Brightside - Trinity Laban

Brightside by Henri Oguike
Produced by Laban Library and Archive in collaboration with Transitions Dance Company
Workshops: Amanda Gough
Labanotation: Jean Jarrell
All photographs copyright of Colin Streater
Special thanks to Lizzie Barker, Chris Clow, Ralph Cox, Laura Greenhalgh, Veronica Jobbins, Jordan Landes, Niki Lavithis, Henri Oguike,
Laura Riches, Arabella Stanger, Isabel Tamen & David Waring
About the resource
Introduction to this online resource
About Brightside
The process of creating and reviving
Brightside in the words of Henri Oguike
and Transitions dancers
Workshops
Explore Oguike’s technique with two
workshops focussing on key elements of
Brightside
Labanotation
Dance notation for phrases of
movement and positions from Brightside
© Colin Streater
Links
Henri Oguike Dance Company
Transitions Dance Company
Education and Community Programme
Library and Archive
2
ABOUT THE RESOURCE
Welcome to our Transitions online resource.
This is a pilot resource initiated by the Library and Archive at Laban, based on the work of Transitions Dance Company and
aimed at dance students and their teachers in schools and further education. The resource has been devised to accompany
the 2007 tour of Transitions Dance Company and uses items from the Archive including interviews and photographs.
We are focussing on Henri Oquike’s Brightside (2002), which has been re-staged for Transitions this year and can be used
as a comparison with Front Line, the current GCSE Dance set work.
The resource has been created to support students’ understanding of performing, composing and appreciating dances by
providing a range of analytical and practical approaches to the choreography including:
•
•
•
•
information about Brightside and an interview with the choreographer Henri Oquike;
interviews with the choreographer and students who danced in Brightside;
ideas for dance workshops based on Brightside developed by faculty staff at Laban;
Labanotation materials to enable students and their teachers to re-create dance phrases from Brightside or use them
as a basis for creative exploration.
Bibliography
2
Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
3
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bramley, I. (Ed.). (2002). Dance teaching essentials. Dance UK.
Griffith, V., & Jarrell, J. (2005). Labanotation resource pack: Part 1. Practical support materials for the teaching of Labanotation to AS/AL
students. London: Laban.
Griffith, V., & Jarrell, J. (2006). Labanotation resource pack: Part 2. Practical support materials for the teaching of Labanotation to AS/AL
students. London: Laban.
Henri Oguike Dance Company. (2003). Front line [Videotape]. Alton: Dance Books.
National Resource Centre for Dance. (2004). Bibliography: Henri Oguike. Guildford: Author.
Padilla, J. (Comp.). (2004). Café del mar: Vol. six [CD]. Manifesto.
Includes recordings of Marc Collin’s Les Kidnappeurs and Nitin Sawhney’s Homelands.
Roberts, H., & Henri Oguike Dance Company. (2005). Front line (Henri Oguike, 2002): A resource pack. Guildford: National
Resource Centre for Dance.
Sanders, L. (2004). Henry Oguike’s Front line: Creative insights. Alton: Dance Books.
Dance Books www.dancebooks.co.uk sells:
Dance teaching essentials @ £10.95
Front line video @ £15.99
Henry Oguike’s Front line: Creative insights @ £10
Labanotation resource packs @ £30
Plus postage and packing for each
National Resource Centre for Dance www.surrey.ac.uk/NRCD/pOguike.html sells:
Bibliography: Henri Oguike @ £3 incl P&P
Front line (Henri Oguike, 2002): A resource pack @ £17.95 incl P&P
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Laban Archive
If you would like more
information about the
Archive collections and how
to use them, contact the
Archivist:
Jane Fowler
Library and Archive
LABAN
Creekside, London SE8 3DZ
Tel: 020 8469 9535
Email: [email protected]
Workshops
Labanotation
4
ABOUT BRIGHTSIDE
Choreography - Henri Oguike
Costume Design - Mair Joint
Lighting Design - Stephen Munn
Music - Marc Collin and Nitin Sawhney
Created in 2002, Brightside is an example of the award-winning Henri Oguike’s vigorous and intricate sense of musicality.
Rhythm and energy are moulded into an entertaining performance which celebrates dance and dancing. David Waring, Artistic Director of Transitions Dance Company, chose Henri Oguike’s Brightside to be reconstructed for 2007 because ‘‘it’s a joyful, light piece with lots of freshness and energy. I thought it would be different, and a good balance, to what I was
expecting from the other choreographers’’.
Why reconstruction?
Giving work a longer life through the reconstruction or revival of a piece is very important in that it allows those who’ve seen
it to look at it in a different light. It is also an opportunity to introduce new people to it. A different group of performers gives
a dance different nuances and personality. Brightside has a purity and simplicity of vocabulary that makes it easier to translate onto different bodies than some other dances.
The dancers
Learning new choreography challenges members of Transitions Dance Company to come up with different ways of moving
that may be against their natural movement style or that they have not yet experienced. Casting potentially challenges the
permanency of the role itself – can only one type of person, personality or body execute a particular movement?
Brightside
Transitions Dance Company is promoting Henri Oguike’s work to audiences who might not get to see Oguike‘s company,
giving audiences the chance to experience the work of an established British dance maker. For audiences familiar with the
work of Henri Oguike, it is interesting to consider how the piece looks on different dancers and how it works as part of a
mixed bill. By seeing other styles of work, an audience gets a real taster of the essence of a choreographer’s style and may
be encouraged to see more of the choreographer’s work.
Interview with Henri Oguike
Interview with former members of Transitions Dance Company
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
5
INTERVIEW WITH HENRI OGUIKE
What are the creative starting points for Brightside ?
What inspired you and how did the piece take shape?
The music of Nitin Sawhney’s Homelands, with its evolving rhythmic structure, was the initial starting point, but it was not
long enough to make the full piece. I could hear in the music both influences from classical Indian vocals, and Spanish
guitar variations. I wanted to use postures and gestures loosely derived from dances associated with these musical types.
Les Kidnappeurs was an alternative starting point at first, which also needed additional music to make up time. It conjured
up images of stealthy group behaviour revealing all dancers following a simple spatial path. An introduction - like opening
titles of a movie.
In the end I decided to use both pieces of music and set the piece in two distinct halves.
What imagery or intentions did you give the dancers to inform their
movements?
The first section had one basic body design/dynamics - low lunge with the torso inclined in the direction the dancer was
moving. Arms stretched out to the front and back. Stealthy, creeping-like movement or short fast bursts of speed with the
hands acting like feelers. Like moving on an unstable path. Hyper sensitive action and stillness. Closed and open
relationships spatially, as an influence for each individual's rhythm. I wanted this section to have a looser relationship
between dance and music, but to share the same time frame.
The second section has broader variations of movement and needed special attention to footwork - clarity of positioning of
the feet, taut energy through the body, strong attack of certain actions relieved with a weighty flow from one major body
design to the next.
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
6
What movement techniques were essential for performing the piece?
What makes an Oguike dancer?
Training in the basic contemporary dance techniques, i.e. Cunningham for strength in the legs and Release to better utilize
the weight of the body in shifting across the space, would give the dancers a more informed base.
I look for dancers who are willing and able to adapt their knowledge of dance techniques and find new solutions to creative
problems.
Brightside is danced to 2 pieces of music, Homelands by Nitin Sawhney and
Les Kidnappeurs by Marc Collin, giving each half of the
performance a distinct shape and look.
How do you see the two halves of the performance?
I see the first section as a set-up, simple in nature, subdued, and with an open relationship to the music. The second section
emerges with small variations of the first plus added ideas reflecting the newly found bright colours inherent in the music.
Like emerging from a restrained underground network into an open free space, where it can evolve more closely with its
musical companion.
Have the revivals of Brightside in 2003 and 2007 altered your
perception of the piece?
These revivals, particularly the latest, prompted me to contemplate how the piece may have evolved if I had collaborated
more closely with the dancers in generating the movement ideas.
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
7
INTERVIEW WITH
LAURA GREENHALGH AND LIZZIE BARKER,
F O R M E R M E M B E R S O F T R A N S I T I O N S D A N C E C O M PA N Y
Yo u b o t h d a n c e d B r i g h t s i d e i n 2 0 0 3 . W h a t
choreographer and what advice
input did you have from the
did he give you?
L a u r a : We had two cast members from the year that it was originally created who helped us first of all … and we had them
for a week and then Henri came in later to work on details.
L i z z i e : When Henri came in, he talked a lot about the intention behind the movement and … gave us a lot of imagery
about the performance of the piece which was really quite animalistic.
L a u r a : Also, I think because Henri is a dancer, rather than a
choreographer who sits there and explains to people, it was very
helpful just to see him walk into a room. That told you everything
about how you should perform it. And the qualities of who he is come
through in the vocabulary he made up. So we started to learn about the
pride and rhythms and boldness and the playfulness and presence. It
was very much about presence.
L a u r a : There was one position and he said it was like a praying
mantis. For me that was partly the lines of it, the fact that it had a very
long line through the hands and the back. Also, the praying mantis is
like a woman who eats her husband or something… I don’t know if
that’s why he said it but every image like that, the more you think about
it, the more you realise the aggression in there.
© Colin Streater
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
8
L i z z i e : And he uses the back as well. That’s very strong in the piece… I think it was tiger stripes, stripes in some form …,
[that we were told to imagine] on the back and [to think of] the width of the back or finding the arms like wings. There’s
such a volume in the way you use your arms in the piece.
L a u r a : [The opening sequence] was to do
with being like spies, like you’re creeping
down something. James Bond came to mind.
But also you are on a rise most of the time so
you don’t have as much stability as when your
heels are down so … your ankles are
constantly twitching and it adds an extra
edge to the movement … there’s another
risk, there’s another quality. Henri always
wanted seconds to be bigger …, to be faster,
so it was about challenging yourself not to
be in a comfortable place. He always
wanted exaggerated moments … Sometimes
you just want to sit in your [position] and you
can’t imagine it getting any bigger but you
always have to keep pushing.
© Colin Streater
What movement techniques did you study to support your performance of
Brightside?
L a u r a : We did a class … with Henri during that week because he was teaching. That really enlightened me. He did a
Cunningham base as well. When you take tendu, rather than just extending your leg and pointing your toe, you then take the
toe further and further until your pelvis starts to spiral. So I think his vocabulary was about taking Cunningham technique
and other things …, widening, going as far as you can go and then the effect that has on the pelvis …. Just going one step
further. You open your back but you don’t keep your shoulders in a perfect placement. It’s about feeling the intention not
the shape… Just feeling like you’re growing, growing, growing. If you ever feel placed, you’re probably wrong. If you feel
like you’ve put your body in a position, that’s probably wrong because it kills the dynamic.
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
9
How much scope is there for the creative input of the dancers in the revival of a piece of
choreography?
L i z z i e : Well, I think in terms of the piece itself, the steps are there and you should try to be true to that because that’s the
reason you’re reconstructing the piece. But I think there’s a lot of space as a performer to find your own persona in the work
and your experience of performing is very individual … Over time they’ll find their own place in the work and we don’t want
to impose how we did it or how someone else did it because that’s not who they are.’
L a u r a : You have to own it. You have to accept that it’s been made before but they can’t feel like they’re somebody’s body-
double or replacement. You hand it over and it becomes theirs … Had the piece been more improvised you would adapt the
piece to suit you but where the piece is very strict in time and rhythm, [it] becomes a part of you. You absorb the movement
vocabulary. Though it’s not individual in the sense that they come with their personalities and shape the work, the
work shapes them in different ways.
What elements of Brightside would you pick out as being typical of Oguike’s style?
What is it like to dance an Oguike work?
L i z z i e : The rhythm and the way he uses the music. They’re very important to him as a choreographer and I think it’s
something incredibly strong in his work in general. And that’s what makes his piece so fun. You’re playing with your body
with the rhythm and with the music.
L a u r a : Once the rhythms become second nature you can then play with being a little bit quicker. And also, you’re always
smiling… It’s really joyful and entertaining. We didn’t have the process [but] I get the impression just by looking at it that
they didn’t just arrive at those rhythms straight away. I’m sure they tried a million different versions so that was probably
very painstaking for them. Trying to get so close to the counts must be quite a headache. Whereas, with us, we were just
handed the finished version …… so we had an easier job. I’m sure it’s not all joyful. Any piece you make … [is] so difficult,
you’re struggling to really make something of it and it takes a while to sit in the body. It’s only later when you get to
perform it that you realise what it’s about.
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Title Page
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
10
WORKSHOPS
by Amanda Gough
These two workshop plans take movement ideas from Brightside and explore them practically. The workshops focus on
different aspects of Brightside, particularly the choreographer’s use of Space, Action, Relationships and Dynamics.
Workshop 1 looks at Linear Pathways and Jumping; Workshop 2 explores Support and Gesture - all are key features of
Brightside. The workshops are supported by Labanotation (see links on each page). Each workshop includes ideas for
warm-up followed by a guided exploration which is then developed in a series of layered creative tasks, culminating in a
short dance, which, I hope, has an essence of Brightside!
Safety tips for teachers
Ensure that warm-up activities suitably prepare students for the exploration and creative tasks. Ensure safe practice in
weight taking activities (Workshop 2).
Partnering
Weight-sharing
Supporting and lifting
Ensure that there is sufficient
space for the activity,
especially if it involves
travelling.
Facilitate a progressive development of understanding and skill. Start
slowly and carefully with activities and allow students to maintain
control of their own weight.
Ensure students have sufficient strength
and maturity to cope with the activity.
Encourage a sense of mutual
care and responsibility
between partners.
Encourage spatial
awareness, and orientation
within the space and in relation
to other dancers.
Ensure students know how to complete the weight sharing and
recovery safely, and know what to do in case of difficulty.
Ensure students can demonstrate
appropriate placement and alignment.
Provide individual attention to ensure
techniques are understood.
Develop mutual trust and confidence.
Be aware that speed can increase the danger of accidents or injury.
Encourage students to say if they are unsure or unhappy, and allow
them to opt out of the activity if appropriate.
Encourage students to reflect on their learning and articulate how
Ensure students understand the need to
maintain attention and concentration.
Ensure students are alert to general and
any relevant specific safety
Issues.
Note. From Dance Teaching Essentials (p. 38) by I. Bramley (Ed.), 2002, Dance UK.
Workshop 1: Linear Pathways and Jumping
10 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
Workshop 2: Support and Gesture
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
11
WORKSHOP 1
Movement themes: Linear Pathways and Jumping
Music: Homelands by Nitin Sawhney
Warm-up
Include:
•
travelling through the space in linear pathways;
•
deep plies (knee bends);
•
attention to ankles and feet to ensure readiness to jump;
(e.g. mobilising ankles and feet, foot flexes and points, peeling the feet off the floor).
Exercise A
Exploration
Experiment with finding as many different ways of jumping as possible: hops, leaps, jumps that turn, jumps from two legs to
one, and jumps from one leg to two (look at notation link). Think about directions, levels and pathways.
Task
•
•
•
•
•
•
© Colin Streater
With a partner, devise a unison jumping phrase which travels in straight
lines through the space (approx 16 counts).
Include at least one change of direction.
Teach your phrase to another pair and put them together to make a
longer phrase that you all know.
Try as a canon with one pair starting, followed by
the other pair.
Link to
Experiment with the number of counts between the
Labanotation:
second pair starting (2 counts, 4 counts etc).
What is a jump?
Try different facing and proximities (how close or
how far apart you are) until you find a version you
Examples of
like and set it.
jumps from
Brightside
11 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
12
Exercise B
Exploration
Try slowly moving through the space on the diagonal in a deep knee bend and with a strong arm position
(see notation for ‘Creeping pattern’).
Read the interview with Transitions dancers in ‘’About Brightside’’. Try to pick up on the movement qualities Laura and
Lizzie are describing with the images they use of ‘‘tiger stripes’’ and ‘‘James Bond’’.
Task
•
•
•
Set the ’’creeping pattern’’ so that each of the four dancers enters the space and arrives in their starting position for
the canon jump sequence.
Include swivelling on feet to make eye contact with your partner
Put the two sections together, B then A.
Idea for further development
Try performing with another quartet in the space at the same time.
© Colin Streater
Link to
Labanotation:
Creeping pattern
12 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
13
W O R K S H O P
2
Movement themes: Support and Gesture
Music: Homelands by Nitin Sawhney
Warm-up
Include:
•
•
•
gestures with arms and wrists (use different speeds and dynamics);
shifting weight off-balance (e.g. falling into a lunge);
diagonal ‘skitters’ through the space - fast runs with sudden changes of direction.
Exercise A
Exploration
With a partner explore leaning and counterbalance. Experiment with different points of support
and contact. Try non-symmetrical shapes (see
Safety tips).
Task
•
•
•
•
With a partner, put together a sequence of
3 or 4 leans and counterbalances.
Move quickly between them giving
attention to transitions.
Try the leans and counterbalances from
Brightside.
Include one of these leans or
counterbalances in your sequence.
Link to
Labanotation:
© Colin Streater
Leans and
counterbalances
13 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
14
Exercise B
Exploration
On your own, using the image of conducting an orchestra try flicking your hands quickly (back, forward, out to the sides, in to centre).
Task
•
•
•
•
Now create a sequence of flicking hand gestures with a clear rhythmic pattern including moments of stillness.
Try walking at the same time as gesturing.
Use either the diagonal ‘’skitters’’ from the warm-up or the conducting sequence to enter the
space to meet your partner for the duet material and then exit the space using whichever you did
not use to enter.
Consider where you enter from and exit to. Do you exit with your partner or in a different
direction?
© Colin Streater
Link to
Labanotation:
© Colin Streater
Skitters
14 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
15
Labanotation
for Brightside
L A B A N O TAT I O N
By Jean Jarrell
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
15 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
16
Labanotation
for Brightside
W H AT I S L A B A N O TAT I O N ?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
16 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
17
Labanotation
for Brightside
W H AT I S L A B A N O TAT I O N ?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
17 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
18
Labanotation
for Brightside
W H AT I S A J U M P ?
What is
Labanotation?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping Pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
18 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
19
EXAMPLES OF JUMPS FROM BRIGHTSIDE
Labanotation
for Brightside
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
19 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
20
Labanotation
for Brightside
C R E E P I N G PAT T E R N
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
20 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
21
Labanotation
for Brightside
SKITTERS
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Canon for nine
dancers
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
21 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
22
Labanotation
for Brightside
CANON FOR NINE DANCERS
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Leans and
counterbalances
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
22 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
23
Labanotation
for Brightside
LEANS AND COUNTERBALANCES
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
© Colin Streater
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
© Colin Streater
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
© Colin Streater
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
23 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
24
Labanotation
for Brightside
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
© Colin Streater
© Colin Streater
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
24 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
25
Labanotation
for Brightside
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
© Colin Streater
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
© Colin Streater
25 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation
26
Labanotation
for Brightside
What is
Labanotation?
What is a jump?
Examples of jumps
from Brightside
Creeping pattern
Skitters
Canon for nine
dancers
© Colin Streater
Program © Calaban
Notation © Jean S. Jarrell
26 T i t l e P a g e
About the Resource
About Brightside
Workshops
Labanotation