Walking in 5s

For my new solo I am going to being to be doing a simple walking, shifting pattern that crosses the stage - maybe over and back. I decided to actually choreograph this pattern (I know, a total shock!) and also decided to do it in 5s. Often dance is choreographed in 8s - meaning each phrase is basically 8 beats long. Sometimes it's choreographed in 3s or 4s - I, in fact, usually don't use counts...well, I usually don't choreograph at all, but only improvise. But, for this section I decided that having a recognizable pattern would be very effective, except I didn't want it too even - that's why I'm using 5 beats per measure.

To start experimenting I simply walked across the studio in 5s, stepping on each count. Then, to mix it up, I would not step on one of the beats - first I stepped 1, 2, 3, 4, but then paused on 5 and repeated this. I continued this with pauses on each beat. Following this I did combinations - step 1, 2, pause 3, step 4, pause 5, etc... It was so interesting how different each combination felt. At one point I was pausing on the 1 & 2 and it felt like I was sneaking up on something, other times I would step on the 1 & 2 and it felt like I was rushing forward. At this point I'm not exactly sure how this will work out, but I am finding these different emotional tones that connect with different rhythmic patterns fascinating.