My Chosen Practitioner - Wayne McGregor

 In December 2020 I took a workshop led by a member of Studio Wayne McGregor. From the start I found his energy and enthusiasm contagious, he spoke with his body demonstrating not just the movement itself but the feeling and emotion behind it. The style of movement makes use of the whole body which I found complimented my own movement style. We were encouraged to work with energy and physicality making use of core strength and stability. He pushed me to take risks and to not be shy and hold back. When he was dancing you could see he was completely committed, there was no doubt or regret. These qualities then led me to explore further works choreographed by Wayne McGregor. Chroma, Infra, Far and Atomos are works I have watched and enjoyed. Each piece displays sharp and precise movements with a similar fluidity. They don’t stop; however, each move is definite and clear. The dancers show control in their articulation of the body and changes in tempo and direction. I have been questioning how to sustain movement to this level of intensity within my own piece and have learnt that the intention and belief behind your movements help create a clear stream of choreography. I have also learnt that the speed of music doesn’t have to be paired with the same speed of movement, ‘it is important not to be dictated to by what the music pushes you towards.’ (K. Flatt, 2019, pg118)

I was then interested to find out his choreographic method and process. ‘You learn by getting your ideas out and into movement, onto a body.’ (Blom.L and Chaplin.L, 1982) Using this principle I hope to initially explore possible ideas for my choreography before deciding on the outcome and order. During my research I watched a TED talk by Wayne McGregor who explained this idea further. ‘Choreography is a process of physical thinking in the mind as well as in the body.’ (Wayne McGregor, 2012) It starts in your head and you begin to extract properties and associations from a stimuli. It's like brainstorming with your body and so even though you have a starting point, you begin to move for movements sake. At this initial stage I believe experimenting with ideas is a valuable process as you are not controlled by a right and wrong or fulfilling a brief. Within the talk he goes on to explore movement in reaction to the word ‘TED.’ Using two other dancers to copy him, you watch as they make their own assumptions and interpretations of the same move. Wayne uses his own body as a starting point, exploring its possibilities of a controlled stimuli. One of my original objectives is to take inspiration from words and their associations and so I would like to use this choreographic device in my motif development.

References:

Royal Opera House, 2013, Wayne McGregors Chroma – The Hardest Button to Button (The Royal Ballet), Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SMmL6kIx-w Accessed date: 16/10/21

Royal Opera House, 2018, Infra, Final Duet (The Royal Ballet) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjERnGQiJfg Accessed date: 16/10/21

Studio Wayne McGregor, 2012, Far By Company Wayne McGregor (Long version), Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPHDb6ylhVY Accessed date: 16/10/21

Sadlers Wells Theatre, 2014 Wayne McGregor, Random dance – Atomos, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO-DJBmTH-k Accessed date: 16/10/21

TED, 2012, A choreographer’s creative process in real time, Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPPxXeoIzRY Accessed date: 16/10/21

K.Flatt, 2019, Choreography Creating and developing dance for performance, The Crowood press ltd, Wiltshire

L.A Blom, L.T Chaplin, 1982, The intimate act of choreography, Pittsburgh Press