One main takeaway I have from this course is the idea that location is more than a physical place. It is also how one’s lived experiences shape who they are and the things they do today. Before this course, I had never thought about location in this way, but as the semester has progressed, I have seen its influence on my thinking and work in other areas of my life, specifically dance. Since I am also a dance major, I spend a lot of time thinking about dance and physically dancing. This semester, while taking this course, I have also been taking Dance Composition, where we have talked about our positionalities as choreographers and how that influences the choreography we create. I have seen a shift in my choreography as my location has shifted throughout the semester. As I am beginning the process of choreographing for FUSE, the dance departmental show next semester, I have noticed the influences of my location on my proposal and how my location and past experiences will shape the piece I am creating. My proposed piece is centered around as my experience as a twin and the self-comparison that has stemmed from that. For this project, I also needed a collaborator, so I picked someone with a similar location of being a twin. Without this course and all the work I have done with my own location of being a twin, specifically within the documentary I created, I do not think I would have the same idea for my choreography.
Additionally, for my Dance Composition midterm and final, I created a dance piece centered around the idea of home and one’s experience within their home, shaping their lives, relating to their location. For this concept, I was inspired by the theme of home and location from this course and the idea that home is more than a physical place. What I gained from this class was very beneficial when creating that assignment. The song I choreographed to was called “To Build a Home,” and in the dance, I incorporated elements to symbolize the feelings of home and how one’s idea of home changes throughout their lives. One way I did this was using a motif of hands on the dancer’s heart. This symbolizes the feeling of love, family, and community that many associate with home, even if home is not a physical place with four walls, but rather is people and places shaping them into the person they are today.
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