An investigation of collaborative, choreomusical relationships within contemporary performance : a practical and theoretical enquiry into collaborative, co-creative approaches

Abstract

This dissertation considers cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary working processes in music and dance in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to enquire into the ways that choreomusical relationships have developed for composers and choreographers working collaboratively. It asks whether there are factors which should be considered in a collaborative working method between composer and choreographer to achieve a co-creative endeavour which is satisfactory for both parties. The study investigates whether successful working methods are particular to each composer-choreographer relationship, or to what extent they could be utilised in collaborations with different individuals toward satisfactory, co-creative results. These results are defined by the satisfaction of both collaborators throughout the collaborative process, regardless of the end result. This dissertation will address these questions, first by analysing collaborations within contemporary dance, with a focus on the working methods in dynamic artistic relationships such as that of John Cage and Merce Cunningham. It begins with a theoretical approach to context in Chapter One before a short historical and cultural mapping of documented choreomusical, collaborative relationships in Chapter Two. This research will concentrate on the distinct change brought about in America in the 1930s, emerging from Denishawn, before focusing on three successful, long lasting collaborative relationships: Stravinsky and Balanchine, Nikolais and Louis, and Cage and Cunningham. The analysis will then discuss the interdisciplinary developments that Cage and Cunningham provoked. Chapter Three explores how choreomusical collaboration can be successful or unsuccessful in terms of co-creation and the satisfaction of each party within current artistic practice. Contemporary choreographers and composers involved in collaboration, currently located in western Europe and north America, were interviewed about their views on co-creation, collaborative relationships and working methods. Additionally, as a composer, I have collaborated with choreographers and both parties kept a journal to document the positive and negative aspects of the working methods within this partnership; I have included these journals as data in analysing contemporary, co-creative practices. Informed practical research and the use of journals coincide with a grounded theory approach: through analysis of both sets of data, factors which help and hinder choreomusical collaboration in terms of cocreative approaches are identified. The results of this analysis are presented in a spectrum model of possible working relationships between composer and choreographer, which is then applied to case studies identified within the research.