Kayla &Kupono – Addiction

This dance is a very emotional dance. It really connects with people in many different ways. You can interpret this dance in so many ways. It is intended to be based on addiction and this message comes across so well through this dance. The movements really show that the girl is struggling with the boy (‘the drug.’) Suspension and Sustainment are used very well in this dance. A lot of the suspension in this dance leads to the sustainment of many movements. The suspension in the movements adds the effect of the addiction and really shows that the girl is struggling against the boy ‘addiction.’ All of the qualities of movement and body actions are used in this dance piece all to the best advantage to portray the story. There is a few swinging movements; such as when he is throwing her around, it’s like he is swinging her, and also a lot of her leg movements are in swinging motions. There are also a lot of percussive movements in this piece which really gets the fighting point across; that the girl is fighting/struggling against the ‘drug’.

The main one that’s really impressive and really stays in your mind is the one that gets repeated at the end where he is grabbing her in different places and she is throwing his hands off her trying to break away. This part of the dance could also be classified as vibratory. It’s probably the most effective part of the whole dance as it really connects with the audience, gets the point across and stays in your mind. Collapsing is used to great effect in this dance which also helps get the point across that she is struggling against the ‘drug’. The collapsing in this dance shows how much a struggle it is against addiction. Emotion builds up before she collapses in different parts. At the end of the dance she reaches up to try and break free but ‘the drug’ prevents her from doing so and she starts to collapse before ‘the drug’ starts to control her again.

Body actions speak words in this dance piece. There are strong gestures like at the start ‘the drug’ needles into her. This gesture is quite powerful; also when she is reaching up near the end of the dance, her doing that gesture is also quite powerful. Other strong gestures appear throughout the dance as well as those mentioned. The locomotion is really intense in this dance piece as he is dragging her around everywhere. They jump, only to collapse, only to then use locomotion all around the stage. This is shown throughout the dance to really show the audience how much of a struggle the girl is having. There is a lot of elevation in this dance piece. It’s mainly when the boy is throwing the girl around. There are a lot of lifts and turning before falling onto ground. There is also lifts into stillness. These movements leave a lasting impression and really show raw emotion.

The girls costume and the music selected for this dance piece also help get the expressive intention across. Her costume is red which could be interpreted as blood as well as it’s ripped, like she has struggled to take it off and it has been torn to threads; all because of the addiction. The music is a great piece of music to choose for this particular dance, mainly because it does work so well if you interpret the lyrics to mean drugs it really helps portray that.

So throughout this dance piece the qualities of movements and body actions really show the theme well (that the girl is struggling with the boy ‘the addiction.’)