'Everything I Learned I Learned From The Movies'

In my initial proposal, I spoke of exploring what made Hepburn who she was, however, my research led me to discover her life was far more complex than I perceived (Cox, 2011). For example, not only did she live in Nazi-occupied Holland, but she was part of the resistance movement, despite having parents who were initially Nazi sympathisers (Bibel, 2015). I confirmed my previous suspicion that not only would it be impossible to answer the question ‘What made Hepburn who she was’ in a 10-minute choreography, but all together. Humans are multilayered and elaborate, so much so that no one even truly understands themselves. My objective is to create a piece with purpose, that achieves its task, and so ‘What was important to Audrey Hepburn’ is a more realistic focus. Nevertheless, I still wish to capture some of her essences by incorporating her mannerisms, which I identified through her films (see list below), as choreographic embellishment. This will enable me to play Hepburn as a character, rather than acting as a spectator. Choreographically I had thought that I would use pure contemporary dance, as it allows more scope for creative tasks, however, Lopez Ochoa demonstrated to me that dance does not have to be categorised, as she combines classical movement with a deeper analytical contemporary style (Nashville Ballet, 2019) (San Francisco Ballet, 2018). I will allow myself to be influenced by all styles which best enable me to answer my question. 

Bibliography

Bibel, S. (2015). 6 Lesser-Known Facts About Audrey Hepburn. [online] Biography. Available at: https://www.biography.com/news/audrey-hepburn-facts-biography [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Cox, A. (2011). Audrey Hepburn: an iconic problem. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jan/20/audrey-hepburn-breakfast-at-tiffanys [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Hepburn, A. (n.d.). Top 28 Most Inspiring Audrey Hepburn Quotes to Open Your Heart. [online] Goalcast. Available at: https://www.goalcast.com/2017/06/13/top-28-audrey-hepburn-quotes-to-open-your-heart/ [Accessed 31 Oct. 2019].

Nashville Ballet (2019). Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Bloom Pas de Deux. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q39oTRnjm0Q [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

San Francisco Ballet (2018). Unbound Choreographer Interviews: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhEePh9MmM4 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2019].

Film:

• Breakfast At Tiffany's. (1961). [film] Directed by B. Edwards. Hollywood: Paramount Pictures.
• My Fair Lady. (1964). [DVD] Directed by G. Cukor. USA: Warner Bros.
• Funny Face. (1957). [DVD] Directed by S. Donen. USA: Paramount Pictures.
• Sabrina. (1954). [DVD] Directed by B. Wilder. USA: Paramount Pictures.
• Roman Holiday. (1953). [DVD] Directed by W. Wyler. USA: Paramount Pictures.