Blog Post Two - A Critique of Justin Pecks “In The Countenance of Kings”

First Initial Thoughts after watching the piece - 

In The Countenance of Kings is a short film, choreography by Justin Pecks, with music by Sufjan Stevens. Throughout the piece the dancers seem unaware of the camera, as they never appear to look directly into the camera lens. There is a good use of camera angles, close ups and quick cuts, that allow us to see into what seems to be the mind and thoughts of one of the dancers.

The piece begins with a female dancer lying on the studio floor, she is wearing a classical leotard, tights, and point shoes. She appears to look exhausted after a long day of training. We see her slowly sit up as the camera zooms into a close up of her face. She caresses her face in disbelief as the camera cuts to the mirror to see another girl staring back at her in the reflection. The reflection lets her hair down and appears to be wearing a different colour leotard and trainers. This could suggest a more relaxed free version of the girl and maybe how she would like to feel. 

The camera cuts to a different location; what appears to be a big, abandoned, regal hall. She is shortly accompanied by another female dancer as they exchange glances and begin to perform very balletic movements in unison. They perform a short motif consisting of codified ballet positions, port de bras, arabesques jumps and lunges. The movement holds a light feeling with an upbeat sensation influenced by the cheerful music. The movement and positions the arms flow through are not contained rather very continuous and expressive suggesting the dancers are dancing more freely for themselves, perhaps in comparison to the strict technique of everyday training. This short motif is repeated and developed as more dancers join in. The feeling is very uplifting but also has a sense of chaos maybe highlighting the busy thoughts in the brain and imagination we experience daily.

 As the piece goes on more and more dancers join as we start to see group formations and patterns emerge with a sense of community. Throughout the piece we see the dancers running such as we would see in everyday life, this could suggest an urgency of trying to get somewhere in relation to the girl could suggest how she has goals and aspirations she wants to reach. This also makes the piece more relatable to modern audiences as it is a pedestrian movement rather than a dance step. 

Towards the end of the piece we see the girl perform a duet with a male dancer whilst the other dancers run in circles around them. The duet consists of a repetitive jump motif with quick changes of direction. This could imply how we are all each in our own little world whilst the rest of the world keeps on moving around us. The motif is developed as the camera zooms out and reveals more and more dancers using accumulation to repeat this jump section of the motif. 

Suddenly the dancers fade away and the girl, appears to drop to the floor as the camera abruptly cuts back to the girl in the studio left in silence with just the sound of her breath. We are left with a feeling of emptiness as if we have returned to reality, and as an audience are left wanting more. I feel the intention of the piece was to communicate how intense level of training everyday can sometimes take away the love we have for the art, I feel the girl is representing how we can become so obsessed with having the perfect technique and can be guilty of comparing ourselves to others. After she returns from this "dream/ vision" I feel she has more determination to reach her goals and is reminded of why she started in the first place. The piece shows restrictions of the codified technique in juxtaposition to just dancing for yourself and expressing your love for the art in your movement.

References -

Bibliography - 

Peck. J (2016),  Justin Peck's "In the Countenance of Kings" with music by Sufjan Stevens, San Francisco Ballet, Accessed: 10/9/21.