Translating Visual Art into Dance: Creating a Portrait through Repetition and Accumulation

Abstract

This paper revised the written component of my MA project, which comprised the performance of a 13 minute solo, Portrait and a Dream (2010), at The Place. This accompanying paper is concerned with Jackson Pollock's Portrait and a Dream (1953), and his source of inspiration: Action Painting. I will draw attention in particular to how I deal with the concept of creating my own 'portrait', and how I borrow choreographic methods from Burrows's idea of 'repetition' and Brown's Accumulation (1971). Lastly, I will discuss what is involved in translating visual art into dance.