With the single realisation that nothingness is a state of mind, we unlock the possibility to become anything that we desire.   Without that nothing, we could not have everything”. ( Bettina John, 2016). This piece clearly has different intentions to the first piece I reviewed ‘Taste Water Again’, which focused on the journey of a girl who seeks resolve in a situation that is beyond her control (Cousins, 2013).   I believe there are great differences between the movement in the two pieces.  ‘Everything or Nothing’, overall holds more dynamic and sharper movements throughout compared to the contrasting sharp and flowy movements Cousins included in ‘Tast...

  I am very happy with how our choreography is coming along.  We are towards the end of our choreographic process as we have 2mins 45seconds choreographed.  We analyse our work by looking back at the videos we take each week. From this, we discus what worked well and what we can improve on, which allows us to adapt our piece accordingly.  Repetition of covering our eyes has worked well, and we will continue to embellish other movements with this detail.  Coming up with contrasting movements worked well for us also. We will continue to adapt the timing to make the dynamic more unique and memorable, which will improve the overall quality our solo holds. For example we have already gone back and sped up certain parts, which created an even bigger contrast between the sudden sharp movements and the flowy ones: During class time we have received valuable feedback. Firstly, our teacher told us that we should consider if it is an internal or external force that is allo...

 James Cousins I have decided to review James Cousins piece ‘Taste Water Again’,  https://youtu.be/EqWgy8EMsY4?si=OfTqDiQGYltVZkDX  . This was the initial piece my group was drawn to.    “Taste Water Again follows a lone female in her search for resolve, in the wake of an unexpected and harrowing experience, beyond her control”. (Cousins, 2013)    Dancer-choreographer collaboration is a big part of Cousins creative process, he believes that “Our ideas collectively together are far stronger than mine alone” (Cousins, 2019).   Cousins intentions are definitely made clear to the audience when watching this specific piece. Having to deal with something that is beyond control directly links to our solo. In cousins piece the girl is only at the beginning of her journey while in our solo an external force is guiding us through towards the end, which finally alllows us to see more clearly.    Overall I think the most intriguing thing about this ...