“To me, a building – if it’s beautiful – is the love of one man, he’s made it out of his love for space, materials, things like that.”
– Martha Graham
“Safety breeds stagnation. Stagnation breeds death.”
– Isa
TALENT – BEHIND THE CAMERA
Motion as a series centered around dance and body language at large naturally requires a more refined and considered emphasis on the visual execution of it all, at least compared to the average series. As a result, if Motion is to be done right, certain roles – most obviously the director and the choreographer – grow in importance.
As it is still a piece meant for television the showrunner should still retain the function of helmsman, ultimately in charge of navigating the waters of story and theme, but at times the director and choreographer should each have some fingers, or even an entire hand on the wheel. Together, they should form a sort of creative triumvirate that move in sync and with close coordination. While I am tempted to say they should be present within the room as the narrative is being cracked with more specificity, my personal experience falls short here so I will not elect to speculate on the nuances of production and it’s realities but simply just reiterate the importance of these two positions and the teamwork of the larger trio.
As the State can only be reached when the head, heart, and body work in simpatico, Motion can only be great when these three creative titans do so as well.
TALENT – IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA
The demands of this story require performers exceptionally skilled in dance, far beyond what is expected of the average actor. However, while pursuing talent without compromising on skill in either domain of acting or dancing, I propose a potential solution: casting directly from contemporary company dancers.
Through my research, I believe that there is an untapped reserve of acting talent within the dance world that has simply never had the opportunity to get in front of the camera for something like the roles found in Motion.
As the research of this piece was being conducted, there were a number of interviews conducted with professors, fans, and artists within the field of dance. It was in a conversation with a successful working professional, that she discussed her theory around the general relationship between acting, dancing, and singing. Citing the fact that, from her perspective as a dancer, there were many, many more dancer-actors in her world than there were dancer-singers. She believed that the two contained a natural sort of philosophic overlap and that the credits between the two were more easily transferable than any of the others. She then went onto discuss her belief that the requisites of physical presence didn’t just translate more seamlessly from dancing to acting, but also by nature of the role-based style of casting, native to dance creates an innate kinship between the two.
While this evidence may be anecdotal and is largely sourced from a single conversation, I am under the impression that her statements were coming from a position of experience and, as a result, am of the belief that this is at the very least an avenue worthy of exploration.
THE REPERTORY
As a contemporary repertory company, Wolf Street is an entity that licenses pre-existing works to use. Motion should strive to honor this element as much as possible by also licensing real pieces. Not only would this ground Motion further in its reality by intertwining it more closely with our own, but it would also allow it to utilize work that has already been done, evoking, referencing, and celebrating the stories, ideas, and thematic ideologies already deeply explored by others. In a general political sense, it would also pull Motion closer to the dance world at large, allowing more opportunities for collaboration, experimentation, and general inspiration with choreographers, dancers, and other figures of force, gravity, and knowledge.
This lattermost element could also be further supported by either adding someone like Misty Copeland as an EP to the package or as a consulting producer to the production.
However, as it has been stated above, a choreographer should be deep within the mix precisely for conversations like these. As most pieces of pre-existing choreography were created for the medium of the stage, the choreographer could not only advise on this overarching question but help answer it by creating custom pieces molded not just to character, talent, and theme but crafted specifically for the camera and the philosophic limits of the State.
These two ideas of licensed repertoire and commissioned choreography, are not exclusive and Motion should strike a balance in the utilization of both of these approaches. Citing repertory when needed for the story (e.g. Sena’s first dance piece in the pilot) and using a commissioned choreographer to train and create for the more extreme instances of the State (e.g. Sena’s final dance piece in the pilot).
For the sake of re-emphasizing its degree of importance if nothing else, it bears repeating that, as ad campaigns were to Mad Men, the choreography is meant to be to Motion. As a result, this aspect is not merely integral but crucial and fundamental.
THE MUSIC
As Motion is already so music-oriented given the nature of its story and subject matter, the approach to music will obviously be another important element that requires a great deal of consideration. The challenge will be in crafting its score alongside the pieces of music used within the repertoire / choreography while maintaining tonal cohesion. To attain this balance, I would imagine a more minimalist approach to the score would be key but as I am a musician only in spirit and not in any meaningful or even real way, I’ll go no further with my imaginings.
I wonder if it would be worth having no score at all given the constant use of music that will occur alongside the choreography.
THE EFFECTS
The surreality components of the State, at least up to a certain point, should ultimately be able to be handled by practical effects or technical direction but past that point, where the State becomes much more uninhibited in its surreality (e.g. mirror’s reflecting people on fire), there are other considerations to be made.
While technical and practical effects should ultimately be considered the gold standard (see, Spike Jonze’s Homepod commercial or Fatboy Slim music video) there will still be a necessity for digital effects in some shapes and forms (see, Spike Jonze’s Kenzo World commercial).
Without going too far into it, I will just reiterate that regarding the latter element, Motion is a piece fundamentally composed to reflect the contemporary age without necessarily passing judgement on it. As a result, whether it’s the wheel, the gun, or social media, the show operates on the belief that technology is neither inherently good or bad but rather a manifestation of a broader human desire. So, should Motion ever encounter any digital problems, Motion should seek to use the latest in digital solutions, whatever they may be.
Ride the wave lest ye be crushed by it.