Choreography, 4E by Sandra Cerny Minton

Author:Sandra Cerny Minton [Minton, Sandra Cerny]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781492550402
Publisher: Human Kinetics
Published: 2017-10-05T04:00:00+00:00

Adapted from L.A. Blom and L.T. Chaplin, 1982, The intimate act of choreography (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press).

The Phrase

Many smaller pieces of movement make up the overall shape or development of a dance composition. The smaller units of a dance are its phrases and can be likened to the phrases that make up sentences in a written composition. The phrase has been described as the smallest unit of form in a whole dance (Blom and Chaplin 1982). Robert Kaplan, a musician who has worked with dancers for many years, wrote that phrases are small units, and one unit follows another to create the larger entity (2002). In speech, a phrase can be a grouping of words spoken in one breath. Beginning choreographers need to learn movement phrasing—an ability that can be acquired with the use of both the visual and kinesthetic, or bodily, sense.

A phrase must have a sense of development. You need to understand how others have used phrasing as you develop a kinesthetic awareness of the phrasing in your own work. One example of a phrase is a unit of movement marked by an impulse of energy that grows, builds, and finds a conclusion, and flows easily and naturally into the next movement phrase in the dance. A phrase could also have a different form based on other uses of energy, so that the separate movements connect in a more abrupt manner or are developed by arbitrarily linking movements. When linking movements arbitrarily, think about the way the movements connect. Each separate movement in a phrase must be related to a common intent (Blom and Chaplin 1982). Many phrases make up a section in the choreography, and the sections together form the entire dance.

Movement phrases should vary in length and shape. When all phrases in a dance are of equal length—eight counts, say—phrasing becomes predictable and boring for the audience, and the dance can become monotonous. Likewise, movement phrases that all begin with an impulse of energy and end with a slow decline are developed in the same manner. Dancers should learn to work with less common phrase structures such as those that include 10 counts or 14 counts, although it is difficult to find music to fit these movement structures (Kaplan 2002).

Dance phrasing is not always easy to understand. You might have difficulty if you have learned dance movement skills or technique by learning steps (set movements with names). To alleviate this problem, you need to realize how movements connect and where one energy impulse ends and a new one begins. Some dancers have learned movement patterns that have poor transitions or no connecting link between movements or steps. As a beginning choreographer, you should develop an awareness of the connectedness of movement and stop thinking about steps.

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