A2 Group Choreography

A2 Group Choreography

As part of my A level practical exam I had to create a group choreography based on one of four questions given to us by the examining board. The question that I chose was to create a dance based on the features of a Japanese Tea Garden. I researched into this concept and what I found was that the style of garden takes its name from the Roji, or path to the teahouse, which is supposed to inspire the visitor to meditation to prepare them for a ceremony. There is an outer garden with a gate and covered arbour where guests wait for an invitation from the leader to enter. They pass through the gates to the inner garden where they wash their hands and rinse their mouth and face as they would before entering a shrine or in this case the teahouse itself. The path is always kept moist and green so it will look like a remote mountain path. There are no bright flowers or colours in the garden which might distract the visitor from any meditation.

An idea which I wish to also include is Japanese fortune cookies which are said to be given in rituals. Japanese fortune cookies are said to be a bit bigger than others such as American and Chinese. Makoto Hagiwara is said to be the first person to serve the modern Japanese cookies in a Japanese Tea garden in 1890’s.

When it came to choreographing it there were certain features that I wanted to include, for example the entering of the gardens, the invitations, the purifying ritual of washing hands and mouth, representation of stepping stones leading to the house, an intimate unison section of people coming together, the giving of cookies, dancers interpretation of found fortune cookies statements, crossing of bridges, admiring flowers and personal meditation.

These ideas can all be seen in the choreography through interpretation I have made through my movement choices. I have instructed the dancers to show physically them performing hand gestures and wiping the mouth to indicate a purifying ritual. I have included the dancers to help one dancer cross over their backs to create the look and interpretation of a bridge. I have also created a stepping pattern for the dancers to perform around the space as if travelling across stepping stones in a garden. All of these points including more are very literal and can be seen very clearly in the interpretation of the dance. My music choice is a traditional dance piece which compliments the dance well as it is Japanese. There are climax moments to the music which also enhances the dance quality.

I have 4 dancers, 3 girls who are entering the tea garden and being invited in to admire and meditate, and there is also another dancer who is the leader of the ritual in the tea gardens.

Costume choice I have decided on plain black bottoms – harem pants/leggings/tights and short and a plain white top. The reasoning behind these choices is that they are plain and white is a pure and clean colour. It states there are no bright colours in the garden because otherwise it is distracting for the people meditating in the garden.  

Choreographic devices that I have used include repetition – Different arm gestures in a unison arm section are repeated as I feel these movements give an oriental feel to the piece

Fragmentation – The dancers when lead by the leader to go off onto their own stepping stone pathways they perform arm and hand gestures in different orders which are seen through the dance.  

Levels:  levels are seen as I have a staging block at the back of the stage where the leader is to sit and perform, there are times where the leader is stood on the block and the other dancers are dancing on the floor or even lower doing floor work.

I have a contrast in the piece as well as there are moments where there is a build in the content where the dancers perform in unison and in contrast to that there is then the end meditation section which is very calming and mellow in comparison.

I have moments of unison and cannon in the dance.

Here is video of my choreography showing all these points. I feel as a whole dance it really shows the themes I have identified and is clear in showing the details and features of the Japanese Tea Garden.