Obuchi Adikema

THD-225

Choreography: Humphrey Checklist

In The Art of Making Dances, Doris Humphrey breaks down dance theory into what she believes to be the essential elements. In Humphrey’s style of writing, her word is as good as gospel truth; she leaves little room for contradiction or differing opinions. While reading her guidebook on topics like dynamics and direction, I have nodded my head in agreement, crossed my eyes in confusion and put the book down in frustration. Humphrey’s penultimate chapter, “Checklist”, summarizes her final notes for a choreographer in the process of composing a performance. In my final project, “l o t i o n”, I have followed the rules of the checklist in some places and stepped away from them at other times.

Humphrey states that symmetry is lifeless in a dance and that monotony is fatal. The starting concept for my final project was to take the act of rubbing lotion and turn it into a dance. There is a lot of symmetry embedded in the process of rubbing lotion: cover one hand, then the other, the left elbow then the right elbow, this leg then that leg, etc. In my dance, I have challenged myself to find asymmetrical movements because I too believe that symmetry without a break can be monotonous. Instead of creating my whole dance using the actions of rubbing lotion, I have confined the symmetrical movements to one part of my dance.

Mixing sounds and creating music for my dance has been an important part of motivating movement for me. I agree with Humphrey that I would not like to be a slave to my music, but rather a collaborator with the sounds. However, I do not think that it is possible to be a mutilator of music as Humphrey writes. She gives an example of snipping a piece of a well known string quartet to use for a dance solo as a blunder people often make. I can use whatever snippets and sounds that I want to use in my dance. Humphrey also writes that “the eye is faster than the ear” which I believe to mean that we as humans are faster to catch onto visual changes than onto musical changes. I will continue to try not to rely on my musical changes (I am cutting 3 different songs together), to carry the weight of the emotional changes in my dance. Instead, I am trying to focus on adjusting my breathing and changing my qualities of movement when I am transitioning from one concept to the next one.

        In terms of space, I struggle with including three-dimensional movements just because Humphrey thinks that moves in one plane are lifeless. Two-dimensional movements feel the best to me and I believe that me feeling good and comfortable on stage is important.  Humphrey calls the flat design decorative, but she does acknowledge that a flat plane can be used well to demonstrate ritual. There is a part of my dance where I am rubbing my hands together and along my arms. I will use the flat plane to draw more interest to my hands and create a feeling of ritual and repetition. Humphrey believes that the movements I am creating now in the studio will look weaker and slower on stage. There is a part of my dance towards the end in which I want to move extremely slow, so I am delighted by this idea. However, I want to be able to create some moments of strength throughout my dance, so I when I practice, I will be making movements that are not in the slow part of the performance sharper and with more weight.

        Overall, I agree with Humphrey’s last point: “listen to qualified advice; don’t be arrogant”. I know my dance through my eyes as a creator, so it can be hard for me to tell which pieces are working and which pieces are not because I can not see myself in real time. To me, The Art of Making Dances contains qualified advice and in every step that I take in this process of creating my final project, I must choose whether to listen to it or not. I appreciate having this checklist to inform, challenge, and question me throughout this project.

Works Cited

Humphrey, Doris, and Barbara Pollack. The Art of Making Dances. Dance Books, 1997.