Faculty Dance Concert Reflection
Most of the elements of the Afro-Caribbean dance aesthetic found in Brenda Dixon Gottschild’s work, “Crossroads, Continuities and Contradictions” were present in all of the pieces performed in the faculty dance concert. However the ones that stood out the most included “embracing the conflict,” “aesthetic of the cool,” and “polycentrism/polyrhythm.”
Embracing the conflict was most noted in the piece titled “Back Burner on High” choreographed by Kelly Johnson. Gottschild defines embracing the conflict as a principle of contradictions and an encounter of opposites. The conflict, or paradox, that is innate to and insinuated by difference, disagreement, discord, or irregularity is embraced rather than erased or …show more content…
Polycentrism/polyrhythm as defined by Gottschild is the origination of movement from any body zone, and two or more areas of the body simultaneously serving as centers of movement. Being polyrhythmic means the feet may maintain one rhythm while torso, legs, arms dance to the beat of different rhythms. There were a series of different rhythms heard in the music entitled “Purgatorio” composed by David McGuire. Some of these rhythms included soft subtle melodies, the clicking of shoes, and some very loud banging noises to name a few. Sometimes all of these beats and rhythms played simultaneously, and at other times there was only one playing. The dancer was able to move in different ways to each rhythm/beat, and was also able to change quite quickly sometimes, when a rhythm/beat changed. When the rhythms/beats were all playing at once, movement was generated from different body part. For instance there was a kind of beat that was more techno, but with a soft subtle melody. The dancer was able to move with her feet in quick succession to the techno beat, but kept most of her upper body and arms soft and fluid to accompany the soft subtle
Most of the elements of the Afro-Caribbean dance aesthetic found in Brenda Dixon Gottschild’s work, “Crossroads, Continuities and Contradictions” were present in all of the pieces performed in the faculty dance concert. However the ones that stood out the most included “embracing the conflict,” “aesthetic of the cool,” and “polycentrism/polyrhythm.”
Embracing the conflict was most noted in the piece titled “Back Burner on High” choreographed by Kelly Johnson. Gottschild defines embracing the conflict as a principle of contradictions and an encounter of opposites. The conflict, or paradox, that is innate to and insinuated by difference, disagreement, discord, or irregularity is embraced rather than erased or …show more content…
Polycentrism/polyrhythm as defined by Gottschild is the origination of movement from any body zone, and two or more areas of the body simultaneously serving as centers of movement. Being polyrhythmic means the feet may maintain one rhythm while torso, legs, arms dance to the beat of different rhythms. There were a series of different rhythms heard in the music entitled “Purgatorio” composed by David McGuire. Some of these rhythms included soft subtle melodies, the clicking of shoes, and some very loud banging noises to name a few. Sometimes all of these beats and rhythms played simultaneously, and at other times there was only one playing. The dancer was able to move in different ways to each rhythm/beat, and was also able to change quite quickly sometimes, when a rhythm/beat changed. When the rhythms/beats were all playing at once, movement was generated from different body part. For instance there was a kind of beat that was more techno, but with a soft subtle melody. The dancer was able to move with her feet in quick succession to the techno beat, but kept most of her upper body and arms soft and fluid to accompany the soft subtle