And now for something geeky
Dec. 21st, 2005 02:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bethlakshmiI am in the mood to wax eloquent... I think... so here goes:
With the holidays barreling down on me and many communication snafus happening to myself and others, I am reminded about how hard it is for the human race to communicate effectively on even the most simple-seeming subjects. Combined with the fact that 6 months ago, I joined a new troupe, working with old friends in new ways, I'm also particularly reminded about the many different ways there are to communicate dance information. And such is the topic of my meandering thoughts today.
First I'm reminded of the fairly typical style of many Middle Eastern classes I take - the teacher show/student do thing. When I learn or teach ME dance, most often the teacher does the dance as she teaches. This is aided by the fact that the vast majority of the classes are done with recorded music, or else they have a live drummer. The dance teacher normally does not spend much of class providing her own sound track. This works well for giving students lots of time to compare their own movements to a teacher, especially in scenarios where there is a mirror, as in a classic dance studio. Even when a mirror isn't present, we in B'ad Raq Sani Sara have learned to mimic our fearless leader, where we practice in a circle. There's a certain equality there. It is very easy for teaching to quickly pass from one person to another for a moment, as the focus of the circle simply shifts. This works very well for our American Stolen style, as frequently we either do practice work where we hand around moves, or someone will leap in with a question or additional info they are reminded of. Given this communication style - it's a question of chicken or egg that we have evolved into a troupe with a single guide but a certain amount of shared teaching.
Conversely, our memorization skills never go beyond a certain point. I always know I can watch the teacher, so I don't always commit things to memory the same way I would in another format. That means choreography is theoretically "easier" to memorize, but we rarely memorize it all the way. And spot memorization (show once, do fairly well on repeat), is sorely reduced. I have taught Indian classes to M.E. dancers, and it totally messes with them when I stop dancing to watch how they are doing. Thus the development of the alarippu lotus buds, so I could stop and watch without throwing everyone off.
Second, I think of Aparna's style, which I think is typical, at least of her lineage. She only gets up to demonstrate after *I* have fucked up. Or for something entirely new. But these days, even a new choreography can be her sitting down showing me the rhythm on her sticks and telling me which adavus to execute. She's certianly on her feet some portion of every class, and she stretches with me, but more of her time and energy are spent singing (we don't work to any recorded music) and watching me. This is necessary for this style - it is so precise and so exacting that the teacher can not both sing and demonstrate AND watch her pupil. Padme and I do similarly when we work together, partly because I thought "ain't broken don't fix" but more so as I realize that singing and watching and deciding what to work on next are Quite Enough for a single human brain. And I think it does good by my student(s) as well, as the lizard brain accepts that the teacher is going to show this only one or two times. It's important for practice to get it right earlier rather than later, as there is obvioulsly no teacher there at home with you...
This way, it's possible for a dance teacher to instruct well past her days of actually performing the entirety of the dance form. A little old lady may not be able to do all of the moves, especially not several reps running - but she can show you once, and correct you from there, and still be a fabulous teacher. This is how Aparna is currently doing research - when she goes to India, the old people she interviews teach her their knowledge demonstrating almost none of it, because they are much too old and frail. She tells me it's a little frustrating, as some of her resources are getting a little lost, mentally, and so you can't even ask for a repetition, as they won't remember what they just taught her. At least I can make the confused face, and she will repeat for me! She doesn't even get frustrated until repetition #4 or so... :)
...but there is still a presumption that the teacher has a thorough knowledge of how to excute the dance the proper way.
By comparison, my new directors have an in-depth knowledge of the historical style, and the theatrical aesthetic they want, but with 10 different dancers, with 10 wildly different backgrounds, being an expert on any given dance form is actually not so useful and being an expert of all of them is nearly impossible. The Baby Doll directors need to critique on a meta level that exceeds a single form of dance. And they are working towards developing an entire show, not a single dancer's skill set. So there is yet another teaching/directing style. In this style, the dancer brings the piece and the director critques and offers suggestions. But the work of developing dance skills is left to the individual performer. In way, that's necessary, as if we all dance exactly the same, this would be a very boring show. Our strength is our variety, but it is also our biggest challenge.
As I go into another round as a choreography/director, and contemplate future peices... I think to myself, what should my goals be for each peice I choreograph? In Bharata Natyam, the pieces I learn are educational - I learn more about dancing by learning these songs. In the Middle Eastern troupe, our goal has been both presentation (learning to do it later) and education - raising the technical challenge for ourselves to become better dancers. But they are not always "educational" in the same way as Bharata Natyam, because each dancer usually walks away having learned something different. The Baby Dolls are an interesting mix. When we do a group peice, we need to learn each other's styles, so we all look like we are a part of the same number. But when we work on our own peices, we also need to develop our own skills as artists. And in all scenarios, the final goal is to have a very presentable peice that people will pay good money to go see.
So... I suppose there's no right answer here. I'd be interested to see if other folks have had similar variations in directing/teaching performing arts.
With the holidays barreling down on me and many communication snafus happening to myself and others, I am reminded about how hard it is for the human race to communicate effectively on even the most simple-seeming subjects. Combined with the fact that 6 months ago, I joined a new troupe, working with old friends in new ways, I'm also particularly reminded about the many different ways there are to communicate dance information. And such is the topic of my meandering thoughts today.
First I'm reminded of the fairly typical style of many Middle Eastern classes I take - the teacher show/student do thing. When I learn or teach ME dance, most often the teacher does the dance as she teaches. This is aided by the fact that the vast majority of the classes are done with recorded music, or else they have a live drummer. The dance teacher normally does not spend much of class providing her own sound track. This works well for giving students lots of time to compare their own movements to a teacher, especially in scenarios where there is a mirror, as in a classic dance studio. Even when a mirror isn't present, we in B'ad Raq Sani Sara have learned to mimic our fearless leader, where we practice in a circle. There's a certain equality there. It is very easy for teaching to quickly pass from one person to another for a moment, as the focus of the circle simply shifts. This works very well for our American Stolen style, as frequently we either do practice work where we hand around moves, or someone will leap in with a question or additional info they are reminded of. Given this communication style - it's a question of chicken or egg that we have evolved into a troupe with a single guide but a certain amount of shared teaching.
Conversely, our memorization skills never go beyond a certain point. I always know I can watch the teacher, so I don't always commit things to memory the same way I would in another format. That means choreography is theoretically "easier" to memorize, but we rarely memorize it all the way. And spot memorization (show once, do fairly well on repeat), is sorely reduced. I have taught Indian classes to M.E. dancers, and it totally messes with them when I stop dancing to watch how they are doing. Thus the development of the alarippu lotus buds, so I could stop and watch without throwing everyone off.
Second, I think of Aparna's style, which I think is typical, at least of her lineage. She only gets up to demonstrate after *I* have fucked up. Or for something entirely new. But these days, even a new choreography can be her sitting down showing me the rhythm on her sticks and telling me which adavus to execute. She's certianly on her feet some portion of every class, and she stretches with me, but more of her time and energy are spent singing (we don't work to any recorded music) and watching me. This is necessary for this style - it is so precise and so exacting that the teacher can not both sing and demonstrate AND watch her pupil. Padme and I do similarly when we work together, partly because I thought "ain't broken don't fix" but more so as I realize that singing and watching and deciding what to work on next are Quite Enough for a single human brain. And I think it does good by my student(s) as well, as the lizard brain accepts that the teacher is going to show this only one or two times. It's important for practice to get it right earlier rather than later, as there is obvioulsly no teacher there at home with you...
This way, it's possible for a dance teacher to instruct well past her days of actually performing the entirety of the dance form. A little old lady may not be able to do all of the moves, especially not several reps running - but she can show you once, and correct you from there, and still be a fabulous teacher. This is how Aparna is currently doing research - when she goes to India, the old people she interviews teach her their knowledge demonstrating almost none of it, because they are much too old and frail. She tells me it's a little frustrating, as some of her resources are getting a little lost, mentally, and so you can't even ask for a repetition, as they won't remember what they just taught her. At least I can make the confused face, and she will repeat for me! She doesn't even get frustrated until repetition #4 or so... :)
...but there is still a presumption that the teacher has a thorough knowledge of how to excute the dance the proper way.
By comparison, my new directors have an in-depth knowledge of the historical style, and the theatrical aesthetic they want, but with 10 different dancers, with 10 wildly different backgrounds, being an expert on any given dance form is actually not so useful and being an expert of all of them is nearly impossible. The Baby Doll directors need to critique on a meta level that exceeds a single form of dance. And they are working towards developing an entire show, not a single dancer's skill set. So there is yet another teaching/directing style. In this style, the dancer brings the piece and the director critques and offers suggestions. But the work of developing dance skills is left to the individual performer. In way, that's necessary, as if we all dance exactly the same, this would be a very boring show. Our strength is our variety, but it is also our biggest challenge.
As I go into another round as a choreography/director, and contemplate future peices... I think to myself, what should my goals be for each peice I choreograph? In Bharata Natyam, the pieces I learn are educational - I learn more about dancing by learning these songs. In the Middle Eastern troupe, our goal has been both presentation (learning to do it later) and education - raising the technical challenge for ourselves to become better dancers. But they are not always "educational" in the same way as Bharata Natyam, because each dancer usually walks away having learned something different. The Baby Dolls are an interesting mix. When we do a group peice, we need to learn each other's styles, so we all look like we are a part of the same number. But when we work on our own peices, we also need to develop our own skills as artists. And in all scenarios, the final goal is to have a very presentable peice that people will pay good money to go see.
So... I suppose there's no right answer here. I'd be interested to see if other folks have had similar variations in directing/teaching performing arts.
