Madness, Matter, and Rambling Thoughts

Continuing on!  If you’ve just jumped in, scroll to the bottom for previous posts!

Shhhh……welcome to the innermost depths of my creative mind where I spill all…a road none have traveled before….

OK, I’m back in thinking and feeling mode again on this dance.  My first practice is in two weeks so I need to “move it, move it”

The creativity process is this whole up and down thing, and nothing illustrates it better than this:

The whole key is not to get overwhelmed, not to get lost in the minutia, and focus on the big parts.  I get discouraged sometimes, especially when the ideas dry up, when things aren’t coming together.  That’s when I stop and step back for a day or two.  Sometimes this is also a sign I’m going in the wrong direction.  If I’m not enjoying creating the dance – I’ll feel this all the way through and every time I perform it.  Don’t let that happen to you!  I’d rather scrap my original idea (like I did for this one) or even change to another song if I need to.  Sometimes you just need to step back for a breather, spend time letting inspiration hit you then coming back.

I had one dance I loved but things just weren’t clicking with the choreography.  My answer?  I changed my scenery and went to another sim!

Yep.  A naturalist sim – Lupe’s.  I tossed hovertext over my head saying I was lost in dance and to feel free and enjoy, tossed on my choreo huds, played my music that only I could hear, and I broke through my creativity wall with my music and choreography.  If you’ve seen this performance – Echoes in Rain by Enya, now you know the beauty of the sim was an inspiration.

Sometimes I choreograph in my dance studio, sometimes on a rough build of the set, sometimes on another sim like this one.  I trust my feelings a lot when it comes to dance, and that internal pull.

So, back to forming my vision.  This will guide the rest of my choices – set, movement, effects, choreo, so I need to have a basic starting vision that will evolve over time.  I mentioned attitude, 2 other dancers, dancing forward stage a lot and really trying to draw in the audience so they felt I was connecting directly with each of them.

Back to listening to the music again…. (remember when I said pick a song you love because you’ll listen to it 800 times?)

I try not to get lost in fancy effects in the beginning stages, because then they can become my focus more than the dance itself.  Sets are actually one of the most difficult things for me.  Costumes are the second most difficult thing – always a challenge.  I’ve actually started to read articles about design and composition, using colors.  Whether RL or SL, similar concepts apply!  Bonus?   I may get better at home interiour for my own RL home!

So, my rough concept.  When I dance for this venue, I’m always inspired to really push my limits and do things I’ve never done before.  I’m also driven to create an amazing and cohesive performance – from the movement, to choreo, costumes, effects, and set.  I don’t want to have a great set and weak choreo, I want costumes that will pop.

So, as I let ideas flow and begin seeing visions in my head (dance visions, not psychedelic ones)!  What I see as a rough start:

The dance starts in a big dark sewer under the street.  Lighting will be important, probably vegetation or stuff hanging down, sewer grates that shine down light.  The 2 female dancers come out and join me from side tunnels.  I want to add an effect so it feels like we’re really moving through the sewer.  There will be dirt and water flowing through the bottom of the sewer and probably a few skittering rats.  During a transition in the music, we will climb up a ladder into a dark alley and dance.  Because this is the Riddler and his skill is magic, I really want to try flipping the set like it’s made of cubes – they all start a staggered flip and it transforms into Riddler’s lair.  Once in Riddler’s lair all bets are off – choreo takes on an edge, add some special things.  Riddler is in “her space” and is really going to show who she is.  Riddler wants to take over the world – is extremely intelligent and wants it all.

I like this idea.  I know I’ll change it as I create, and probably even simplify it.  Now I have a vision.

Next step is animations.  As a woman, I find that animations can appear very differently depending on the costume I wear – whether a long flowing dress, barely there leather straps, or in this one as the Riddler.  I like to have either the costume I will wear or something that’s similar before I start choosing animations.  It might not be “the” dress, but one that flows similarly to what I’d like when I finish the costume works well.  I generally start the base of my costume at this point, then refine it and finish it later.

For this dance, I’d already finished the costume.  Here it is:

Actually, that’s not the final version.  I added question marks to the hat too, so that it tied in and really felt like the Riddler.  It’s not a great picture, but you get the idea.

Now I have my music, a vision, a costume/something similar, next step is to start choosing animations for my dance.

Onward and upward!  Until the next installment…dance to the music in your head and enjoy the ride!

Previous Post:  https://harleyquinadventure.com/2018/05/03/the-act-of-creation-kill-of-the-night-introductory-post/

Sometimes I find it difficult to really explain how to put the pieces all together.  Hopefully you’ve read some of my other postings on tools, foundation, etc., but how to bring everything together to create a performance start to finish is much more difficult for me to sit down and write.  So, on the day following my Intro to Dance and Choreography workshop, I suddenly thought – “why not blog my newest creation, every step of the way”.  No sugar coating, my plan is to include everything, warts and all.  Note:  this is the way I work, others create very differently.  I believe there is always something to be gained by observing, asking, and evaluating for yourself.

So, for this performance, I will be creating a dance to the song Gin Wigmore’s Kill of the Night.  I am creating this for a themed show and chose the character of the Riddler.  For this show, I also have a special skill and chose “magic”.  I thought that fit with Riddler’s love of riddles and puzzles, and hope to do something special during the dance.

Now, I had created a dance for this song for this show, but I scrapped it.  I was completely unhappy with the direction I went in and I had limited myself too much.  Back to the drawing board and a clean slate.  The only thing that has survived is the costume and that I want to use 2 female dancers.

So I know my song, I know my character.  My next step was purchasing the music, which I do through Amazon and download it.  Unless I need a version I can’t buy, I like to buy the original music now for the best quality.  Honestly the music is probably the least expensive part of this whole process.

I’m on the first step of the process – listening to the music over and over again, and creating my vision.  The music has nice changes and love the snaps.  This one is a bit of a challenge for me.  I selected this song from a list of songs that fit the show theme, but it’s not one that I would’ve picked for myself.  I do like it – and when I really dig in I think I could have a lot of fun with it.  I try to create dances that are “keepers” – that I will perform later at other venues.  To me, there’s too much effort in creating a dance to only ever use it once or twice and retire permanently.

For this music, the audience can relate, there’s a story behind it, great transitions and changes in the music, and I think I can handle listening to it 500+ times…which is a definite when creating a dance.  <puts a checkmark on good music choice>

Because I edit music, I also listen to it to see if I need to add or change anything, sometimes a sound effect, sometimes I extend a section, or add something at the end.  I love sound effects from youtube and use Audacity to do it.  This isn’t required of course, and many choreographers don’t, but something you may want to try someday.  Sometimes it’s when I really get creating that I decide to add something – like a pause when I open a magic door, the sound of knives sticking in the floor, an evil laugh….

Ok, that being said, back to the music.  This will be one where I may print out the lyrics and make notes, or I’ve been  using Troff – Training with music.  This is available for Chrome and let’s you add markers on the time line and easily play sections between markers.   Paper and pencil works great, but for me, using Troff I feel has taken my creativity to the next level.  Seb Bourne introduced me to it and wrote an amazing blog post:  https://harleyquinadventure.com/2017/10/17/troff-chrome-app/

If you’re just starting out, keep it simple.  Don’t overwhelm yourself with tools.  I’ve been dancing for years and only learned Troff a few months ago.

OK…I’m listening now…and closing my eyes.  It’s a good thing I’m a good typer!  I’m letting the music wash over me, the nuances of the singing, the drum beats, the instruments, and the changes.  What do I feel…see in my head…is the story starting to evolve?

This is where this song is a challenge, the pictures aren’t coming to me clearly.  I do know I want to be very fierce, I am the Riddler after all.  What will be my setting?

For the venue I’ll be performing at, I’ll be pushing myself to do new things, and at this phase I’m brainstorming.  I write down all my ideas, and generally as I create I toss out half, use some, and change the rest.

Music edits – I think I’d like to add just a little bit to the front end so that I have a couple seconds of pause for a pose, then move into a snapping animation (need to find one of those).  During the snapping, I see myself moving forward, dancing solo.  I think my 2 dancers will come along on the side and keep up with the snapping.  I don’t think I’ll be snapping myself.  Dramatic expressive animations, hit “boom boom boom of my heart” with an animation.  I’d like to add a dramatic sound effect at the end, to hit a strong pose.  Right now the music kind of fades off.

Before I dig too deep into specifics, I still need a rough concept of the set/dancing area, and the general story of the dance/how I interact with the other dancers.  I’d like to “interact” with the audience.  In this song, I’d like the audience to feel I’m singing directly to them, an “in your face” kind of thing.  This means I’ll be doing most of my dancing forward stage – closer to the audience.  I’d like my two dancers to use more of the dance floor than I do, and possibly disappear and reappear for some reason…

Hmm…

Welcome inside my crazy head…it’s a scary place in there….

Please watch for installment 2…

Yours in dance,
~ Eva

Next Post:  https://harleyquinadventure.com/2018/05/04/the-act-of-creation-kill-of-the-night-2nd-post/