Lustrum
Our Lustrum project, lead by Lucy Haighton, was based on a choreographic process created by choreographer Gary Clarke. It was a wonderful way to generate imaginative content freely and quickly, based on a series of definitive rules.
It took place over 5 consecutive days in March and culminated in a series of short performances which we entitled Dance Doodles, the title reflecting the idea of quick sketches, which aren’t edited or judgded.
The format was as follows:
one person was selected at random to be the performer, the others in the group were the choreographers.
each choreographer in turn told the performer to produce an action, creating a series of random movements which built up to become the solo performance.
then two people were selected to be the performers, the rest of the group becoming the choreographers, each giving an instruction which ultimately created a duet.
And so on until we had created a solo, a duet, a trio and finally a group piece (having only one choreographer)
The rules were strict and sometimes really hard to stick to, but were the driving force of the work and were as follows:
no one was allowed to disregard or change other choreographers directions - only add to or build on them.
there was no one leader - it was a totally corroborative effort.
timings were strictly adhered to - no faffing or prevaricating. Lucy kept us in check!
the work was not changed in any way before it was performed.
We set out props and costume which could be selected by the choreographers as a fun way to add a quality or character to the performances. Choosing the music/sound accompaniment also gave us scope to influence the quality of each piece.
It was an innovative and fascinating way of freeing up the creation of movement content. We also realised it could be used as the starting point for choreography which could be revisited to develop further work. But that’s another story!……..