HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE

DIVISION I HUMANITIES AND ARTS EXAMINATION EVALUATION

Name: Katherine Watier Year of Entry: Fall 1994

Title: The Piano: The Making of a Dance

Date Passed: May 8, 1995

Chairperson: Rebecca Nordstrom

Committee Members: Karinne Keithley

Evaluative Comments:

Kathy has successfully completed a Division I Examination project in choreography. The project developed out of a final solo study Kathy had done for the Elementary Dance Composition Course last fall. In the intervening months she developed and refined the choreography and presented the finished piece on the end-of-term informal dance concert. Kathy's inspiration for the dance was the movie "The Piano" and she used music from the film as well as elements of the story line in her choreography. The dance was a dramatic narrative in which Kathy explored the psychological terrain of the protagonist as she confronted her feelings about both her husband and lover. Kathy made the interesting choice to work with ballet vocabulary, which she had studied for some time but never performed. She also collaborated with a musician friend who played the music live both throughout the rehearsal process and in performance. Kathy was drawn to her friend's particular interpretation of the score, which was different in phrasing and tempo from the version used in the film.

Kathy's choreography went through several revisions and each time she clarified and refined the formal and expressive elements in the work. The choreographic process presented her with a number of interesting challenges. For example, because of her choice to use highly codified vocabulary, Kathy had to be careful to avoid movements and motifs that were cliqued and hackneyed. She also needed to examine closely her own motivations and reasons for choosing each movement so that in performance her intentions would be clearly communicated.

Kathy performed the dance quite well and was particularly attentive to the phrasing, dynamics and sense of drama in the piece. There were places in the choreography where she found a wav to stretch the vocabulary just a bit and play with it inventively. The dance would have been strengthened

I i Pi

had she included even more of this way of working. The overall structure of the dance was sound though this too would have benefited from more variation in use of space and sequencing. This was however, a very good first experience with choreography and we encourage Kathy to continue her studies and explorations in dance making.

The second part of Kathy's Division I was a paper in which she examined issues and ideas about the role of 'technique' in dance training and performance. In particular she was interested in comparing ballet and modern dance techniques and the ways in which the two have influenced each other in recent times. The first draft of the paper suffered from a tendency to over generalize and the research was not as thorough as it should have been. Kathv did a good job revising the paper and the final draft was a much clearer, better-researched and more carefully written document.

Kathy learned much from this Division I process and is clearly prepared and ready to engage in dance studies at the Division II level should she choose to do so.





				HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE DIVISION I HUMANITIES AND ARTS EXAMINATION EVALUATION Name: Katherine Watier Year of Entry: Fall 1994 Title: The Piano: The Making of a Dance Date Passed: May 8, 1995 Chairperson: Rebecca Nordstrom Committee Members: Karinne Keithley Evaluative Comments: Kathy has successfully completed a Division I Examination project in choreography. The project developed out of a final solo study Kathy had done for the Elementary Dance Composition Course last fall. In the intervening months she developed and refined the choreography and presented the finished piece on the end-of-term informal dance concert. Kathy's inspiration for the dance was the movie "The Piano" and she used music from the film as well as elements of the story line in her choreography. The dance was a dramatic narrative in which Kathy explored the psychological terrain of the protagonist as she confronted her feelings about both her husband and lover. Kathy made the interesting choice to work with ballet vocabulary, which she had studied for some time but never performed. She also collaborated with a musician friend who played the music live both throughout the rehearsal process and in performance. Kathy was drawn to her friend's particular interpretation of the score, which was different in phrasing and tempo from the version used in the film. Kathy's choreography went through several revisions and each time she clarified and refined the formal and expressive elements in the work. The choreographic process presented her with a number of interesting challenges. For example, because of her choice to use highly codified vocabulary, Kathy had to be careful to avoid movements and motifs that were cliqued and hackneyed. She also needed to examine closely her own motivations and reasons for choosing each movement so that in performance her intentions would be clearly communicated. Kathy performed the dance quite well and was particularly attentive to the phrasing, dynamics and sense of drama in the piece. There were places in the choreography where she found a wav to stretch the vocabulary just a bit and play with it inventively. The dance would have been strengthened I i Pi had she included even more of this way of working. The overall structure of the dance was sound though this too would have benefited from more variation in use of space and sequencing. This was however, a very good first experience with choreography and we encourage Kathy to continue her studies and explorations in dance making. The second part of Kathy's Division I was a paper in which she examined issues and ideas about the role of 'technique' in dance training and performance. In particular she was interested in comparing ballet and modern dance techniques and the ways in which the two have influenced each other in recent times. The first draft of the paper suffered from a tendency to over generalize and the research was not as thorough as it should have been. Kathv did a good job revising the paper and the final draft was a much clearer, better-researched and more carefully written document. Kathy learned much from this Division I process and is clearly prepared and ready to engage in dance studies at the Division II level should she choose to do so.
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