Monday, February 18, 2008

My First Collaboration

In the past week, I quickly composed my first dance music “Red Clouds” inspired by my observation of my partners’ various body languages. It was a beautiful experience. Through the process, I realize the difference of composing music for dancers and instrumentalists. The body language is unpredictable and full of liberty. In modern dance, it is not necessary to unite the body movements and rhythm exactly. Most of the time, the dancers focus on delivering the concept rather than follow the meter. Thus, I think a good composition can represent another voice depicting the choreographer’s creating motive and inner thoughts. From the dancers’ presentation, I can strongly sense that “hearing” and “seeing” convince the “belief”. My challenge of writing “Red Clouds” is to understand what the choreographers want to express and to interpret the form and emotion with their body motions. At this point. I try to employ multiple articulations to emphasize the contrasts inside the dance performance. Through the dramatic impact, I realize that music functions to enrich the meaning of dance.

Music and Dance

The Composer/Choreographer Workshop gives me a beautiful landscape to move in. Through the conversation with dancers and choreographers, I am deeply moved b the choreographers’ faith of creating their unique body movements. I also experienced how music and dance, these two art languages, could be associated together by a common source – the choreographer’s dream. Because of the dancers’ body sensations, the composer’s inner idea was sufficiently responded. Also, through the relationship between music and dance, I realized their dialogue concerning space, silence, and time. I was particularly impressed how the dancers explore the fascination – the imagery, invention, and form – of the music and translate it into body motion. It is a coalescence combining human mind and music together to form an artwork.