RED
Dancers João Ducci and Elise Holmes
Exploring the Color Red
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:
Low, flashy, showy, bold, brave, risky. I see a girl running across the stage and leaping off. I see a love that develops and dives down to the motions of the world. I see a sweet soul looking for her lover. I see a naïve girl manipulating the world for their affections. I see flips and tricks and long legs and high skies. I see bared skin with a blush and a quiet promise to the audience of more. I see claiming the stage without a hesitating step. I see a fearless leader who claims the audience for her own. I see bright flashes of sound, of music, of people bathed in the heartbeat of the world. What more do you need than the love of your lovers or family or friends? You beat as one on the stage for the world to witness your space that you boldly own.
Elise Holmes
Red. Sultry. Angry. Anger. Seeing red. The feeling of heat and irrationality taking over. Burning face, burning ears, burning brain, burning chest. Sweat, heat, smoke. Loss of control. Red. Engulfing like fire, takes over, dominates, controls and demands. Stop. Don't move. Attention. Red. Attention. Don't stop. Stop. Stop sign. Signs, danger, like the movie, you know with aliens? Signs, signs are often red, they tell you no, they tell you danger, hazard, stop, don't do it, attention. Fire, lava, gases, sun. Burning hot. Radiation. Life. Life-giving, but can also take away. Destruction and creation. Fire burns and destroys but it also gives life, keeps warm, makes food. It spreads. Like red spreads. You can't contain it. It reflects.
João Ducci
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. Dancers, João and Elise, came up with new, experimental ways of looking at red, both in physical life and metaphorically. Together, we discussed what images defined red, and how, if the color were a feeling, it would be contextualized.
What are some keywords you would use to describe the color ______?
Fire, temptation, bright, fierce, anger, consuming, hot, fast, abrupt, engulfing, sassy, sun, heat, stop, attention, hazard, warning, dangerous, sexy, sin
What images come to mind when thinking about this color?
Stop sign, pomegranate, fire, traffic light, blushing, blood, Moulin rouge, clay
Do you think that color and movement can relate to each other? If so how?
Dynamics and descriptions
Color not associated with movement, but when attempting, you can think of red light and slow motion, no edges. Saturation of red light mutes every color, it becomes dominant.
Often flashy or showy. In your face.
Sexy qualities.
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.
