Photos from the hafla

[galadhir]

So, this time I had insisted that DH should take a video of the solo as well as taking photos, and I have watched the video on and off for the past three days and made notes. I no longer think it went that well, or perhaps I should say that my inner critic has had a field day.

Because I'm portraying someone who is ill and scared, I did a lot of covering my mouth, covering my eyes/forehead etc, and I don't think it plays well in a dance. I also have such a tendency to look down - by which I mean actually bowing my head forward - giving myself a hunched back instead of the upright posture of a dancer. I am also careless about where I put my feet - lots of ugly, imprecise foot placement.

Just like Su She, I also have a tendency to partially shut one eye more than the other one when I'm concentrating. Slightly mortifying, when I am certain that was a character tic Su She was given to indicate that he was a grovelling, servile henchman.

I must train myself out of all that!

The solo will need to be redesigned in the first part to get rid of all the head hanging and face covering etc. The bad posture and bad footwork is something I'll try to concentrate on improving this year.

Both outfits were pretty good though - I am pretty okay at costuming :)

Photos!

Comments

[seleneheart]

You look amazing!! And the costumes are indeed beautiful.

[galadhir]

Thank you :) The lady who made the second one sold it to me at Christmas because she was giving up dancing. I hope she's pleased that it is still being enjoyed

[mistressofmuses]

I'm sorry you don't feel that it went well any longer.

Though I can understand realizing that something doesn't play quite as well as hoped, even if you had a reason for doing it.

I love both outfits, though! I think I'm especially partial to the blue one, though both color schemes are great.

[galadhir]

They do say that you should video your dance before you do it, in order to see this stuff before you perform it for real, but I have not been able to do that because every time I try to pull up the photo/video app on my phone it stops playing the music. I'm going to borrow DH's camera for next time though because this is important to know :)

I love the blue dress too. I feel like a professional in it, even though it is now too large for me, unfortunately. I'll have to take it in (or get it taken in by someone who knows what they're doing) before Shimmyfest in June.

[mistressofmuses]

I can see that being a good idea. I do know that a lot of times a movement or expression feels different than it looks. (And that's probably even more the case with dance, which I don't have experience with!)

The blue one is beautiful. Well worth getting it resized!

[galadhir]

Often a movement even looks different when it's recorded than it did to you at the time. I have stuff that was recorded in a dance studio with mirrors, and it looked great in the mirrors but terrible on video, so now I'm very confused. What is the truth? Who knows?

I almost went to get the dress resized today, and then I remembered that the hafla is in June and I am on a diet. I should wait until closer to the event or I'll have the same problem again. Thank you!

[mistressofmuses]

That's so weird! It should look the same in the mirror as it does on video! How does it not?? (I've heard similar about recording live performances of plays, but it still baffles me!)

[galadhir]

It's very odd. I've heard that cameras can make you look fatter, so that might be part of it, but those movements that look really big and dramatic in the mirror look barely noticeable on video. And what's the truth? What are other people seeing - the good version or the bad one? It's worrying :)

[mistressofmuses]

It could be. Camera lenses perform all kinds of trickery! The difference in movement and expressions were always the things that struck me as so weird between what something looks like to you vs. what it looks like on film. I remember friends filming bits of performances and feeling like they were overacting or that their facial expressions were so over the top... only to realize that you could barely see it when filmed! It makes no sense!

[galadhir]

It really doesn't! I can only assume that cameras are very bad at picking up nuances, and that perhaps a video is not the best record of what a thing looked like in real life after all. Which would be a shame, considering how much we're used to thinking of it as a one to one representation.

[mistressofmuses]

That really does throw things into question about cameras and video records and such. We think of them as being totally accurate, objective records of reality... and maybe they aren't.

[pattrose]

Lovely pictures.

[galadhir]

Thank you :)

[kazzy_cee]

It's so easy to be critical when you watch a video. What you have to remember is that the audience only saw it once, and I doubt they noticed anything that you've spotted since!

[galadhir]

That's very true. I do know that I'm my own worst critic, but I think that's probably my job and that if I don't do it I won't improve in future. I could be a bit kinder about it though :) Thank you!

[goodbyebird]

ooh I really love that second pic!

[galadhir]

Thank you! The lady who made that dress did a fabulous job :)