The Emancipation
Title
The Emancipation
Department
Dance
Keywords
Production Type
Honours Student Production
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Description
Choreographer's Statement of Intent:
My original intention for The Emancipation was to liberate the females embodied expression of existence through spiritual dance as a form of worship. This idea had stemmed from my early childhood experiences when dance was not a recognised form of worship expression in the church. And even when it had started to reveal itself through embodied worship practices represented by groups of youth and women, the worship form still failed to take its seat next to popular and socially accepted forms of worship expression, and continue to do so.
My own encounters and experiences of spiritual dance and that of the many female worship dancers within the church is what inspired the creation of The Emancipation. Within the church it is the female body which drives the forms existence, and because historically women were prohibited to participate in leadership roles within church boundaries, I found it fitting and even liberating to myself and other female worship dancers to further express our frustrations, perspectives, and social injustices of the worship/dance form. The narratives of this piece are taken from the responses of women’s real-life experiences through dance in the church. This piece is not only advocating for dance as a form of equal worship in the church, but also comes forth as a tool to speak up for the women who tend to find themselves frustrated and voiceless within the church’s order.
The Emancipation touches on the various issues dance encounters within the church, highlighting the orthodoxy of spiritual dancers attire in the church, their conservative ways of moving, the stigma that “spiritual dancing is for girls”, exposing how certain forms of worship gets preference over other forms, and trying to find the balance between all forms of worship. The Emancipation further speaks on the relativity of dance in the church, how it can aid individuals as a means of support, individual expression, liberation of oneself and one’s circumstances, through creating a holistic worship experience.
The Emancipation goes against the grain of orthodoxy, imperial domination, and societal mentalities that permeate individuals way of being, upbringing, knowledge, and common sense as it aims to break the hierarchical order of how worship should be done in the church. It fights to find and expose the gaps of spiritual dance in the church, giving rise to the form by creating conversations between church, dancers, and leaders.
The choreographic process was a challenging one, especially in the pandemic situation we find ourselves in. My original idea was to have a cast of about 15-20 dancers, using a handful of dancers to highlight individual and smaller elements of the work and using the greater group as extra bodies to fill space, numbers, and create intimidating roles. Unfortunately, the pandemic has only granted me the use of four bodies, including myself, to work with forcing reduction and change to most dynamics of the initial choreographic intent. The rehearsal process included brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of myself, the cast, and supervisor.
Although the work started off the be set choreographed steps, it had also taken a shape of its own where dancers had to feed off of their own, personal life experiences where they had felt frustrated in their dance journeys. It was important for the dancers to put themselves in the shoes of the women’s responses and feed off from the energy, feelings, and experiences they got from hearing some of the women and congregants response to dance in the church. The process has started with the full group portraying a sense of release to the song Deliver Me (This Is My Exodus) by Donald Lawrence. After the second rehearsal I went back to my drawing board to try and structure the entire piece, as Deliver Me was only a part of the whole. I had then decided to split my piece into four scenes, 1) Orthodoxy, 2) Amazing Grace, 3) The Exodus, and 4) Emancipate. This process allowed the narrative to make more sense, run smoothly, and make the content easier to handle. By the fifth rehearsal, we had nearly completed the process of choreography for all four scenes, bringing the final piece to near completion.
Throughout the piece there is a simultaneous find of solo and group work, where the bulk of the work lies on small solo expressive sections throughout the piece. The rehearsal process is a combination of set choreography and improvisation, where dancers have had to build their own individual story within the greater structure of things, allowing dancers to use and incorporate their personal dance and performance style to the piece, as to not be confined to an orthodox way of moving and performing.
An umbrella is introduced in scene 1 by the shepherd (male dancer) which is symbolic that all individuals are united under one umbrella ⎯ the body of the church ⎯ and the shepherd leading the flock (congregation and dancers). the umbrella reappears in scene 2 where the flock (Sheep – female dancers) continue the notion of being covered and restricted to the traditions of the church. The highlight of the work is when the sheep embraces a breakthrough in their worship expressions, both figurative and literal. This is presented by the flock jumping through the built hierarchical wall built by the church in scene 1, which was representative of what is seen as more important within the church structures, scattering the bricks on the ground.
The digital aspect of The Emancipation promotes the walk of a Christian journey by emphasising the highlighted choreographic structures of the overall work. The soft light at the start of scene one reflects the rays of sunlight shining through the angelic voices of the choir which is abruptly disturbed by the questioning of the lyrics of the song which ends in a blackout. An icy-blue light adjourns the blackout, which is to emphasise the cold, stern, orthodox way of the church. The following blackout covers the entire stage and front of house (FOH), which appears when the Shepherd bows his head in prayer, and the sheep turn on their torches highlighting only their individual expressions which further symbolise their shining light within the church and world, within the blackout.
The icy-blue and purple light reappears in scene 2, continuing to sharpen the cold movements of the sheep in their individual expressions, slowly turning into a red/amber light which highlights the dancer’s silhouettes on either side and warm movements. This is representative of their growing liberation and freedom of worship through bodily expression.
The following scene reflects a white/yellow/amber/gold colour which promotes the happy and liberated feeling of freedom through the dancer’s exodus. Towards the end of scene 3 the stage is highlighted with red lights reflecting passion, the blood of Christ, redemption, fire, warfare, and power through the breakthrough of the wall. The red colour remains through to scene 4 up until the flock has placed the broken bricks of the wall in a circle on stage, surrounding the shepherd. Within the completion of the circle, a slow blackout starts to begin, allowing the flock to shine their torches once again emphasising their shining light in conjunction to vocalising the hymn, This Little Light of Mine. The return of the torches supports the extension of embodied expression through movement and dance as worship, with the light shining in all directions, highlighting various aspects of the scene (stage, dancers, audience). The red light slowly returns to a yellow, soft white light which is symbolic of God’s presence and the temple as the shepherd starts rebuilding the wall. The red light then blacks out with the fall of one of the sheep, representing the death of the church through the persistent behaviour of the conservative orthodox teachings and mentalities of the church.
My original intention for The Emancipation was to liberate the females embodied expression of existence through spiritual dance as a form of worship. This idea had stemmed from my early childhood experiences when dance was not a recognised form of worship expression in the church. And even when it had started to reveal itself through embodied worship practices represented by groups of youth and women, the worship form still failed to take its seat next to popular and socially accepted forms of worship expression, and continue to do so.
My own encounters and experiences of spiritual dance and that of the many female worship dancers within the church is what inspired the creation of The Emancipation. Within the church it is the female body which drives the forms existence, and because historically women were prohibited to participate in leadership roles within church boundaries, I found it fitting and even liberating to myself and other female worship dancers to further express our frustrations, perspectives, and social injustices of the worship/dance form. The narratives of this piece are taken from the responses of women’s real-life experiences through dance in the church. This piece is not only advocating for dance as a form of equal worship in the church, but also comes forth as a tool to speak up for the women who tend to find themselves frustrated and voiceless within the church’s order.
The Emancipation touches on the various issues dance encounters within the church, highlighting the orthodoxy of spiritual dancers attire in the church, their conservative ways of moving, the stigma that “spiritual dancing is for girls”, exposing how certain forms of worship gets preference over other forms, and trying to find the balance between all forms of worship. The Emancipation further speaks on the relativity of dance in the church, how it can aid individuals as a means of support, individual expression, liberation of oneself and one’s circumstances, through creating a holistic worship experience.
The Emancipation goes against the grain of orthodoxy, imperial domination, and societal mentalities that permeate individuals way of being, upbringing, knowledge, and common sense as it aims to break the hierarchical order of how worship should be done in the church. It fights to find and expose the gaps of spiritual dance in the church, giving rise to the form by creating conversations between church, dancers, and leaders.
The choreographic process was a challenging one, especially in the pandemic situation we find ourselves in. My original idea was to have a cast of about 15-20 dancers, using a handful of dancers to highlight individual and smaller elements of the work and using the greater group as extra bodies to fill space, numbers, and create intimidating roles. Unfortunately, the pandemic has only granted me the use of four bodies, including myself, to work with forcing reduction and change to most dynamics of the initial choreographic intent. The rehearsal process included brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of myself, the cast, and supervisor.
Although the work started off the be set choreographed steps, it had also taken a shape of its own where dancers had to feed off of their own, personal life experiences where they had felt frustrated in their dance journeys. It was important for the dancers to put themselves in the shoes of the women’s responses and feed off from the energy, feelings, and experiences they got from hearing some of the women and congregants response to dance in the church. The process has started with the full group portraying a sense of release to the song Deliver Me (This Is My Exodus) by Donald Lawrence. After the second rehearsal I went back to my drawing board to try and structure the entire piece, as Deliver Me was only a part of the whole. I had then decided to split my piece into four scenes, 1) Orthodoxy, 2) Amazing Grace, 3) The Exodus, and 4) Emancipate. This process allowed the narrative to make more sense, run smoothly, and make the content easier to handle. By the fifth rehearsal, we had nearly completed the process of choreography for all four scenes, bringing the final piece to near completion.
Throughout the piece there is a simultaneous find of solo and group work, where the bulk of the work lies on small solo expressive sections throughout the piece. The rehearsal process is a combination of set choreography and improvisation, where dancers have had to build their own individual story within the greater structure of things, allowing dancers to use and incorporate their personal dance and performance style to the piece, as to not be confined to an orthodox way of moving and performing.
An umbrella is introduced in scene 1 by the shepherd (male dancer) which is symbolic that all individuals are united under one umbrella ⎯ the body of the church ⎯ and the shepherd leading the flock (congregation and dancers). the umbrella reappears in scene 2 where the flock (Sheep – female dancers) continue the notion of being covered and restricted to the traditions of the church. The highlight of the work is when the sheep embraces a breakthrough in their worship expressions, both figurative and literal. This is presented by the flock jumping through the built hierarchical wall built by the church in scene 1, which was representative of what is seen as more important within the church structures, scattering the bricks on the ground.
The digital aspect of The Emancipation promotes the walk of a Christian journey by emphasising the highlighted choreographic structures of the overall work. The soft light at the start of scene one reflects the rays of sunlight shining through the angelic voices of the choir which is abruptly disturbed by the questioning of the lyrics of the song which ends in a blackout. An icy-blue light adjourns the blackout, which is to emphasise the cold, stern, orthodox way of the church. The following blackout covers the entire stage and front of house (FOH), which appears when the Shepherd bows his head in prayer, and the sheep turn on their torches highlighting only their individual expressions which further symbolise their shining light within the church and world, within the blackout.
The icy-blue and purple light reappears in scene 2, continuing to sharpen the cold movements of the sheep in their individual expressions, slowly turning into a red/amber light which highlights the dancer’s silhouettes on either side and warm movements. This is representative of their growing liberation and freedom of worship through bodily expression.
The following scene reflects a white/yellow/amber/gold colour which promotes the happy and liberated feeling of freedom through the dancer’s exodus. Towards the end of scene 3 the stage is highlighted with red lights reflecting passion, the blood of Christ, redemption, fire, warfare, and power through the breakthrough of the wall. The red colour remains through to scene 4 up until the flock has placed the broken bricks of the wall in a circle on stage, surrounding the shepherd. Within the completion of the circle, a slow blackout starts to begin, allowing the flock to shine their torches once again emphasising their shining light in conjunction to vocalising the hymn, This Little Light of Mine. The return of the torches supports the extension of embodied expression through movement and dance as worship, with the light shining in all directions, highlighting various aspects of the scene (stage, dancers, audience). The red light slowly returns to a yellow, soft white light which is symbolic of God’s presence and the temple as the shepherd starts rebuilding the wall. The red light then blacks out with the fall of one of the sheep, representing the death of the church through the persistent behaviour of the conservative orthodox teachings and mentalities of the church.
Is Part of
Year Created
2020
Producer
CTDPS
Choreographer
Chantel de Wee
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