Thursday, 27 January 2011
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
The Greatest Bird Show on Earth
A large recurring theme within Welsh Folk Songs are birds. Movement in flight, particularly among Starlings, is something I have always been drawn to. I came across this video while thinking about birds and their place within Welsh culture, folk and myth, and also while thinking about the kinds of movement quality they possess. This video is simply stunning.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Relaxing
Since my last post I have been thinking further about the process I go through when creating work. Having more experience with making work on other people rather than myself, I took for granted the experience would be similar. It isnt! But its great that it isnt! It is allowing me to question even further my own practice, how I make work and how I see myself as both dancer and choreographer.
After stepping back from the work a little bit, and through Rosie's good advice, it became clear that the way through what I previously saw as a problem, is to relax with the creative process and to let it change if thats what happens. Its certainly meant that there's less pressure in setting work and allows me to take my time and to acknowledge further what is happening in the studio.
I intially thought that through doing this, I would fall into a trap of working on the same thing forever, but the opposite has happened. With regards to the folk songs I am working with, I am getting deeper and more involved into the music/lyrics/story, whichever I happen to be focussing on, and I can listen to the physcial and emotional messages and receive them in order to move, and yet a structure is starting to form. My performance may be more or less different every time, but I feel that I KNOW the performance. Its not a knowing through having learned it, its a knowing through living it (??!!).
I feel like I have just said something that every performer/choreographer already knows! I guess I knew it also in a way, but this work has made it more conscious for me. I feel that I can relax with the work and stop looking for an outcome.
After stepping back from the work a little bit, and through Rosie's good advice, it became clear that the way through what I previously saw as a problem, is to relax with the creative process and to let it change if thats what happens. Its certainly meant that there's less pressure in setting work and allows me to take my time and to acknowledge further what is happening in the studio.
I intially thought that through doing this, I would fall into a trap of working on the same thing forever, but the opposite has happened. With regards to the folk songs I am working with, I am getting deeper and more involved into the music/lyrics/story, whichever I happen to be focussing on, and I can listen to the physcial and emotional messages and receive them in order to move, and yet a structure is starting to form. My performance may be more or less different every time, but I feel that I KNOW the performance. Its not a knowing through having learned it, its a knowing through living it (??!!).
I feel like I have just said something that every performer/choreographer already knows! I guess I knew it also in a way, but this work has made it more conscious for me. I feel that I can relax with the work and stop looking for an outcome.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
An interesting problem!!
Managed to get back to the practical work for the project tonight after having left it since August due to other work commitments. Through exploring working creatively with different folk songs I have built up a small repetoire of work which have then become a basis for further research and exploration. I plan to use this work when I meet with Sian in January as a kind of starting point to our work so I wanted to get back into the studio to recap and rehearse the choreography.
I worried that, as I havent physically worked on this choreography for a few months (although have been thinking about it) it would be lost. But although much of it had stayed with me, I felt the need to re-work some of it. I think the practical work is evolving the more I am reading, researching and thinking. I can see this being a danger while I am creating work on myself. When choreographing on others, I know that there is a point where I've passed the work on to the dancers and unless I find that it doesnt work visually, it doesn't really alter that much during the rehearsal process. The process for this project seems to be linked alot more closely to my own personal, emotional response to the themes of the song I am working with. So then, the more I think about, research and get deeper into the text, the more I learn about it. Then my response to it develops which then means the creative work changes!! I have to find a way to deal with this especially if I am using this process to create work otherwise it will never feel finished!!
IHave no idea if this makes any sense at all and feels abit deep but it is something interesting to think further about!!
I worried that, as I havent physically worked on this choreography for a few months (although have been thinking about it) it would be lost. But although much of it had stayed with me, I felt the need to re-work some of it. I think the practical work is evolving the more I am reading, researching and thinking. I can see this being a danger while I am creating work on myself. When choreographing on others, I know that there is a point where I've passed the work on to the dancers and unless I find that it doesnt work visually, it doesn't really alter that much during the rehearsal process. The process for this project seems to be linked alot more closely to my own personal, emotional response to the themes of the song I am working with. So then, the more I think about, research and get deeper into the text, the more I learn about it. Then my response to it develops which then means the creative work changes!! I have to find a way to deal with this especially if I am using this process to create work otherwise it will never feel finished!!
IHave no idea if this makes any sense at all and feels abit deep but it is something interesting to think further about!!
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Getting somewhere slowly......
As I mentioned previously I was given a list of books which may be of use for studying Etymology. Amazingly my local library in Aberystwyth had every single book! I should really spend more time at that place. So I have enough bedtime reading to keep me going for a while.......
The one that I thought would be difficult to get hold of was Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (University of Wales Dictionary) which includes eytmology. But the library also had those on loan - although not through the usual procedures. I had to apply for them, they had to be ordered from elsewhere etc etc.
Anyway, I picked them up this morning! Well when I say that, I picked up just one volume of the dictionary - there are 8 others!! I decided to just get one for now so I could work out its layout, how to use it etc and boy, am I glad I did! This one volume is HUGE and very overwhelming - not just in terms of its size, but its age and the amount of work and history it includes!! I'm almost afraid to touch it. I think, Rosie, we might have to wait until you come here to look through these books - I cant imagine I would manage very well in bringing them to London!!
But at least I have got somewhere and have a starting point for research - even if I am drowning in books!
Am getting back into the studio next week aswell to rehearse and develop the work I will be showing to Sian in January. I've had to leave it for a while so I hope its still with me! When we meet to work together, I hope that we can use this work as a basis for discussion and development. Bye for now!
The one that I thought would be difficult to get hold of was Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru (University of Wales Dictionary) which includes eytmology. But the library also had those on loan - although not through the usual procedures. I had to apply for them, they had to be ordered from elsewhere etc etc.
Anyway, I picked them up this morning! Well when I say that, I picked up just one volume of the dictionary - there are 8 others!! I decided to just get one for now so I could work out its layout, how to use it etc and boy, am I glad I did! This one volume is HUGE and very overwhelming - not just in terms of its size, but its age and the amount of work and history it includes!! I'm almost afraid to touch it. I think, Rosie, we might have to wait until you come here to look through these books - I cant imagine I would manage very well in bringing them to London!!
But at least I have got somewhere and have a starting point for research - even if I am drowning in books!
Am getting back into the studio next week aswell to rehearse and develop the work I will be showing to Sian in January. I've had to leave it for a while so I hope its still with me! When we meet to work together, I hope that we can use this work as a basis for discussion and development. Bye for now!
Friday, 5 November 2010
Etymology
Rosie and I chatted a few weeks ago about 'Etymology' - the study of the origin of words - and the idea that words, when traced back, have their roots in a physical action. Its a very interesting idea that the sources of words may be non-verbal, and movement or gesture or whatever came before language. As we will be working so closely with text during the project, we talked about using this to explore choreography.
It adds yet another interesting layer to the work - exploring the roots of language is definately something I would like to look further into.
After our conversation I decided to do some research into etymology of the Welsh language. An hour or so on Google one Saturday night (yes, this is how I spend my weekends!) offered tons of literature and websites on the English language but not alot on the Welsh language. One colleague told me that he used to have a book on the etymology of Welsh from Pembrokeshire. I could suddenly imagine all of this getting very complicated knowing that there are so many regional forms of the Welsh language - how on earth am I going to tackle this??!!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was put in contact with a fantastic person - Marged Haycock - who is a professor of Welsh at Aberystwyth University. I emailed her and she emailed me straight back with a list of books that she felt would be of use to me Brilliant!! One to definately go with is 'Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru' (University Dictionary of Wales) which is 4 volumes of the definition and etymology of probably every word in the Welsh language. At £350 a volume, it may be a case of beg, steal and borrow at the moment (well hopefully just borrow!). But at least I have a direction to follow.
Out of interest I looked at an online etymological dictionary. Not great and seems to have every language except Welsh but was still quite interesting to explore. I looked up some words that appear quite regularly in the songs I have been working with. One that was very interesting was that in the 16C, the English word for 'window' was 'fenester.' The Welsh word for window is 'ffenest.' A reminder of which language came first....?! :)
It adds yet another interesting layer to the work - exploring the roots of language is definately something I would like to look further into.
After our conversation I decided to do some research into etymology of the Welsh language. An hour or so on Google one Saturday night (yes, this is how I spend my weekends!) offered tons of literature and websites on the English language but not alot on the Welsh language. One colleague told me that he used to have a book on the etymology of Welsh from Pembrokeshire. I could suddenly imagine all of this getting very complicated knowing that there are so many regional forms of the Welsh language - how on earth am I going to tackle this??!!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was put in contact with a fantastic person - Marged Haycock - who is a professor of Welsh at Aberystwyth University. I emailed her and she emailed me straight back with a list of books that she felt would be of use to me Brilliant!! One to definately go with is 'Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru' (University Dictionary of Wales) which is 4 volumes of the definition and etymology of probably every word in the Welsh language. At £350 a volume, it may be a case of beg, steal and borrow at the moment (well hopefully just borrow!). But at least I have a direction to follow.
Out of interest I looked at an online etymological dictionary. Not great and seems to have every language except Welsh but was still quite interesting to explore. I looked up some words that appear quite regularly in the songs I have been working with. One that was very interesting was that in the 16C, the English word for 'window' was 'fenester.' The Welsh word for window is 'ffenest.' A reminder of which language came first....?! :)
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Y Dechrau / The Beginning!!
Haia!!
Dwi wedi creu blog i rannu newyddion y brosiect gwerin gyda chi gyd!! Dwi'n dal yn gweithio mas siwt mae'r peth 'ma yn gweithio!!
I have created a blog to share news of the folk project with you all! I am still working out how this things works!!
Bear with me!!
Dwi wedi creu blog i rannu newyddion y brosiect gwerin gyda chi gyd!! Dwi'n dal yn gweithio mas siwt mae'r peth 'ma yn gweithio!!
I have created a blog to share news of the folk project with you all! I am still working out how this things works!!
Bear with me!!
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