Course Title
Forsythe Technologies
Contemporary Solo Project
Teacher
Amy Raymond
Period Duration
Four weeks During Block1/2, 40 hours
Competencies
1. Creative ability
2. Craftsmanship
3. Investigative and reflective ability
4. Ability to grow and renew
5. Entrepreneurial and organizing ability
6. Communicative ability
Summary
The Contemporary Solo Project aims to expose young dancers to two very distinct characteristics required in professional dancers today: adaptability to different forms of movement and the development of soft skills within the creative process which are transferable to any situation. Soft skills refer to non-technical skills such as interpersonal communication, creativity, problem solving and rigor. Over a four week period, the students will be exposed to various choreographic phrases that embody different qualities. The choreographic phrases will be designed to expose what the students know from their classical training and re -examine it within a contemporary context. An example of this is to ask kinaesthetic questions: What does the movement remind you of? Where is the movement going in space? What part of body initiates the movement and what are the affects on the rest of the body? After the phrases are learned I will give them tasks where the students will have to figure out how to re- create, re-organize, and problem solve by combining the choreographic material into a solo. Through coaching, group observation, and more task giving, each student will walk away with an individually tailored contemporary solo that they will be responsible for. It will be filmed for auditions and can be performed live at anytime.
Learning Goals
Hard Skills( technical skills)
• To develop keen observation ,in order to pick up different movement styles
• To feel where movement is starting from in the body and where it is going.
• To transfer weight efficiently powerfully
• To apply different oppositional qualities to movement: light/heavy, slow/fast, large /small
• To make musical choices within a musical frame
• To be rigorous with the articulation of the movement
• To be rigorous with the flow of the movement
• To develop skills to go to the floor
Soft Skills ( implicit skills)
• Open to learn something new
• Ability to deal with difficulty and uncertainty
• Developing curiosity towards oneself and others
• Absorbing feedback from both the teacher and fellow colleagues
• Asking questions
• Offering solutions
• Problem solving
• Rigor
• Creativity
• Stepping outside the box
• Responsibility
• Self- Reflection
• Adaptability
• Analytical Thinking
Working Methods Used
I will be drawing from my 18 years of experience of teaching and choreographing. I honed my
creative skills through being exposed to various dancers of different capabilities both within the
ballet world and contemporary world. My biggest influences comes from the work I have done
with William Forsythe and Martial Artist Akira Hino.
References
• William Forsythe Improvisation Technologies, A tool for the Analytical Dance Eye
• Don’t Think Listen to the Body! Introduction to the Hino Method and theory of Human Body and
Movement Control
Study Material
Notebook, pencil /pen
Mobile phone, for recording choreographic phrases
Assessment
Feedback in studio
Self-Reflection
Evaluation on how suggestions/ corrections are applied
Performance for demonstration
Performance on video
Competency Indicators
All learning goals are in line with the competency indicators