3/1/2021
Past Present FUTURE
This week I dove deeper into designing what I want the frame workings of my piece to look like. The concept for choreography that I have been dabbling with is Past, Present, and Future in relation to how the Strong Black Woman acknowledges the generational cycles she has been thrown into. I want there to be 5 sections within my piece. First the introduction, this may have spoken word in it, the Past, then Present, then Future, and then a finale.
PAST: Introduction to the cycles
This section’s movement will depict a constant state of being. I want repetition, I want hesitation but with each consideration of resistance, I want there to be a return to the norm, to the expected. This will be a reflection of the burdens a Black Woman inherits and holds onto, because it is all she knows.
PRESENT: Awareness
This section will pick up in terms of the pace of movement. Things begin to move rapidly, there is a sense of panic but urgency at the same time. This section will be a depiction of the Black Woman realizing that she is internalizing and perpetuating generational trauma and this is her processing stage as she continues through the cycles. Many hot and cold moments.
FUTURE: Breaking the cycle
This section will be the Black Woman breaking the chains of the burdens she bears and stepping into her role as the Divine Feminine. This movement will utilize moments of breath and stillness as a form of resistance. Release and freedom are guiding choreo prompts in this piece as well as power. Isolation is also a theme in mind as breaking cycles and ascending from the toxic norm is both exhilarating and terrifying as it can be an extremely lonely, deep, internal process.
I got in the studio this week to dabble with some of these section concepts. Below is the video of phrase work I began for the Future section. I always return to Nina Simone when creating movement with a theme with this much depth. There is just something about her music that moves my spirit. I may or may not utilize her work for my sound score. I am tempted though!
Next steps will be to build on this idea and polish as well as carve out movement patterns for the rest of the sections.