Marcell's Lament

Marcell's Lament is a solo choreography that was created in part with 12 Minutes Max at The Dance Centre in November 2020. It was filmed and shown publicly on a Zoom watch party. The solo stems from work Jenna did with her mentor, Francesca Frewer. They worked on creating combos or small bits of choreography within set time limits; quick creation of moves which didn’t hold much meaning to us. Jenna wondered about the difference in creating movement phrases for different contexts. How does she approach creating for a performance versus a more casual setting like a class or just for fun? Why do they need to be approached differently? As she worked on this sequence of movement, themes and qualities became evident. Jenna was trying to figure out what ‘just movement for the sake of movement’ could be about, and how it could exist in a performance setting, while recognizing that no movement comes without connotations and inherent meaning.

 

What emerged from the movement sequence were themes of water, ocean faring, and the characters that may be in these environments. A story grew. Enter Marcell, a washed up character who has unrealized dreams. He’s a former deck hand who was laid off before becoming a captain, and laments the waste his life has become. Marcell imagines a vibrant lover who would have graced him if his life had unfolded as planned. In this solo, Jenna moves between Marcell, the dream girl, and herself/the narrator. There is play between dream and imagined reality.