Varying Approaches to Musical Interpretation

Choreographer’s ‘Dinner Party’

I have chosen to assess practitioner theories of choreographers to identify their differing influence, background and selective methods of creativity. I will provide a brief introduction and in turn discuss opposing views from these individuals and ideas behind their artistic presentation of dance. I propose to establish what they wish their audience to experience and how their dancers convey this. I plan to compare, contrast and evaluate their varying theories regarding music interpretation. I am interested to determine their reasoning for particular music choices and how it is used to achieve a specific objective.

Mark Morris

An unconventional choreographer heavily influenced by his eclectic musical taste, Morris’ repertoire includes the use of baroque, choral, jazz and Americana. In rehearsal he is meticulous with timing and the specific way he urges his dancers to reflect the music. He insists on rehearsing with live musicians to achieve an impeccably pure harmony of dance and music. Sets and costumes are simplistic with use of coloured lighting, he uses signature shifting circular patterns representing relationships and a sense of community. Drawing inspiration from paintings, architecture, sculpture and poetry, he wishes his audience to experience a sense of awe and wonder, engaging them by emanating the highs and lows of life, creating beauty even within the ‘lows’. The following clip is an excerpt from ‘L’Allegro’, a piece created from the influence of poetry and Baroque music.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27y4sKj02Ok (Accessed 4/4/16)

Matthew Bourne

The director and choreographer of company New Adventures, famous for modernising classical works whilst retaining their original musical score. His most famous production, Swan Lake was transformed and updated to appeal to a wider audience. By casting male dancers as the swans he was able to successfully reflect the dramatic nature of the music, enabling the portrayal of their aggressive yet graceful characteristics. In the following interview Mr Bourne discusses his creative process behind the production, he creates lifelike characters that the modern audience can relate to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rja3uZy1tUk (Accessed 1/04/16)

He is able to find new character within the traditional music to create a new vision from Tchaikovsky’s music score. A light hearted example of this is the Gobstoppers from ‘Nutcracker’, set to the Russian Trepak. The dancers are dressed like colourful punk rockers, they are cheeky, mischievous and slapstick, they reflect the manic, upbeat, playful nature of the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jJeRSfahBE (Accessed 31/03/2016)

Bourne’s dramatic and shocking adaptation of Dorian Gray brought the Oscar Wilde novel into the 21^st century. Its minimal, percussive accompaniment creates a stark and chilling atmosphere, I feel that the relentless beats, like a ticking time bomb symbolises Dorian’s descent to self-destruction. Again many critics slated this choice of music, however it was necessary for achieving the dark nature of the story.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwXa8B-DwQk (Accessed 4/4/16)

George Balanchine

Ballet master, choreographer, pianist and founder of the New York City Ballet, Balanchine possessed musical knowledge that far exceeded his contemporaries. His choreographic style is described ‘Neo Classical’, a modernised take on traditional classical ballet methods. His technique encompassed unconventional, abstract lines requiring athleticism, speed and musicality. His objective was to cover more space in less time, he developed his own method of training to meet the physically demanding nature of his choreography. ‘Rubies’, from the ballet, ‘Jewels’ demonstrates the physical demand for extreme strength and flexibility of Balanchine’s work. The following piece does not tell a story, the dancers therefore are purely interpreting the music and demonstrating the translation of music into dance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjJ49B3z6Fs (Accessed 30/3/16)

Akram Khan

Performer, company director and choreographer initially trained in Indian Kathak and later on in contemporary dance, which he studied professionally. Mr Khan draws inspiration from a broad variety of influences particularly poetry, historical events, other cultures and musical styles. He feels that it is essential for dancers to study music and percussion to communicate effectively through dance. His collaborations with other artists, including singers, dancers, choreographers, dance companies, actors, writers and composers have enabled him to push boundaries and create original concepts. His company mission is to, ‘Take risks, think big and daring, explore the unfamiliar, avoid compromise and tell stories through dance that are compelling and relevant with artistic integrity.’ (Akram Khan Company, About Us http://www.akramkhancompany.net/about-us/ Accessed 4/4/16)

Richard Alston

Alston is a trained classical pianist and expertly musical choreographer who trained in contemporary dance under Martha Graham and later on with Merce Cunningham. In contrast to Cunningham’s methods he wanted music to inspire his intricate choreography. His guiding influence for choreography is architecture, sculpture, use of space but mainly music and rhythmic patterns. He takes inspiration from his company dancers when creating choreography having selecting them on their elegance and expert level of musicality.

‘I take risks, I am always trying to do something new for me. There’s a whole catalogue of music that I would like to apply to what I know about dance, to Chopin, to Ravel, to Bach. So what I try to do is not what I’ve done before. When I’m in the studio I think, I can’t give the same steps to these people.’ (Interview with Richard Alston, http://www.thealstonstudio.com/sites/alston/files/2004%20Richard%20Alston%20Interview.pdf Accessed 28/3/16)

Twyla Tharp

Choreographed for many major ballet companies, Broadway musicals as well as television and film. Her diverse style extensively used varying genres including classical and pop music, sometimes simply a ticking metronome or even silence. Her contemporary style incorporates classical ballet with natural everyday travelling movements such as walking and running. She expanded the boundaries of modern dance and created humorous and edgy choreography through the method of improvisation. ‘Always the choreography was dynamic, unpredictable and underpinned by an unusually thorough musical intelligence.’ (Academy of Achievement, http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tha0bio-1 Accessed 4/4/16)

Martha Graham

The ‘Mother of Modern Dance’ created a new style and repertoire of movement representing the struggles of human life experience. Each movement in the Graham technique has meaning behind it that is clear to both the dancer and the audience. The music is minimal as the nature of her work is so powerful, I feel it creates an atmosphere and undertone for the emotional content.

Rather than using existing music for her work she commissioned composer Louis Horst by providing him with a brief of mood and particular timing. Graham felt that the music should be secondary to the dance, however she would wait until the music was composed to complete the choreography. ‘The function of the music was to support the mood and emotional content of the piece not to be its guiding stimulus for its creation.’(Beginning Modern Dance, Giguere, M http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/martha-graham-ndash-the-graham-technique Accessed 4/4/16)

Merce Cunningham

Initially a leading member of the Marta Graham Dance Company, he branched out to develop his own unique process of choreography. He worked in partnership with composer John Cage, his unconventional method entailed adding music after the choreography. He continually searched for new ways to be innovative and used dice to determine the actions of the dancer. The clip below from ‘The Legacy Tour’, shows the dancers performing the steps independently from the music, they are not in time with one another, creating an unintentional ‘canon’ effect. It does however look effective and aesthetically pleasing from an audience point of view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHeoYdDMbLI (Accessed 4/4/16)

Conclusion

I have discovered that there are many ways in which one can artistically work with and be influenced by music. Commonly, music is the starting point that inspires the movement, I have found that most choreographers collaborate with the music, serving as more than just a form of accompaniment. However, the more avant-garde artists choose to diverge from the music in a quest to conflict traditional methods. Many of these artists opposed their initial training in dance, Alston deviated from Cunningham’s disassociation with music and Cunningham diverged from Graham’s work alongside it.

Alston and Balanchine are both technically trained musicians and are therefore able to demonstrate this through use of intricate rhythms and patterns of choreography. Choreographers such as Bourne, Morris and Khan all have passion for music which is apparent in their work. Bourne didn’t take dance class until he was 22, he performed for a short time and became more of a visionary, storyteller and facilitator to the artistic process. A common denominator among these artists is their objective to find new ways of working incorporating their own personalities, life experiences, preferences and vision. They wanted to challenge what had come before and create something new. I feel these varying approaches to choreography and musical interpretation have informed possible ways I can develop artistry within my own work.