The Student Choreography report continues…

I used music by Art Pepper called You Go to My Head. I have been trying to choreograph something for an embarrassingly long time, and this music is actually a vestige from another idea I had involving the ideal of femininity right after World War II, since there seem to be some contradictions in there. The music is part of the cool jazz genre right around that time.

(At least, it’s cool jazz as far as I know–I suppose I should ask some of my jazz musician friends for an analysis. I already got a wonderfully entertaining analysis of the chord progressions…. There was something about a dejected E-flat finally finding resolution just when he had given up. If you think you have a musical ear, why don’t you listen to the music and tell me if you agree?)

If you can’t see the video above–because I can’t, and I wonder if I’m going about embedding it the wrong way–follow this link to the Youtube page. [Edit: I think I've got it.]

So that was the music I used. I had three soloists and twelve corps members, and though I would have loved to have colorful costumes, there were so many people that for cost reasons I could not make or buy anything. They all wore white t-shirts and black tights, and the marvelous lighting designer made the white look pretty darn good in purples and greens.

Because the music is so evocative of a certain period and mood, I had to be really careful not to slip into that style. Much of the movement ignores the melody and tries to work off the baseline, though I honestly had a pretty hard time picking this piece apart. I’m not incredibly knowledgeable about music, and jazz compositions tend to be very complex. I think so, at least.

So I tried not to Mickey Mouse the music.

Click the picture for source.

More later?