Name: Ernesto A. Balderas
Hometown: Anaheim, CA

Major: Dance Performance

Which engagement track did you follow?: Creativity Track

 

 

Bringing Chinese Dance Theater Influence to Modern Dance

 

For my EDGE project I choreographed a set Modern Dance piece for the 2015 Student Dance Concert.  Most dance pieces within Student Dance Concerts draw from the influence of great modern dancers such as Twyla Tharp, Martha Graham, Paul Taylor, and our dance professors at SUU.  However, I wanted to create something that was different and pushed myself as a choreographer.  I wanted to use something that was not often seen in student dance pieces: shape.  Thus I sought out to create a piece that blended Chinese Dance Theater with Modern Dance.

 

In this piece I blended technique from both Chinese Dance Theater and Modern Dance.  This allowed me to choreograph movement that emphasized shape and symbolism within my dance piece whereas in other dance pieces it is often lyrical in nature or based on movement qualities.  By utilizing shape and symbolism in my piece I was able to explore different qualities of movement and explore the use of stillness in choreography.  This provided a unique dance in the Student Dance Concert.  Through this project the benefit of blending cultures and techniques in dance is apparent.

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I was first inspired by the many Chinese films I watched through my adolescent years set in imperial China.  Many of the combat scenes in these movies were awe-inspiring in both the type and use of choreography in their swordplay and movement qualities.  However, during these scenes the choreography always found times for them to find stillness allowing the audience to view the gorgeous shapes their bodies made alongside their weaponry.  I wanted to embody the use of shape and connection between two bodies as these movies did for the audience.  I felt this would both push my boundaries as a choreography and create something that we do not see very often here at SUU.

 

I definitely did encounter some problems when choreographing and staging this piece.  First, because my partner did not know me very well when first starting on this piece she did not fully trust me when attempting to choreograph different shapes and movements.  Something as small as her not fully jumping toward me with full force could prevent me from lifting her or worse dropping her when I was expecting her full weight.  This prevented us from moving forward in the progression of the piece as all the movement I wanted to choreograph she could not trust me with.  This certainly caused problems later on as well when we needed to have periodic showings of our piece to our faculty.  Many times we did not have choreography to show but segments of movement that we were able to choreograph.

 

Second, both my partner and I had certain injuries to specific areas of our bodies that prevented certain movements when choreographing.  This presented a problem as well since sometimes I would be unable to carry her or we could not form a certain shape as it would be dangerous for one or both of us.  However, instead of looking at this as a hindrance we instead looked for inspiration for movement in what we could do.  This allowed us to be creative and form other shapes and patterns of movement that we had never thought of before.

 

My project went beyond myself though and I was able to see a benefit for the other student choreographers in my classes.  After the staging of my piece two freshman dance performance students wanted to discuss with me their ideas for choreography in the Orchesis Dance Concert happening later that school year.  One of these students admired the influence of Chinese Dance Theater and wanted to blend Butoh (Japanese Theater) dancing with their Modern Dance training.  I was able to help them find ways to subtly use hand gestures and movements of both the head and shoulders to create a unique performance.  I was also able to help another student who blended Bharatanatyam (Indian dancing) with classical ballet training.

 

This project was crucial in starting to develop my preferences for choreography and developing my choreographic process.  In the book Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking David Bayles states that “The only true way to understand how and what you want to choreograph is to continue choreographing.  Understand yourself through practice not by study.”  This piece allowed me to put something I had only studied in to practice and realize my style of choreography.  It has also helped me to understand the choreographic tools we constantly discuss in class and how best to use them when choreography is not necessarily apparent.  This project has definitely increased my desire to choreograph professionally when I graduate in Spring 2017.

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“Through this piece I know now it is not the finished product that is most important in the creation of art.  It is the process of creating and understand myself as an artist that is the beauty of art.”