Design, Communication and... Choreography A Moving Personal Pursuit

Fabian is a first-year ATLAS student from Indonesia who has been involved in music and dance for much of his life. When he heard about the personal pursuit, he knew he wanted to involve this passion, so he decided to choreograph a performance.

Initially, he was unsure of the project. Some had doubted how he could make dancing academic, but after talking to one of the personal pursuit committee members, he felt a bit more confident. His desire to pursue choreography was nourished when the design and communication aspects were pointed out to him. It didn’t take him long to get started after being given the go-ahead.

“Part of my personal pursuit was to also just improve dancing. I can't just jump on choreographing without knowing something about dancing, and so I joined hip-hop and modern dance classes. Starting it was fun, I was basically already participating in the classes before I wrote my personal pursuit proposal.

I just liked dancing, it was only hard when I actually had to choreograph. When the performance for modern dance was right around the corner, I became part of the Performance Committee. The Performance Committee had to choreograph the beginning dance together, and so that's where my experience of choreographing a group dance comes in. On top of that, I have a group performance which was choreographed by my teachers (beginner class), and a solo that I choreographed myself. Interestingly, the solo was definitely the hardest.

I struggled in the beginning, to just structure routines of dances. I had a list of vocabulary stored in my head, but I just didn't know how to put it in actual sequences. This is where my supervisor(s) came in. Soosan Gilson, my official supervisor, has about more than 10 years of teaching experience, and she provided me with so much insight.”

On what kind of insights she gave him, he had this to say:

“It was almost like communication class... I learned that dancing should not be an illustration of the music, rather it's a separate art form. When you follow the lyrics of the music completely, your dance is not its own thing anymore. I learned that there's so much more depth in performing on stage with an audience, as it is not just moving your body prettily. You don't need to be able to do flips and fancy turns to impress an audience, or to deliver a message. ”

Fabian performed about a week ago, and it was widely agreed to be a great performance. When asked if he had any final thoughts, he said:

Fabian P. Wiropranoto, Class of 2019

I think no one should ever be discouraged to do anything they like. You don't need high-level skills to be able to perform. You need passion and creativity.

Fabian P. Wiropranoto, Class of 2019

Fabian has been mentioned in other articles, such as this one on joining ATLAS as an international.

University College Twente offers a unique bachelor’s programme, Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences, to top students. Visit the University College Twente website for more information about the college and Technology, Liberal, Arts and Sciences website for more information about the bachelor program. Or visit us during the open day, a student-for-a-day or an insight-day. For more information and stories about personal pursuits visit our personal pursuit website.

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