Project proposal

Candidate name:

Candidate number:

Pathway:

Project title:

Section 1 (Rational):

Over the past 11 units I have gained knowledge and understanding as well as gained new practical
skills that I can develop/transfer into my further training. During units 1-4 I learnt the common
techniques of Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham where practically I gained new technical skills
such as transferring from different styles as well as gaining knowledge about how contemporary
dance has developed.modernised into how it is seen today. Moving onto Unit 5-6 where we were
unfortunately in lockdown due to COVID-19, for this unit we had to create a group dance, and this
was especially challenging to do in Lockdown over facetime calls from not being toget. This led us
into unit 7 were we had to create a solo site-specific dance filmsolo, during this I learnt how to
create and adapt choreography to and outside environment, as well as learning how to film and edit.
I also had to learn how mitigate risk and as well as preforming dance and ultimately perform safely
outside of the studio space. During these two units in lockdown, I particularly enjoyed working with
a new environment including my surroundings into my choreography such as the sand and water.

Then finishing go oFirst year culminated inwe worked on a showcase for our Unit 8 FMP, , and this
was unit 8, tthis allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and choreograph in a new style, which
was a jazz dance inspired by the work of Bob Fosse. I also had the opportunity to balance learning
lots of different dances including, a tap dance, commercial piece, street/hip hop piece as well as a
jazz piece.

Then moving into our In the second year the emphasis in term had been preparation for auditions
for dance schools. At the end of we started off with unit 9 & 10 where unit 9 & 10 we had a mock
audition day, this allowed me to prepare for my real auditions for dance schools. I learnt how to
manage my nerves and that adrenaline allows me to perform a lot better when I am in a nervous
situation. Then moving forward for my real auditions, just like the mock audition day I told myself to
treat it like a workshop day, this made me a lot less nervous, and it takes the pressure off. My nerves
clearly didn’t show as I got an offer from all the dance schools I applied too!

Then finally for unit 11 I had the opportunity learn a completely new style, which was African dance.
I chose to teach a workshop in African dance because in the dance schools I am auditioning for they
also teach Afro dance, so I thought learning this new style would benefit my future the most. This
unit allowed me to gain confidence in teaching and has allowed me to become a more diverse
dancer.

Section 2 (project proposal):

For my FMP I plan to create a piece of choreography that reflects everything I have learnt over the
past 11 units, in a way that will showcase my choreography and editing skills as well as performance
skills, this will be my contribution to a performance we are planning to put on, on the 17 th of May. To
begin to think about what kind of choreography I would like to create I started to look back at all the
pieces that have inspired me over the past few years, and I decided that Hofesh Shechter’s ‘Clowns’
really inspired me the most. I set on an idea whilst being inspired by Hofesh Shechter work that I
could have a circus theme to my piece, but I also would like to incorporate some other ideas to my
piece, such as looking at how performers deal with failure and not being paid enough ,as well as
looking into how a circus traditionally treated used to be and how the animals. weren’t treated well
and finally in the last section of my piece, I plan to show how performers can have a bad day but
have to go on stage and the show must go on. Another piece that inspired me to portray the reality
of a dancer’s life was a performance by the company DV8 called ‘the cost of living’, in this piece one
of the dancers preforms a speech about how they aren’t being paid enough for what they do and its
very direct, it instantly caught my attention.

I plan to use a different piece of music for each section, all the music I have found are from movie
soundtracks which I plan to edit together. I have chosen this music choices as I have lots of different
sections in my piece and the music will help define each section to the audience. This will also
challenge me more to push my editing and tec skills that I have learnt over the past 11 units.

I will link my FMP choreography to my unit 11 African dance workshop by incorporating some of the
stylistic features such as a low sense of gravity and pelvic/chest movements. To create and help me
get inspired to create my piece I will watch films that show circus scenes such as Barnum and the
Greatest showman, this will help inspire me to get ideas on how to set a circus scene, I will also use
Hofesh Shecters piece ‘Clowns’ for inspiration of movement material and look at some more of his
work on YouTube. Our FMP performance of all out choreography will take place in the St Georges
Hall at Exeter, and we will preform it in the roundss, we are also doing two performances one at
10:30 for a school audience and the other at 7:30 so that friends and family will be able to watch.

Evaluation:

To plan and manage my time I hope to set goals daily I will take footage of all my work in class and
make sure to rewatch the footage and make notes of things I can work on for next time. To also get
feedback I can ask my teachers as well as get help from my dancers in my choreography and peer
feedback from the girls in my class to get an outsider’s opinion. For my FMP I will also create weekly
schedules and plan what I will do in each lesson as well as creating weekly ‘To Do’ lists and a daily list
of what I hope to achieve each day. I am also planning on working with new people which will have
challenges as well as positives. I think it will offer me new ideas and working with new people will
help my teaching skills, but as I am working with new people that means the dancers aren’t in my
class so it will be hard to organise a timetables slot for when we can do my choreography each week.
I think my FMP will challenge me to become a stronger choreographer and make me more adaptable
to work with as I am having to work with a new type of stage setting, (the rounds), and it will also
make me a stronger dancer by prreforming in at least 10 different dances, this will make my muscle
memory stronger and well as my physical body and training and make me more diverse by dancing
in lots of different styles.