Choreography for Solo Performance (MU40370O)

  In the Countenance of Kings is the first ballet Justin Peck choreographed for the San Francisco Ballet in 2017, with music composed by Sufjan Stevens. My focus however will be on the original short film for the world premiere of this production (San Francisco Ballet, 2016) . The film starts with the camera pointing towards a dancer (A) packing up her things after training and walking out of the studio with her dog. As she leaves, our focus shifts onto another dancer(B) in a blue leotard, lying down on the floor, and breathing heavily. She slowly shifts her gaze to the mirror to find that the mirror is depicting a sort of alter-ego of hers. This Mirror-self is wearing a burgundy leotard and white sneakers and has more dramatic face and eye make-up done. While they both stand up in unison, her made-up self breaks their synchronization to take her hair down from the neat bun they both had, and lets it fall loose. Turning her head, she transports us into a different place. In con...

During week three of our training, we focused on Merce Cunningham and his unique approach to choreography. The presentation was mostly video based, and it broke down Cunningham’s different techniques when it came to the creative process. Given this opportunity, to have an insight on his course of thought, I was able to begin my own journey of creativity. He was recognised for the precision and complexity of his movements, and he focused on pushing the boundaries of the dance industry to turn his creative compositions into very physically expressive pieces of art. What made him stand out even more, was how he found a way to bring together different branches of performing arts and technology, while also keeping them independent from each other during a performance. This brought on a whole new genre of dance expression, inspiring artist all over the world to this very day. (Merce Cunningham Trust, no date) We later got separated into small groups, and our task was to use the Chance Me...