Realistic Pose

 Abstract Pose

The subject of my caretaker study is my mother. A redoubtable woman, strong and commanding yet graceful and vulnerable, my mother Valerie has a habit of engaging in conversations and ending up in the first pose I presented. I was impressed and elated with the accuracy of everyone’s hypotheses; she is indeed, when interacting with people and especially in intellectual conversations, very aware of how people see and think of her.She does try to project a certain image, albeit perhaps subconsciously, of a composed, slightly haughty, challenging, pointedly intelligent, sexually charged, and intriguing woman. Every element I wanted to bring to attention was noticed and pointed out except the raised eyebrow, but this was so subtle it blended into the facial expression, which was very accurately analyzed. The words used to describe my mystery character (elegant, confident, young–my mother is in her forties, not thirties, but is young for her age–sly smile, calculated, thinking about how she is looking at others and being looked at by others, intentionally projecting a certain image, smirking eyes) were exactly the ones I had in mind when creating the pose.

The abstract pose of my mother was styled to represent her power and strength, her composure, and her blatant and unafraid sense of self. My mother was orphaned before she turned twenty and had to be responsible for her much-older sisters, who had deep problems that, without parents, would undoubtedly have worsened. She was well equipped to deal with these difficulties, but the fact that she had to be strong enough to navigate three (sometimes four) lives to healthy places made her, as someone pointed out, almost goddess-like. I actually wished, as I was styling this pose, that I could somehow attach more arms to look exactly like the Goddess someone mentioned the pose reminded her of. But with only my two arms and legs, I chose to represent the strength and grounded nature (right side of my body) and protective yet elegant temperament (left side) of my mother. And because I feel that she balances the two well and with a calm assuredness, I portrayed her with a serene, almost blank expression.

Pina Bausch’s “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si…” is not post-modern dance, as the concept of the dance is opposing with the ideas in post-modern dances. “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si…” is about sexuality and the relationships between men and women. She portrays this concept through humor, but most see grains of truth within the segments of the show. For instance, when one of the men is sitting in a seat on the stage, flattering every woman who walks past him as if she is the only woman around, one after another. This is performed in a humorous manner, exaggerated and repetitive in the action, but the audience recognizes some honesty in the scene. The concept of the dance focused on the body ad sexuality as central parts of our world. In post-modern dance, the focus is on movement. It is about movement for movement’s sake, often times, while this is about the body that is moving. This is about the person who is moving.

Pina Bausch was known for asking the dancers questions about memories they have from there lives. They would use these memories to build scenes and dances which evoked the emotions of real life. This technique is all about bringing the world and emotion into dance by using real human emotions to create the dances. “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si…” most likely came from such techniques, as there are so many different legitimate emotions toward the topic of sexuality, love, and relationships.

In Pina Bausch’s dance had elements of post-modern dance, such as the moment when the girl in the loose white dress danced around in fluid, natural motions. Her segment was one of my favorites, and it has elements of post-modern dance, but the piece was theatrical rather than post-modern style. The girl was set on the stage in a similar position to a dog, but she reminded me of a horse. She posed quietly, peacefully in the corner, only to be approached by two men. When picked up, she screamed, and they were shocked and needed to set her down to calm her. They repeatedly made the mistake of picking up this girl, who I saw as a wild horse. Ultimately, the wild horse is trained so that she will trot in circles at a safe distance, separated from the men by a pole. When she is freed, she moves naturally and beautifully. This piece contains the simplicity in her motions of a post-modern dance performance, featuring minimal lighting changes and basic costumes. But she the dance is quite theatrical and poetic, which does not jive with the ideas of post-modern dance. As Pina Bausch said, she was “not interested in how people move but in what moves them.” This idea is prevalent throughout “…como el musguito en la piedra. ay si, si, si…”

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