Week six in btec performing arts....

Wowie, week six already. We've been doing btec for a month and a half, its gone so quickly! This week we only had 2 practical lessons which were both DV8 work shops and working on our own choreographic pieces. I now see how challenging it must have been for Newson to include experimental choreography and make it flow! We also had 2 costume construction lessons, we boarded up our research on materials in one lesson and then in the second we started researching jean because we're going to start making our 'We Will Rock You' inspired costumes. I'm really looking forward to making these as it will be a chnace to let go and have fun with our own idea's. We've had to find our own pair of jeans that still fit us around that we can tear to pieces and coustomise! Well i've talked a lot so i'm going to show you my final draft of my DV8 essay. I hope you learn something!

My DV8 Essay!

An Introduction to DV8

Dv8 are a contemporary/ physical theatre dance group. They were created in1986 by Lloyd Newson. Lloyd Newson is also the choreographer. All the work that DV8 perform reflects Newson’s views on social, psychological and political issues. Newson uses abstract, contemporary dance to portray these issues. Newson chooses dancers according to the subject of the performance, and whether they will be suitable for it. Due to this DV8 have no permanent members, although many of these dancers have contributed to the great success of DV8. The company name refers to Dance and Video 8 (super 8 mm), and plays on the word deviate, Meaning deviant or perverse. The dancers that are part of DV8 claim to have become frustrated disillusioned with the preoccupation and direction of modern dance.  ^[

Lloyd Newson

Since 1986 Lloyd Newson has been the director of DV8 physical theatre, and he has had a huge impact on the world of contemporary dance. His works, on stage and on film, are constantly winning major awards. Newson was born in Australia and his interest in dance arose from studying psychology and social work at Melbourne University. He was soon awarded a full scholarship to The London Contemporary Dance School. Newson had worked with/ danced with/ choreographed for many dance company’s which include Ensemble, Impulse Dance Theatre/New Zealand Ballet Company, One Extra Dance Theatre and Extemporary Dance Theatre. At the Extemporary Dance Theatre he tried to mix ballet with modern dance, making contemporary dance.  After working with these company’s he wanted to let his choreography loose, so he created his own dance company- DV8. Little did he know that DV8 would be a world extravaganza?  From the beginning Lloyd knew that his work and choreography would not only look amazing on stage but it would be portrayed fantastically in film as well. Therefore he gained the help of two filmmakers, David Hinton and Clara von Gool, they made 3 of DV8’s performances into films. Including DV8’s latest film ‘The cost of living’ which was made in 2004/2005. Newson himself directed the filming of it and the film has won 16 international awards.  A few people that inspired Newson to use such dramatic subjects in his dances are Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan and Merce Cunningham.

The people that inspired Lloyd Newson

Martha Graham.

Martha Graham was born in Pennsylvania on the 11^th May 1894 and died on the 1^st April 1991. She was strongly discouraged to consider a career in performing arts, despite this she was an American dancer and choreographer and she is considered one of the main figures in modern dance. Some people say the influence she had on dance was equal to the influence Stravinsky had on music and what Picasso had on visual art. She was an inspirational dancer and choreographed amazing and astounding moves. Graham invented a new language of movement and used it to reveal the emotion in her dances. She danced and choreographed for over 70 years. She was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, as well as the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom. Graham’s famous words were:” I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.”
In 1926 the Martha Graham centre of contemporary dance was established. Following this in1936 Martha named her work as “Chronicle”, this signified a new era to contemporary dance. The performances brought serious issues to the stage in a dramatic manor in order for the public to see the importance of the subjects. Her largest and greatest work, Clytemnestra, was created in 1958. Graham’s style of dance was based on the contraction and release of the body. Graham preferred the term modern dance instead of contemporary dance. She thought that the concept of modern dance is that it was constantly changing so, therefore had no definition. Unlike DV8, Graham never had any of her dances recorded or photographed because she stated that performances should exist live on stage and in no other form. At one point in her life, Graham burnt all of her diaries and choreographic notes to prevent her work from getting out before it was premiered on stage to a live audience. She worked with still photographers only (photographers that take pictures of certain moves whilst the dancer is standstill).  She started her career as a dancer late on in her life and was still dancing in the 1960’s, soon Graham turned to alcohol to repair her declining body. In Graham’s biography (Blood Memory) in 1991 she claimed her last appearance onstage was in 1970 in her production “Cortege of Eagles” when she was 76 years of age. She is said to be one of the most important choreographers in dance history, she wished to be remembered as a dancer. Graham inspired DV8 and Newson because she invented a new language of dance. She moved in a unique way and didn’t follow a crowd, like DV8. She also inspired DV8 to express important topics through dance using these inventive movements. When Graham’s dance style was based on the release and contraction of the body, she inspired Newson to choreograph around the idea of it. Making the dance detailed yet simple.

Isadora Duncan.

 Isadora Duncan was born in America on May 26^th 1877 and died on September 14^th 1927. She was a dancer who was considered by some the creator of modern dance. She lived in Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until when she died at the age of 50. She was popular in New York in the later stages of her life. Isadora Duncan liked flowing scarves, but tragically this was the cause of her death! Whilst Duncan was wearing one of her scarves she rode her automobile, the scarf became entangled around her neck and broke her neck. Duncan was born in San Francisco and was the youngest of four children. Her siblings were Elizabeth, Augustin and Raymond. Duncan’s ancestors were of Irish and French origin. At the beginning of Duncan’s childhood she attended school but her individuality made it difficult for her to fit in so she dropped out. Her family were very poor, to earn money Isadora and her sister taught dance lessons to the local children. In 1895 Isadora joined Augustin Daly’s theatre company in New York and soon became mesmerised by the theatrical form. In 1899 she moved to Europe, her first move was to London and a year later to Paris. Within two years Duncan had achieved great success. In 1909 Duncan moved to two large apartments and she used the ground floor as a dance school. She rejected the traditional ballet steps as she liked her dancers to use improvisation and emotion in their performances. Duncan believed that classical ballet had strict rules of posture and movements and that it was ugly and against nature. She gained a wide following that allowed her to set up her dance school.  Duncan became so famous that she inspired other artists to create sculpture, jewelry, poetry, novels, photographs, watercolors, prints and paintings of her. In 1916 she traveled to Brazil and performed at Rio de Janeiro’s Theatro Municipal in August of that year and at Sao Paulo’s Theatro Municipal in September with a pianist called Maurice Dumesil. In 1922 she acted on her sympathy for the social and political revolution in the Soviet Union and moved to Moscow. The Russian government failed to support the extravagant promises of Duncan’s work.  They sent her back to the West in 1924.  Throughout her life Duncan did not like the commercial aspect of performance as it distracted her from her main aim. To teach the young, the beauty of dance. Duncan was dedicated to was the founder of three dance schools of which she taught young girls dance. At the first dance school the girls were dubbed as ‘isadorables’ They took on her surname because they performed with Duncan but also independently. The second school was short lived as it was created prior to world war one. The third dance school was in Moscow during the Russian revolution. In a way, Isadora Duncan created modern dance because of her hatred of classical ballet. Isadora Duncan inspired DV8 and Newson because she rejected the rules of classical ballet. Duncan’s dances were usually improvisation and emotion, DV8 use this idea because all or many of their movements are natural leads. When you improvise you do what feels natural to you as a dancer so DV8 include the term improvisation in many of their dances. When Duncan created emotion in dance, she put feeling into it so as the audience you could relate to the performance. When DV8 used Graham’s idea of a meaning behind the dance, they linked it with Duncan’s emotion. DV8 dance about issue’s that concerns them, to relate to the audience they put emotion and acting into the dance.

Merce Cunningham.

Merce Cunningham’s real name was Mercier Phillip Cunningham and he was born on April 16^th 1919 and he died on July 26^th 2009. He was an American dancer and choreographer for about 50 years. Throughout his life Cunningham was considered one of America’s greatest dancers. He was a choreographer and teacher of The Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance. Many of the dancers that trained with Cunningham made their own dance company’s after training with him. In 2009, the Cunningham Dance Foundation announced the Legacy Plan, a precedent-setting plan for the continuation of Cunningham’s work and the celebration and preservation of his artistic legacy. Merce Cunningham earned some of the highest award possible for the arts, these awards were:

• National Medal of Arts.
• MacArthur Fellowship.
• Japan’s Praemium Imperiale award.
• British Laurence Olivier Award.
• And was named Légion d’honneur in France.

He was born in Washington in 1919. In 1937-9 Martha Graham saw Cunningham’s work and invited him to join her dance company. In 1939 Cunningham moved to New York and worked with Graham for 6 years. In the summer of 1953, as a teacher in residence at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a forum to explore his new ideas on dance and the performing arts. He choreographed over 200 dances in his lifetime. He created Merce Cunningham Dance company in 1953, guided by their leader’s radical approach to space, time and technology, the company created its own distinctive style which reflected Cunningham’s technique and illuminating the near limitless possibility of human movement.  Merce Cunningham was considered the most relevant person in modern dance. Cunningham inspired Newson to make DV8 daring by his idea of ‘limitless possibilities of human movement’. This reflects the way DV8 use Martha’s sense of story, Isadora’s sense of emotion and then Merce’s sense of flexibility.

DV8 and their dances.

Enter Achilles.

Entre Achilles is a contemporary dance  performed by about 12 men. The story behind it is about how men don’t show their feelings and if they do show their feelings they are classed and gay/homosexual. As Lloyd Newson himself if homosexual he likes to portray feelings and opinions on homosexuals.  He shows the stereo-type of a man and how if your not like that you can be classed as gay/homosexual.  He also shows how the man is expected to be the superhero all the time and what happens when a man is expected to be something he cant be. It also shows that many people think men cant be subject to bullies. Which is false because many men are insecure about their sexuality, confidence and feelings. Lloyd Newson wanted to show this in his dance, so that it would become more public and known world wide. 

Conclusion.

Overall Dv8 are an outstanding dance crew. They are not predictable and use meaningful subjects. That will mean something to their audience. Although sometimes the  story behind the dance isnt always clear, its embedded somewhere within the drama. The dance they perform is always flowing and they hardly ever leave contact with one another unless there is an acting section put in that is relevant.  Dv8 are daring and inspiring, they have an incredibly talented choreographer who will go far in life and make rare subjects more known in the public eye.

By Chloe Green