Capstone Project
Late Night
By: Elena Cano
My friend group at the beginning of the semester. I am holding the iPad, Maideline is to my right, Ashley is on my left, and Daily is in front with red hair.
The start
The first semester of my senior year in company dance started, and it was my turn to create a piece to showcase at our semi-annual concert. I was given two dancers, Maideline and Ashley. Knowing I needed a song, theme, and story, I had a decision to make. Would I use a song with no lyrics or with lyrics? No lyrics was tempting, but I decided I wanted to go with a song that had lyrics. One of the songs I chose was "Summer" by Calvin Harris. After introducing it to my dancers, I decided that the song was too repetitive with the same beats, so my dancers and I went looking for another song. The first one that my dancer, Maideline, showed me I loved. I felt there were different beats I could play off of and create movement for.
The Process
The song I chose is called "Late Night Feelings" (feat. Lykke Li). I interpreted the song as a love story, giving the vibe of wanting something you can't have and getting it. I began to come up with a theme which ended up being wanting love and getting it but also having struggles in the process. I started to think of a way to create a story. Having two female dancers, I thought this would be a perfect way to display a relationship with the LGBTQ+ community because I have family and friends who are a part of that community. At the beginning of the piece, I wanted to present two people with separate beats, as they're separate before they are together. Maideline started on the floor with the spotlight on her to demonstrate that this is more of her story. As she dances her movement displays her wanting to get the other person's attention. When creating these movements, I wanted her to go to the lyrics instead of with the beat. Ashley started off stage with a phone prop. When she enters she is on a "call" with someone she thinks she likes. Eventually she gets over them and "throws" the phone on the floor. When creating these
This is me recording movement I made at home so I would not forget, and if I do I can look back at my recordings. (no audio)
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movements I wanted her to go on the beat of the song rather than the lyrics. When creating movements for the middle portion I wanted to exhibit movements that communicated they noticed each other and had feelings for each other. For this section I used some movement I had already made for the dance. I mostly created movement by using the beats of the song to guide me. Near the end of the piece the song has a slow part. I wanted to display movement that showed that they were not sure if they could have those feelings/relationships, but they come to terms that they love each other and the piece ends. When I had difficulty making movements I looked for inspiration like K-pop groups and others. What helped me the most was creating movement at home and recording it so I wouldn't forget.
This is recording of the progress from rehearsals that day.
The Bow
Auditions were coming and the piece was done, but practice was needed for it to be perfect. When auditions came, it was a mess because Maideline had just learned movement from another choreographer and was having trouble with mine. The audition was not the best: Maideline looked a little lost, but Ashley looked as though she did not know the movement. We did make auditions, but my teacher suggested that I dance instead of Ashley. Ashley felt she was having trouble with choreography and was relieved not to dance. Being in the dance gave me clarity and control to make it perfect. Soon after, we blocked and cleaned the piece. We figured out ways to make the piece more cohesive. I was given revisions by my teacher and I had revisions myself. Some of the revisions, I was given and had was filling out repetitive
movements. My dancers were stiff in movement which I interpreted as they were not as confident in the movement so practicing a lot was a necessity, cleaning, timing, and making sure dancers were on the same page. As the concert neared, we needed to pick costumes out of the assortment that my school provided, but there was not one that fit. Thus I decided to go with a black flannel, green leotard, and black shorts. The concert came and it was very exciting to show my family and friends what I had created that semester. Being a choreographer was fun and a little stressful. Some things I would change if I were to do this again are exploring more music choices and finding more inspiration from different dance environments. A challenge I had when creating the piece was not getting to do everything that came to mind. To compromise we figured out different ways to do what I wanted with everyone's capabilities. I learned to grab inspiration from anywhere and put it in your way.