Using Technology Along with the Choreographic Process

One aspect of dance and technology is when it is used incorrectly and overpowers the dancing. Due to the fact that technology is incorporated in almost every dance performance today, sometimes the choreographers think more about technology then the actual intent behind their movement and choreography. During L.A Dance projects performance, three pieces were performed that had very low movement invention and choreographic structure, but had a lot of emphasis on technology. Moving Parts(2012), in its regional debut, choreographed by Millepied himself, Winterbranch(1964), choreographed by Merce Cunningham, and Quintett,(1993) choreographed by William Forsythe made this much anticipated night of dance even more alluring due to the variety and the integrity that these works and their choreographers carried. With expectations high, I, and many others left the performance feeling somewhat let down and underwhelmed. With works by such world renowned choreographers as these one wonders how this evening of dance, presented by the choreographer of the movie “The Black Swan”, could end in such disappointment. The dancers danced with three separate pieces of grand artwork on wheels. They moved the artwork around the stage creating wonderful shapes and framework for what was happening onstage. The dancers would often disappear behind one of the pieces of art and another one would reappear in their place. While what they did do with the “moving parts” was interesting, I did feel as though they could have explored the use of them in other ways. After awhile moving them around the stage and using them to hide the dancers became rather repetitive and redundant. I would have liked to see the dancers dance on the artwork, using more as a prop as opposed to a moving set piece. While both the dancers and the set pieces were beautiful, I did feel as though there was so much more exploration to be done in both the use of the set and the movement itself. A lot of the movement became very repetitive and seemed under-rehearsed. There were several times when the dancers had different arms or focuses, which very well could have been Benjamin’s intent but to me as an audience member it didn’t come across. The music for this piece did not begin right away. The actual sound began with some sort of monologue which repeated throughout the entire piece. From the beginning of the piece, their was a large projector set far downstage left. The dancers did not interact with the prop at all until the very end of the work. The projector turned on during the very last movement of the piece and projected moving clouds onto the scrim. This is a prime example of choreographers spending too much time on the technological aspects of dance opposed to choreographers include technology into the choreographic process. As a teacher, I would like to have my students become completely comfortable using technology with their choreography that way if they decide to pursue a career as a choreographer they will not produce work like the choreographers in this show.