Blog Seven - Analysis of second choreography by chosen influence of practitioner

                                        ‘Chroma’ by – Wayne McGregor

My personal idea of the stimulus and the choreographers intention –

My first initial reaction to the piece is I thought McGregor was trying to portray the difference in culture, ethnicity, and race. As the piece begins with a group of different individuals walking through a lit up rectangle at the back of the stage, they disperse leaving one individual female as she performs a short solo as the male dancer stands behind the rectangle watching from a distance. After a while the man walks through the rectangle and joins the female in a duet. From researching further I found another interview with McGregor. He says there is not always a clear meaning to his work and his input of the meaning in combination with the audiences interpretation is what creates the richness of his works. He further explains how the audience has to be open minded when watching his work. I feel the piece try’s to display the challenges some dancers face regarding race, as he has chosen to have two dancers of different colour performing on stage. McGregor may be trying to communicate how it shouldn’t matter what, ethnicity, race, or culture you are, everyone can dance.

(Dancers from Royal Ballet in Chroma, 2017)

How has the choreographer used the dancers?

In this piece I feel McGregor has experimented with the dancers using his style, also incorporated with theirs. As we see their movements flow into each other from one movement to the next. I noticed how the male dancer would often initiate the movement which would then rebound into the females response. I really liked this idea and thought it may be a great link to our own assessment piece, for my own section in the choreography ‘Fight with the inner self’ I decided to have multiple duets synchronised on stage. I used lots of action and response influenced by this piece as I wanted to show how one person’s movement controlled the others. Linking back to our original stimulus as I hope it will visually show how one emotion may overrides the other like someone with DID.

Relationship between music and movement -

The music for this piece I feel begins with a very intense repetitive beat, which is gradually layered with many other instruments creating an intensity which is reflected in the dancers movements as they become increasingly bigger and more energetic. The music is also very dynamic which is reflected through the dancers direct sharp movements and held lines.

Here is a link to the piece I analysed - Wayne McGregor's Chroma – The Hardest Button to Button (The Royal Ballet) - YouTube

                                                                               (Youtube, 2017)

Bibliography - 

Youtube, 2013. Wayne Mcgregor's Chroma – The Hardest Button To Button (The Royal Ballet). [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SMmL6kIx-w&list=RD2SMmL6kIx-w&start_radio=1> [Accessed 28 November 2020].

Youtube, 2017. Wayne Mcgregor On John Travolta, Technology And Why Everyone Can Dance - BBC Newsnight. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk7I_oSs1GU> [Accessed 28 November 2020].

2017. Dancers From Royal Ballet In Chroma. [image] Available at: <https://pilatesxmelissa.com/2017/07/26/pilates-inspiration-the-royal-ballet/> [Accessed 3 December 2020].