The In Between

Have you ever been told you need to work on your transitions? Whether that be in something you’ve written, choreographed, or something else altogether?

When I was a kid, sometime between 1st and 6th grade when I was homeschooled, I remember learning about transition words. And how they are important for writing and all communication. I remember being fed a cheat sheet list of “transition words”. And told that these were the words I should use to keep my essays and conversations flowing.

So I consumed them - memorized them and eventually adopted those words into my vocabulary. I’d cram them into my sentences. hoping that my ideas would come across more clearly... Sometimes, this worked. Other times, this did not. The transitions just felt forced.

What’s ironic about “transitions” is that the most successful are those that go unnoticed. Those that just “work”. Keep things glued together. Push you from Point A to Point B in a way that makes sense and keeps you inside what is being said. Yet, sometimes, we don’t have the capacity to add in our transitions until after we’ve put something together. We can only connect the dots once all the dots are laid out there in front of us.

Last night, in my dance composition class, the concept of transitions came back to haunt me. I shared some choreography that I’ve been working on. And once again... like the previous week... a discussion on my transitions (or lack there of) ensued after I shared my work. What was it that spurred one moment of my piece into the next?

By Fernando Paz

In my choreography, I’m working with what I would consider contrasting elements. A lot of stillness And then, rapid movement. Composure. And free play. But what is the connective tissue in between the stillness and movement that binds the two into something cohesive?

There IS an in between. There’s always an in between. I have this tendency to skip ahead... jump from one place to the next. Skirt over the important, in between details. But the space for these details is always there, and is especially transparent when I’m not filling it in or giving it the attention it deserves.

This weekend, as I revisit my choreography with the feedback I was offered, I hope to tackle the in between state some more. I have a ton of material to work with...my A’s and B’s and C’s and D’s. Now, it’s just time for me to take it all in. Connect the dots. Cut things out or reorder things as needed. And really take a look at what it is that I’m creating and reflect on what it is that I want to create.