Dance Devised Piece Evaluation

In my devised piece, Amber, Bryleah and I created a performance based on The Lion King, The Circle Of Life. We chose this because we wanted to base our dance on animalistic movements such as flexed feet and aggressive angles. I based my solo section on big cats, like lions, tigers and pumas. My starting position was on the floor, in a hunting style of pose. The rest of my solo included movements such as a plié into hitch kick, this showed the precision but also the stealth of my animal. Another example of our African inspired movements was a section all three of us did on the floor, we had our hands in fists and slammed them on the floor, then up and back down. We repeated this when standing on two other occasions throughout the piece. Using repetition in this way added to the dynamics of the piece, it is also relevant to the African tribal theme, in that is created a sense of chanting. We also used more graceful movements in unison, to represent other animals in the animal kingdom. I had the idea to create bird like movements, by moving our arms in a graceful manner, as if we were flying. This created a contrast between the types of movements in our piece, showing a range of dynamics. 
As for my contribution to the piece, I initially suggested we look at tribal dance videos for inspiration, below are some examples of this- 

Tribal Dance Inspiration Video 1
As shown in this clip the men each take a turn to do the jumping movement, which gave us the idea of the solo parts.
Tribal Dance Inspiration Video 2This second clip shows how effective fast simple movements, unison and slower paces sections can be although we don't have such a bit group.

I also suggested our formations, I wanted to make sure our dance had an interesting visual effect, as if we as a tribe were in tune with ourselves. Transitioning between formations shows this well. Using cannon also displays this, which we used at multiple times throughout. This was especially effective when performing in cannon, then doing one slow movement to catch up, which we did after a short unison floor motif. This floor routine was created as an ensemble, I feel it is important to use levels as much as possible as it allows us to showcase our skills in both travelling motifs and floor motifs. I also highlighted this in my solo section, by starting on the floor. I used techniques such as extension and I used a fish roll. The final section of our dance was mainly choreographed by myself, I used a grand arm movement into a high energy and dynamic plié into impressive floor work. Doing this arm movement on the line 'it's the circle of life' demonstrated the meaning of the song well, as it is also the title. It showed that life goes on and the world keeps going on in that circular formation, doing it in unison showed that we all have our own world but we all must keep at the same pace together in that. 
Throughout the piece I used my physical skills to demonstrate my characterisation as a tribal animalistic being. I used extension during the floor section of my solo motif to imply that my animal is stretching in a hunting fashion, as if I was a predator. My flexibility allowed my to create my starting position, on the floor with one leg stretched out behind my, with a tall strong posture in my back as if I was proud, also giving me more status. I focused on my co-ordination to develop my skills during the rehearsal process, I had difficulty perfecting the stag jump we do in unison, and my balance and posture helped me keep a strong core, so that i could use my flexibility and strength to perform this successfully in the final performance. 
Interpretive skills such as my eye line helped me to keep focused throughout the dance, this specific skill also kept my facial expression specific. I looked straight ahead, above my audience whilst performing. This helped me to visualise the animal I was portraying at each part of the dance, and my facial expression remained either angry, or concentrated, or weak. One for my Cat like predator character and the other when I played animals such as a stag, or bird, as these are more likely to be hunted. My physical projection helped me a lot to remember the dance itself, throughout rehearsal I made sure I was performing with full energy, this kept the routine in my head, as it made me feel like each run through was important. 
One weakness I noticed upon watching my piece back, was my first movement in my solo section, my left leg was not fully extended, meaning my had my knee bent when I performed my fish roll. This made my performance seem less skillful and under rehearsed. It also effected my momentum as I felt myself loose focus. To improve I will practice this move in front of a mirror, so I can specifically straighten my leg, and pin point where it is I am going wrong. To ensure I maintain my focus, I would run this section multiple times, whether I mess up or not, so that I know I will always continue. A strength or my piece was the second half of my solo section. This was my first time choreographing a solo dance and I had trouble coming up with ideas, and also remembering it. Videoing rehearsals helped with this, but in my final performance I remembered it well and performed it with confidence. These performance skills are important as it allowed me to remain professional throughout. I feel my solo section was innovative, using the floor travelling sequences and tricks throughout. Another weakness that I would work on was our transitions as a group, we choreographed the ending first, then our solos then the middle part, which made it quite bitty. I would like to have used our skills or a smoother method to bond these parts together, rather than having to merge in an unnatural way. Transitions such as rolls, leaps, complex hand motifs and stretches/reaches towards each other with contact work would've been mich more effective and fitted better with our stimuli, or African tribes and the animal kingdom. One more strength of my piece was the difference in pace we used, creating an unpredictable dynamic, a characteristic I took from animals. Specifically we used slow reaches throughout the piece, in parts upstage and downstage, showing a progression or confidence in our characters. It made our faster sections seem a lot more impressive and refined. 
To improve, I would refer back to our stimuli more, by including more African inspired movement. I found it difficult to combine tribal movements with contemporary dance, because I didn't have enough research for influences. For example I struggled to choreograph material, but if I had used traditional genuine tribal dances I could have taken inspiration from them. This would have made our piece more accurate and innovative, due to the originality of the movements I would have found. Another improvement I would like to have made would be my exaggeration. Some of my movements were not full committed to, making my performance seem unrefined. For example I had to take three fast steps into a crouch onto the floor, I could have suggested we make these into long strides or runs to add to the energy and help myself to commit to the movement. This also allows my focus to remain on each individual movement, instead of what as coming next. My general extension in the piece was good, but could've been better. To improve upon this I would record myself rehearsing alone, then repeat each movement to an extreme exaggeration, so that I get used to full extending and putting all of my energy into the dance.