Monday 18th April 2016 - Peter Pan Solo Evaluation

What was the stimulus for the piece?

Peter Pan's Personality

How did you create movement material to communicate the theme/stimulus?

I used the choreographic process to come up with appropriate movement material. First i established my stimuli so i could begin my research, (Peter Pan Research). I thought i was very important to carry out in depth research so that i could choreograph movement that is suitable to the stimuli. Once i had done this i started to improvise and experiment with movement ideas, such as jumps, turns and different transitions. From this i chose a few movements that i really liked and rehearsed them in the mirrors and asked for feedback as to what they looked like and if they were appropriate to the theme. After doing this i started to create a motif using the movements that i had chosen, this is where i experimented with different transitions, this is because i didn't want to have ordinary or boring ways of form getting from one movement to another. I then started to experiment with choreographic devices, i was especially interested in embellishment and repetition, this is because i wanted to have one action that i would work into other movements - this is the hand action. Another example of this is that i chose to repeat the sword fighting motif on two different levels. I then created a created the structure of my dance (ternary form) and created a climax in both the music and movement, creating a direct correlation.

What movements did you do and why?

For the opening motif I used movements with lots of turns and jumps that had faster dynamics, this shows his bubbly personality as well as representing his flight path and the way he glides around his life. When the music changes I chose to use slower movements than I used before to show the contrast between the two personalities that peter pan has. I also looked at other key aspects of his character such as his relationship with captain hook and how he sword fights with him. I was inspired by this to create a motif that represents a sword fight, this was a hand and arm movement that could be repeated.

What was your contribution to the movement piece?

This dance piece was my solo and i created the movement material by myself, with the use of peer feedback and additional feedback from Kat.

How did you use your physical skills in the performance?

When performing this solo i think that i used extension to the best of my ability, this is especially when i hold my leg up with both hands on the floor. When watching this back my leg was extended so that the movement look completed, if i had not exteneded fully the movement would have looked messy and unfininshed. Another example of this was i used extension in my arms in the suspendin the opeing motif, i wanted this movement to look as big as possible to make sure that i was projected out to the audience. I also think i used my flexibility appropriately, this is especially when i go into the splits and fish roll back, this has been improved over time as i have spent time stretching in my spare time. I am happy with my progress with this as i am able to do moveements like these with ease. When watching this performance back i thought that i have good posture and alignment throughout the dance. This has improved my projection as i was upright and performing out to the audience.

What interpretative skills did you use to communicate the theme?

In my opinion I think that from working on my characterisation for this dance during rehearsals I think that I performed this well. This is because when in rehearsals I thought about the development of Peter Pan during this dance-because I used ternary form I wanted to make sure that I separated the emotions running through it. My idea was to start being really happy and childish, this is to represent his playful and childish side, on reflection I think that I performed this well, I used more brighter facial expressions to show how he is very carefree and kind to everyone. When the music changes i chose to use more serious facial expressions as his personality changes from being very childish to being dark, when I performed this I though I created this contrast well. After the music crashes my character is more scared, this is because he has been unable to accept responsibility for his action and therefore has been faced with consequences.

What were your strengths and weaknesses?

I think i used my interpretive skills well to perform this dance, when watching this back i thought that i had good projection, this is because in past this hasn't been great and therefore i have worked on looking more confident on stage. I thought that i had good characterisation to show the difference in the sections, this was important to my performance as my stimulis specifically mentions a character and therefore i wanted to show this character using these skills.


One of my weaknesses in this performances was my stamina, i found it hard to control my breath especially going into the climax section. For my next performance i am going to try and control this during rehearsals so that for the performance i can do this better. As well as this looking back at my performance video, i noticed that i was perforning a lot of the movement material at the back of the stage, the next time i choreograph i am going to make sure that i choreograph the spacing more downstage, so that it grabs the audiences attention more.