Cariactureography
Caricatureography (a term I coined) establishes a new choreographic structure I’m developing as another pathway for narrative choreography. By prescencing the corporeal existence—physical manifestation—of iconic literary characters, caricatureography is the practice and performance of embodying these character’s representations via danced interpretations of their stories. My current work explores, Toni Morrison’s characters the Breedloves in The Bluest Eye and Jadine and Son, in Tar Baby. What distinguishes my practice from other narrative works is that it moves away from presenting a literal representation of storytelling. Instead, my approach elicits the interpreted experiences of the readers engaging in the character’s stories and then associates movement with the meaning of their interpretations.
“Caricatureography moves character development in a new direction and offers a new way to train dancers. Audiences know the concept of love and will be able to relate.” ~Marcus Hayes
- Concept: Caricatureography is not based on the main plot of the book but instead based on the plot of the characters. The choreographer is taking the interpretive experiences of the readers engaging in the plot of the characters and associating movement with the meaning of their interpretations of that narrative.
- Purpose: extracting character’s narratives from the main plot to compose text in a different form.
- Significance: discovering how reading through observing dance changes our contemplation of dance making as writing and transcribing, expanding the possibilities for understanding the unique relationship between dance and literacy.
- Working Definition: anthropomorphic embodied annotations—human characteristics giving visible form to the character’s narrative(s). Ultimately, exaggerating the text to inform new ways of making meaning.
The Breedlove’s Pas de Duke (a fugly love story) is a dance suite performed in three tiny episodes— “Nesting,” “Nestling,” and “Nasty”—that chronicle the neurotic love/hate relationship between Cholly and Pauline Breedlove, characters from Toni Morrison’s novel The Bluest Eye. “Cholly and Mrs.Breedlove fought each other with a darkly brutal formalism that was paralleled only by their lovemaking. Tacitly they had agreed not to kill each other.” Each episode represents different stages in the Breedloves’ relationship including courtship, newlywed, and marriage but not in that order. Like Morrison’s novel the Breedlove’s story is performed out of order, starting from the moment they were newlyweds, then reaching back to when they first met, and then the audience is catapulted to the present day of the Breedloves’ viciously erotic married life. This work is performed across three dance genres, postmodern, contemporary, and Latin as well as some stage combat. The accompaniment is a mix of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye audible version along with Daniel Caesar’s “Best Part,” and Celia Cruz’s “Quimbara” with added vocal tracks performed by Laila Shabazz. Digital Projection provides the required narration for each episodic transition and the lighting guides the storyline as the lights briefly fade to black and quickly fade in again between each new episode. The Breedlove’s Pas de Duke is a narrative piece that will resonate with any couple that has experienced extreme stages from high to low in their relationship yet managed to see it through. Ultimately, this piece speaks to the American culture’s normalization of intimate partner violence.
Jadine’s Son is the second iteration of, caricatureography performed as a duet representing yet another one of Morrison’s strained romances between Jadine Childs and Son Green. This work is still in progress currently performed in two sections, the first being the picnic scene when they get to know each other better by sharing their personal histories. The second section is the conflict of Jadine’s interest in Son, she is refined and he, “wasn’t manageable… Still, she hadn’t been with anybody in two months.” The accompaniment includes, Moses Sumney’s “Doomed” and Little Dragon’s “Twice”. The choreography does not fit neatly into any one genre or style. This work may always be in a state of unrest due to the nature of the research.
Cariactureography for Morrison's Sula has not yet been conceptualized and will be developed in time.
