Clarifying My Concept

I have been thinking a lot about the theme of my piece and how I can narrow my focus. 'The 1960s' is an incredibly broad topic and I'm working on focusing on a more specific aspect of culture or society in the time period. My main area of interest is the youth movement and their feeling of empowerment and their confidence in their ability to change the world. While their motto was peace, love, and freedom, they also had the courage and the drive to fight for what they believed. In my opinion, this represents an interesting concept between passive and active which I would like to explore in my choreography. I am also considering the idea of representing current social challenges in contemporary society. When I opened up this topic to my cast, we came up with several contemporary issues that parallel the fight of the youth in the 1960s. Some of these issues include immigration, education reform, public health, environmental conservation, and marriage equality.

I have also identified several areas that I should research to find information and inspiration for this piece. I have been reading books by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg and want to continue exploring these writers' material. I also plan to look at visual art from th 1960s, specifically psychadelic images to see if I can draw ideas for movement from them. I also plan to listen to a variety of musical selections from the decade, including rock, folk, and electronic.