Watch this clip of Bill T. Jones’ choreography ” performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. D-Man in the Waters
View several times and identify repetition, movement motifs, and manipulation of those motifs. Put several of these ideas into your body and create a short study using Jones’ movement ideas (actions) and developing them using repetition, manipulation and motif through your own interpretation.
Select 4-5 of the actions from the choreography. Sequence your study as follows:
Core Phrase A: Perform the 4-5 actions you have selected in a sequence.
Phrase B: Manipulate the 4-5 action sequence: change the order, timing, new body part, level, etc.
Phrase C: Combine A and B, adding repetition as an additional tool.
Perform Phrase A, B and C as one composition.
Noah- Repetition, Manipulation, Motif
Core Phrase A: I chose to focus on the skipping and fast running, the jumps, and the sweeping arm and leg movements.
B: I changed the order the timing and the direction at different points.
C: A combination of the first two!
Esther Hwang // Repetition, Manipulation, Motif
Moves taken from Bill T. Jones’ “D-Man in the Water” with Alvin Ailey dancers Assignment from Celeste Miller
Zoë Whittle—Repetition, Manipulation, Motif
Structure:
B—variations on movement and structure from Phrase A.
A—movement borrowed from Alvin Ailey performance of Bill T. Jones’s “D-Man in the Water.”
C—combination of original movement and variations
Charlotte Jones
A: movement borrowed from Alvin Ailey performance of Bill T. Jones’s “D-Man in the Water.”
B: varied order, speed, direction and focal point
C: combination of original movement and variations
Joel Choi
Section A: Solo from D-Man
Section B: Manipulation of Time, Repetition, and Asymmetry
Section C: Mix of A and B
Naiya/ Repetition, Manipulation, Motif
For this sudy, I identified four movements, two literal movements and two essential movements, to manipulate. I corresponded each movement to a letter and restructured the piece based on that.
Obuchi: Repetition, Manipulation, Motif
I took phrases from “D-Man in the Water” and restructured the movements as motifs.
