Dancing Rage
I was inspired by a few different things when I started working on my piece for the upcoming Chiaroscuro performance. One of them was what I like to call a “rage dance”. To me this is when you have a lot of pent up feelings and frustration so you find a private spot and you dance in a crazy-freak out way because no one’s watching. There are tons of ways that people use to deal with anger and feelings of powerlessness: go for a jog, meditate, yell into a pillow. But I think dancing to a really good fast-paced song is a really good way. Just me? I have a feeling I’m not the only one. At least I know Billy Elliot is with me on this one. This classic dance movie’s scene where Billy gets upset and dances his heart out has all the elements of the perfect “rage dance” – it happens in private places (bathroom stalls, etc), it’s a little bit violent, it’s kind of silly and it’s really tiring. This scene is one of the things I showed in rehearsals for my piece that we used as inspiration for our own rage dances. It turns out that it’s pretty hard and uncomfortable to recreate one of these moments in front of other people! But we still attempt it in my upcoming piece entitled boil over.
Check out the Billy Elliot scene over here >>>
Here are some of my favourite rage dance songs in case you want to try this out (safely) at home:
Town Called Malice – The Jam (song from Billy Elliot)
You Already Know – Arcade Fire
I’m Done – The Julie Ruin
Shake Shake Shake – White Denim
Sophie Brassard is a BFA graduate from Simon Fraser University and guest choreographer in Chiaroscuro premiering March 10 & 11, 2017 at Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre.
PHOTO: DAVID COOPER | DANCER: SOPHIE BRASSARD