BLUE
Dancers Cara Laughlin and Bailey Spelman
Exploring the Color Blue
As a visual artist and choreographer, I am attempting to present the visual qualities of color through movement quality and structure. I wanted the dancers to feel these qualities through their movement, to develop an abstract character that would play an integral role in their development of the piece. Therefore, instead of simply discovering through movement, I wanted the dancers to discover who their character was through stream of consciousness writing:
Examples of the dancers' stream of consciousness writing:
The color blue. Describes the literal and figurative. Dimensions of color, objects in space, emotional states. Simple as water, continuously flowing with sustained calmness. Or versatile as the ocean, calm wading, or violent crashing. Blue, beautifully vibrant, and sometimes tragic color to embody one’s emotions. It can be calm and serene, a state of tranquility; it can be somber and dark, a mood of turmoil. It is ever-changing in all of its states, beings, and forms yet bound by the constructs of thought associated with its very meanings. Blue? It’s a spectrum.
Bailey Spelman
I do not feel like I have a strong connection to blue. I think this is because blue has a negative feeling to me. It makes me think of sadness, being alone, depression. I don’t try to embody those things. I try to be positive --- bright colors are what speak to me. Maybe a light blue resonates with me more. It makes me think of simplistic, clear things --- the sky, the ocean, ice and snow. Blue in nature connects with me more than the stagnant color blue. Maybe the meaning behind the color attracts me more than the color itself. I don’t always have to feel the negative thoughts when I see the color. Maybe I associate it with blue objects/places I love.
Cara Laughlin
I wanted the dancers to make their own decisions about what they were exploring in their movement. In previously choreographed dances, I would tell the dancers about the qualities they should be feeling, however, I never gave them extensive time to explore the concepts themselves. Bailey and Cara's relationships to blue were different from each other, which allowed a more diverse perspective on the color. Together, we discussed what images defined blue, and how, if the color were a feeling, it would be contextualized.
What are some keywords you would use to describe the color ______?
Mellow, tranquil, flow, water, clear sky, sadness, fresh, ocean, space (dark blue), clean, solitude, having a lot of emotions
What images come to mind when thinking about this color?
Flowing water, waves crashing, clouds & sky, crying, someone thinking internally (thought process)
Do you think that color and movement can relate to each other? If so how?
Changes in texture
Different shades, or approaches to movement
Vibrancy (energy levels)
Emotion (in general) and how it is embodied
It was from these discussion questions and answers that I developed vision boards for the color. These boards represent the dancers' feelings and relationships towards the color.
Next, I had Zoom meetings with the dancers where we explored our discussion questions through improvisation. I took this time to explore capturing movement through visual art. I led the dancers in a 5-minute improvisational exercise where I sketched them with a pencil and paper while they danced. I found that my hands danced along with them on the page as they moved, the circular shapes created by my pencil visualized the arcs of their torsos, the rapidness of their hand movements, and the position of their heads.
