1
Q
Choreographer
A
Wayne McGregor
2
Q
Company
A
The royal ballet
3
Q
Premiere date
A
13th November 2008 at the Royal Opera House, London
4
Q
Duration
A
28 minutes
5
Q
Number of dancers
A
12: 6 female, 6 male
6
Q
Dance style
A
Contemporary/ ballet
7
Q
Stage type/ performance environment
A
Proscenium Arch stage
8
Q
Infra
A
See below in Latin
9
Q
Stimulus (3)
A
- ‘Vida Infra’ is the Latin for ‘see below’- life beneath the surface of the city
- “Under the brown fog of a winter dawn./ A crowd flowed over London Bridge so many”- The Wasteland by T.S. Elliot (poem)
- The 2005 7/7 London bombings terrorist attack
10
Q
Latin for ‘see below’ meaning:
A
- McGregor wanted the audience to see life below the surface of a bus and thriving city
- Below the surface of people (their story, experiences and feelings) (deeper than surface level)
11
Q
The Wasteland meaning:
A
- publishes in 1922 following WW1
- divided into five sections, poem explores life in London in the aftermath of WW1
- here we can see how the stimulus links to the exploration of the aftermath of the London Bombings
12
Q
The London Bombings meaning:
A
- 52 people killed and hundreds injured in 4 attacks
- 3 tube/ underground and 1 bus
- during rush hour
- first terrorist attack of this kind in the UK
13
Q
Choreographic intentions (4)
A
- below the surface
- pedestrian movement
- types of relationships
- own interpretations
14
Q
Below the surface
A
Infra is about seeing below the surface of things: quite literally in this case, below the set design where you can see people walking in the street
15
Q
Pedestrian movement
A
Infra is about normal people and the choreography has found a pedestrian language which is recognisably human
16
Q
Types of relationships
A
Inferences made from relationships between people and the emotional content implied from these relationships
17
Q
Own interpretations
A
McGregor purposefully lets the audience make their own interpretations
18
Q
Choreographic approach
A
- collaborative
- show, make, task
19
Q
Show
A
He teaches movement
20
Q
Make
A
He works with dancers to create movement in their bodies
21
Q
Task
A
He sets an improvisational task
22
Q
Where does the movement come from/what inspired the movement? (According to Wayne)
A
A tension between a normal city vs attention between the city after the attack – more empathy
23
Q
What is different about the dance style used and why? (According to Wayne)
A
A lot of pedestrian movement is used and incorporated into the dance
24
Q
What is the purpose behind having one dancer doing something different? (According to Wayne)
A
Women collapsing normally happens behind closed doors so it really amplified the situation by having it out in the open
25
What was McGregor aiming to build/develop with the structure? (According to Wayne)
A building of journeys for each character and allow the audience to make their interpretations about the character
26
Who designed the set
Julian Opie
27
What is the set
- An 18m LED screen is placed high on the black back wall
- It runs along the width of the stage
- Electronic figures are shown walking along the screen
28
How the set links to life below the surface (literally)
Literally evident here as the dance is performed underneath the set design
29
How the set links to life below the surface (metaphorically)
It could be suggested that the set represents the surface level of people, and the dancers below represent the real version of people- their feelings and experiences
30
How the set links to types of relationships
Lack of set below forces the attention purely on the dancers and their interactions and relationships – the people included in the set further emphasise the focus on people
31
Lighting: counterpoint male trio
- highlights two dancers
– Light on down stage making upstage pitch black
– White wash of light with blurred edges at a mid intensity: light focuses down stage, leaving up stage in darkness
– Below the surface of a city: wash of light thrown onto the floor from above suggesting they’re coming from above ground
32
Lighting: rectangles of light
– Six rectangles of white profile spotlights created in a line on the floor down stage with upstage in darkness
– Variety of connections to below: could be seen as daylight shining through a drain from above and they are below the city
– Resembles a zebra crossing linking to a city and the pedestrian theme
– White rectangles also resemble windows in a tube train carriage linking directly to the London bombings
33
Lighting: orange male solo
– An amber wash of light floods down stage, with soft edges with upstage in darkness
– Blood edges create a fog like atmosphere linking to the ‘ wasteland’ poem
- ‘ under the brown fog of a winter dawn’ as if immediately in the aftermath (fire)
34
Music by…
Max richter ( performed by the Max Richter Quintet with Jonathon Haswell)
35
Sound design by
Chris Ekers
36
Soundscape fused with violin and piano music
- includes found sound (morse code, radio static, muffled speech, train whistles)
- found sound creates the effect of a busy city: reflects the pedestrian movement in everyday mood created
- sound is distorted (far away) as if through fog, linking to ‘wasteland’ or above ground, linking to below the surface
- types of Found Sound are all forms of communication linking to human interaction
37
Section 5 (male solo) contrasts soundscape fused with violin and piano music
-Thundering and booming sounds with rumbling effects – tempo increases in speed and its unpleasant to listen to
– Thundering and boom sounds mimic the London bombings creating a tense and nerve wracking mood to reflect the atmosphere
– Build in tempo reflects build in tension
38
Section 7 (collapse in crowd) aural setting
- instrumental music become soft, sorrowful and melancholy- piano melody, tempo is slow
- reflects the sad and poignant mood- reflects the aftermath of the London bombings, feels of loss and grief whilst emphasising the relationships and interactions between the people left
39
Costume designed by
Moritz Junge
40
Costume for 10 out of the 12 dancers
- tight fitted black Lycra shorts
- variety of different tops (long sleeve, vest, T-shirt)- monochrome colours (black, grey and white)
- female dancers wear pointe shoes
- male dancers wear ballet shoes
41
Reasoning behind costume for the 10 dancers
- monochrome, neutral colours= urban city
- all costumes are designed the same, but each individual’s is slightly different: create a more personal twist to a crowd, like how McGregor said we view strangers
42
Costumes for the two dancers
- two of the 12 dancers are dressed differently
- The female wears a black wrap around miniskirt with a white vest top
- The male wears long black trousers and a bare torso
- Emphasises their interactions and makes them seem vulnerable in comparison to the others 
43
Potential idea for the costume of the female dancer
Skirt is as if she was going somewhere nice, bare torso as if he is in his personal clothes at home yet both have been impacted by a disastrous event
44
Movement content: rectangles of light
– Relationship content: contact, counterpoint, unison, climax
– The dancers are limited to their individual space (created by lighting) which helps the movement content remain intimate, close and duet focused
– Forces the audience’s attention onto human interactions and the duos relationships and how they differ to the other duets
45
Movement content: orange male solo
– Dynamic content: strong, powerful, fluid, resistance, swift
- His movement content is aggressive and bold reflecting the London bombings events represented by this section
– Complimented by the aural setting and changing colour of light
– Lack of top makes him appear more vulnerable while showing his masculinity to further add to the strong dynamics
46
Movement content: collapse in the crowd
– Action content: walk, gesture, collapse
– Dynamic content: strong, emotional, slow
– spatial content: girl is centre stage
– Relationship content: counterpoint, contrast
– Pedestrian movement and effect of a crowd versus the intimacy and strong emotion of the collapse woman in the middle
– Impact of the London bombings, idea of human interaction as as those walk by despite her distress
– How we as people act in a crowded city?
DANCE
flashcards
Decks in class (13)
# Cards
