Senior Capstone Project
For the Fall Concert of 2022, I was given the opportunity to choreograph a group number with dancers Annemari Olmeda, Brenda Rivera, Itzel Avalos Vargas, Jennifer Gonzalez Garcia, and Kenny Banda. The theme of the first semester's concert was stories, so I have decided to base my piece on Disney’s live action film, "Maleficent." Many lessons can be learned from this movie, but my biggest take away was that Maleficent was misunderstood and villainized based on the narrative the towns folk made because of the difference in appearance of creatures from the Moors. This inspired the theme of my dance, society’s perception of beauty. In today’s generation it is not uncommon for individuals to struggle with insecurities and self worth due to the public’s beauty standards.
The music selected for the piece is “Battle of the Moors” composed by James Newton Howard from the scene where the king and his knights come to battle Maleficent for the Moors. My theme is pretty heavy and the music is dark with almost gentle moments, so I incorporate very sharp movements like kicks and quick turns to display the intenseness of the piece. Timing was also a big contributor: changing sustained movements to sudden movements helped portray what I was trying to say. Most of my movement came from me just improvising until something I liked worked. Additionally my dancers would contribute ideas whenever I got stuck or couldn't figure out how to transition into new movement!
Once my piece was fully developed and I had all my movement and formations set, my dancers and I finally got to focus on cleaning the movement and really paying attention to the details that would take the dance to the next level. They did a beautiful job bringing the story to life with their bodies. Once this piece was on stage with lights and costumes, it felt really awesome knowing that I had created it. If given the opportunity again I would definitely do it again, although I would like to work longer with my dancers to have the performance as clean as possible.
Link to performance- https://youtu.be/HQuIcolW0_k
The music selected for the piece is “Battle of the Moors” composed by James Newton Howard from the scene where the king and his knights come to battle Maleficent for the Moors. My theme is pretty heavy and the music is dark with almost gentle moments, so I incorporate very sharp movements like kicks and quick turns to display the intenseness of the piece. Timing was also a big contributor: changing sustained movements to sudden movements helped portray what I was trying to say. Most of my movement came from me just improvising until something I liked worked. Additionally my dancers would contribute ideas whenever I got stuck or couldn't figure out how to transition into new movement!
Once my piece was fully developed and I had all my movement and formations set, my dancers and I finally got to focus on cleaning the movement and really paying attention to the details that would take the dance to the next level. They did a beautiful job bringing the story to life with their bodies. Once this piece was on stage with lights and costumes, it felt really awesome knowing that I had created it. If given the opportunity again I would definitely do it again, although I would like to work longer with my dancers to have the performance as clean as possible.
Link to performance- https://youtu.be/HQuIcolW0_k