"Streamed"

Melissa is currently working on a dance which explores the concept of "stream of consciousness." In this duet the two female dancers negotiate the boundaries between continual flow and captured moments.

February: thumb|right|300px|Video 1

Melissa has developed several movement combinations depicting "streams of consciousness." In the second video, the dancers come together to investigate moments of flow and pause. While in the third video, each dancer's movement is unique to create her own separate stream. Later, these streams will be juxtaposed against one another to create a layering of movement. thumb|right|300px|Video 2

Improvisation & Set Material

In dance, improvisation is a movement technique characterized by the execution of spontaneous movement without prior planning. Similar to free-writing, in which writers write for a designated period without stopping, movement is constantly being crafted in the moment - requiring the dancer to be aware of her surroundings while not editing her actions. To help give structure to the improvisation, dancers sometimes use "scores" to focus on a certain idea, such as "how many thumb|right|300px|Video 3ways can you jump, roll to the floor, and get back up." This narrows the movement choices while still allowing for multiple interpretations. Conversely, set material refers to movement that has been created and refined in rehearsals. While it may have started out as improvisation, the choreographer has modified, added, and deleted sections to get the desired outcome.

March:thumb|300px|right|Video 4

In the fourth video, Melissa has worked with improvisation by using scores, such as "what makes you nervous, what makes you scream, what makes you smile" etc., to trigger streams of consciousness. Using free-writing exercises and improvised movement, her dancers created their own movement based on these scores and incorporated it into the choreography. After that, Melissa and her dancers added these emotional triggers to the set material to see how the movement changes. Right now, she is questioning if this change in emotional quality is visible to the audience.

Program Information:
 * Choreographer: Melissa Sanderson
 * Dancers: Kayla Hoover and Sydney Blalock

Questions to Consider:
 * 1) Can a stream of consciousness be captured or does it become something else?
 * 2) When comparing the videos from February with the fourth video, do you see emotional changes in the movement due to the addition of the trigger scores? If not, what changes could the choreographer implement to help generate this response?
 * 3) What would you like to see the choreographer address that she hasn't so far? What changes would you like to see made?
 * 4) Try writing or moving for five minutes without stopping or editing your actions. Describe your experience. Do you find it difficult not to censure or liberating to give up that control?

Click to add a response: Audience Response Page