Pick one of the Elements of Dance: Body, Action, Space, Time, or Energy. Watch the corresponding video on the Elements of Dance website. Analyze the video according to the element that you pick. Describe the ways that element is present and utilized by the choreographer in the dance. Incorporate vocabulary from the Learning About Dance Chapter 2 reading, as well as from the Elements of Dance website.
Create an original thread and write a minimum of 100 words. Respond to two classmates’ threads and write a minimum of 50 words in each response.
classmate 1:
I chose Time because I thought it would be the most interesting to see being portrayed. One of the dancers made it seem like they were a clockface and they spun around to show the passing of time. They speed up and slow down at random intervals to show the passing of time. They all move in different directions and there is a lot of space in between each singular person. Their movements are fluid and they move in unison. I find it really cool that time is a very important part of dance choreography because it is not physical even though they can portray it that way.
classmate 2:
I chose the element of energy. This dance constantly changes the type of energy throughout, as a group and individually. It starts with a very tight and heavy gesture with the two girls locking arms and “pulling”, while the girl in the back of the shot is using gestures that are free-flowing and light. As the girl in the back moves forwards and joins the two, the gestures change and become less tense and heavy between the two and tenser for the other. The energy of the gestures met in the middle of where both were at, it wasn’t exactly flowing and super loose, but it also wasn’t tense and heavy. Once the stomping starts and the others in the group join in, the energy is almost split in half. The legs are heavy and sharp with the movements as they stomp to the same beat, while their arms are flowing lightly all in the same way. A few seconds after the beginning of them all joining, the hand movements do become heavier and sharper. It’s almost as if they are pushing outwards, the hand gestures aren’t necessarily a sharp dynamic, but they also aren’t light. They’re tensley flowing. This dance shows a good example of how the choreographer changed up the energy and used so many different techniques and gestures within one dance.
