Do other dancers have the same problem that I do when it comes to selecting music for a performance that doesn’t have a particular theme? It almost seems that when given full reign, there are too many options and the freedom to choose almost becomes a burden. I have experienced this problem so much over the last couple months. On several occasions, I’ve changed my mind at the last minute and danced to a different song than the one I’d been practicing to… more often than not, the “use-your-instinct-method” has worked for me. But I’m realizing that instinct is often ruled just by personal taste. So my tendency to select songs that are of slow-moderate tempo with more string instrumentation is fine and dandy, and clearly my style of dance goes well with that music. However I started seeing patterns… like “oh there I go doing THAT move again when the music crescendos” or “I tend to do the same movements, don’t I?”
Well I know that I know other movements, I’ve done them in choreographies and in workshops and apparently when I improvise at home. So I finally decided to leave my comfort zone of string instruments and slow tempo music and opt for something edgier, more percussive, and layered. After days and days of trying to decide between three songs, I chose the one that wasn’t too difficult to distinguish the layers, not too percussive… just right. One of the songs was clearly predictable for me, while the other one was way out in the range of “I-love-this-song-but-it’s-too-hard-to-dance-to”!
The universe has its’ ways… I gave the DJ my iPod which was set to the song I’d chosen. And somehow, what played instead was the REALLY HARD SONG WHICH I DIDN’T THINK I COULD DANCE TO! So I guess my physical body decided against my better judgment which song I should do. Strangely, I didn’t even realize when the music came on that it wasn’t the right song! I just kept on dancing.
Here’s the kicker. Perception is so deceiving! There I was dancing, thinking to myself that I was not feeling this music, I did not have direct control over my movements, and was not executing anything that I had envisioned myself doing (because I never really got the chance to practice). Luckily, the performer in me realized that staying as far away from the audience as possible would probably only contribute to my complex, so I moved forward closer to the audience and kept going. The result? Some people told me it was the best performance I had ever done, or that I must be taking a lot of classes recently which is why my style seemed so different. Others told me that they could see influences from my dance partners (Khani and Michaella) in my dancing. I don’t think I ever intended to perform like them, but I could see elements of their style as I watched the video of myself.
Here it is: the very, very improvised solo performance to “Circulation” by Beats Antique…
Gigi Corkett Solo at Into It Tribal Nights from Lee Corkett on Vimeo.
