... And breathe

Evaluation of the Taking Care of Business performance

After having completed Taking Care of Business, it became apparent to me what aspects of the piece really worked, and also certain aspects that could have been better, or could be improved in the future. Evaluation is essentially about improvement, in order to improve however, weaknesses must be established. In this evaluation I aim to highlight the positives – the parts I personally enjoyed, as well as feedback provided by audience – as well as touching on what I could improve upon – also from personal feelings towards the piece combined with verbal feedback from the audience.

Primarily, I asked myself the question – what was successful? The dance scene, in my opinion, and in the opinion of the audience, was the most captivating section; this is due to my history as a dancer/choreographer, and also down to my infatuation with Elvis Presley. I found, as a huge fan of Elvis, I took naturally to moving like him, I would dance on my own like this anyway in my spare time, so in many ways it wasn’t even a performance. I found that attention to detail was one of my real strengths in this part, through observation; I noticed how Elvis would move his lips, how he would breathe and how his bodily manner/movements evolved from his early career as a very sexual figure, to his later years where he had adopted a different style. I tried to capture this evolution of movement in a condensed, twenty minute window. The parts which were improvised, I felt, weren’t as strong as the choreographed sections, this came down to a lack of accuracy in relation to the movement, this was accompanied by me experiencing a bit of a lack of control. I felt as if, because what I was doing was improvised, I couldn’t control myself as well.

Being provided with a great space and props made the piece much stronger; this is something that was echoed both in my personal evaluation, and with comments from the audience. The way the space had been set up, to create a representation of a chapel, made for a more personal, intimate experience, not only this, it was more relatable, many audience members know what a chapel was like. Additionally, being in close proximity to the viewers added to the notion of intimacy, a trait shared with Elvis himself, who in many shows performed close to his audience. Tech support was also very helpful, the use of lighting provided an intensified atmosphere, adding to emphasis on certain moments, also tying in to the famous use of the spotlight by Elvis Presley, a man who could be recognised by his silhouette alone. For future development of the show, I would like to make a version that relies less on tech, so that it can be performed in less conventional theatre spaces.

When asked, how the show could be improved, my response would be in relation to the text. I felt that I had settled for less than I was capable of. Perhaps it was that somewhere I believed that the physical aspects of the show would render the script less valuable, something which, given the chance to do the show again, I would no doubt rewrite. It would be a focus that it became more abstract, use elusion and suggest things, as opposed to explicitly stating them. I would do this by reverting to one of my research ideas surrounding the exhausted body, as well as durational techniques to make it more abstract. In my opinion, it’s not just about what’s impressive in terms of theory, or research, it still matters what’s interesting to watch, durational dancing, which was my favourite aspect of the show, was the most interesting to watch. Previously I felt that telling the audience a story was what made a show great and memorable, in hindsight, I find that audiences don’t need to be spoon-fed narratives, they can, and often enjoy, having the chance to form their own ideas from a selection of abstract images.

Over all, I wouldn’t say that I am completely satisfied with the material at this given time. There are sections that I would remove such as the ‘good times’ section and others that need work. I think I would have benefited from being able to show the work back to academics in the later stages of the shows development. I relied on the feedback from peers, which is always useful and appreciated, but the feedback isn’t from a place of more experience or professionalism than it would be from a lecturer. We are all on the same level, so it was hard for us to know how to critique beyond what we have being taught. Having said that, I am also extremely proud of the fact that I was able to make my first full length solo show, that I believe to be of a high standard, and with further development has the potential to be successful.