I am proposing to present an evening length dance concert in the UNCG Dance Theater in the spring of 2012 to culminate my MFA degree in choreography. The concert will be comprised of six dances and an intermission. My vision for this concert is to integrate my multiple interests and talents into one concert. I also am hoping to challenge myself by taking on multiple "new" works and by working with people and approaches that are diverse. I hope to provide a cohesive variety in the concert so that the audience remains interested throughout the concert but will also see connective material that will enhance the "experience" of concert-going. My approach will be through multi-media, but I expect the choreography to be the main focus of the concert.
The experience of going to a performance is one that always sticks with me and I want to somehow create a memorable experience for my audience members. I am choosing to produce a concert that is made up of separate dances, but each made with the intention of a sort of experience for the audience. The pieces I am proposing have some overlapping themes and qualities, but will vary in a number of ways to make a diverse concert experience. I am not only utilizing live contemporary dance choreography, but also introducing ideas about where and how dance can be visible through site-specific work, using digital video projection (possibly through a live feed), challenging the creation of music relative to the dance through digital and acoustic means, and also exploring gender relations of movement and bodies.
Currently, I am unsure as to whether the concert will operate as a number of separate dances or if they will feed into one another. I can imagine both scenarios so I am prepared to face that decision once the pieces are more developed and themes are more recognizable.
Technical Requirements:
- One week of tech in the UNCG Dance Theater (Lighting rehearsals on Monday & Tuesday, Technical run through on Wednesday, Dress Rehearsal on Thursday)
- 1 technical director, 1 stage manager, 2 assistant stage managers, 1 lighting operator, 1 sound operator, 1-2 projector operators
- Theater lighting - I will light some of the concert as a part of a lighting practicum, but will need a lighting designer for the remainder of the concert
- 2 portable video projectors (for use in installation and sensor piece); cyclorama projector
- 1 video camera for performance documentation; 1-2 video cameras for live streaming in performance (possibility for tap piece); software and cables for live streaming
- Sensor interfaces and cables to connect to Max MSP software (sensors dance) – Borrowed from Dr. Mark Engebretson and the Music Department
Collaborators & Research Subjects:
- Music & Programming (“Sensors”): Students from Electronic Music Composition Class (Spring 2011)
- Music (“Paper”): Frank Vulpi
- Interview Subjects (“Paper”): Sam LaGrone (Washington, DC), Daniel Goldberg (Greensboro, NC), others TBA
Entrance Movement Installation:
In order to introduce the "experience" of my concert, I hope to give the audience a chance to begin the concert by walking through the theater (including the area behind the seats) and viewing the dance that will be ongoing until the time of the safety announcement. Guests will be handed a flashlight or will have the option of using their own device (cell phone) and a tour guide (usher) or exploring the "dance" on their own. I imagine this to be similar to a museum or art gallery in which the guest chooses their experience in seeing the art. There will be dancers placed throughout the space, as well as video projections and musicians. One idea for set up is creating the space to be similar to a gallery with different "stations" - some exhibits might be roped off whereas others might be more interactive.
Dance #1: Lights
The first dance will begin out of the movement installation, but will be conducive to the continuation of audience exploration. I have thought about roping off an area in which the dance "happens" like you might see for an exhibit that you shouldn't touch. This dance will play with focus and choice - I am planning to continue the integration of lights, specifically hand-held devices that the dancers will use to guide focus. Perhaps the dancers will acquire lights from audience members when they have completed their experience through the "gallery." The audience might have a chance to create their own exhibit by placing their flashlights in a certain manner on stage, directed by the ushers, and the piece will begin based on the light configuration. I am imagining percussive music and minimal costuming for this section as focus and lights will be guiding factors in this piece.
Dance #2: Sensors
For the second piece, I will choreograph and co-compose the dance using electronic interfaces attached to the dancers to create the soundscape of the piece in collaboration with a graduate student in music composition. At the moment, I think that this will be a solo piece that I perform, as the set up gets more and more complicated with the more interfaces that are involved. I think that the hands on experience of working with the interfaces and choreographing will be necessary in the creation process, but I am planning to asking a dancer to work with me as an assistant to also learn the piece so that I will be able to step out and look at the work objectively, as well as providing myself with an understudy. My goal in this solo is to explore the relationship between movement and music in a way that is visually and audibly interesting and juxtaposes natural movement with electronic “intelligent” sound. I plan to begin working on this piece, both in the programming stages and choreographically this summer in order to ensure that the piece is possible for this concert. Costuming will be created to highlight the visibility of the sensors and will be vital to the wearing of each piece. I plan to make the costume myself with the help of a family member who is handy with a sewing machine.
Dance #3: “____ism”
This will be a reworking of a piece I created in the Fall of 2008 during DCE 651 with Larry Lavender. The original casting of this piece was five female dancers and I am adjusting this cast to be danced by two females (Kimberly Wilson) and three males (TBA). In this piece, I am interested in researching the athletic qualities of my movement and the line between femininity and masculinity. I have little experience working with men and male experiences so I want to take this chance to explore relationships and dynamics between male performers as well as the female performers, providing a contrast from my piece that will end the concert, "Habit of Change," which looks specifically at female experiences with habitual patterns in public and private settings. I have a few male dancers interested, but if I haven’t found a full cast by the beginning of the semester, I will hold auditions for this piece at the end of August, opening the audition to male dancers from neighboring schools, as well as UNCG. Sections of the original piece will exist in the reworking, but I am looking to change some of the music and develop this piece beyond design, giving the audience some way of grasping the content of the piece, in which the themes are largely political.
Dance #4: Paper Trio or Duet
In this piece I will be looking back to prior works I have done that reference texts ("Without Words" 2009 & "Movement Studies" 2010) to further research the ways in which texts might interacts with dance. I see the landscape I created from paper in my dance for the camera reappearing and I am interested in using projection of images and words on the paper throughout the dance. I am envisioning a few set pieces built and covered in the crumpled paper along with other paper scattered or piled on the floor. I would like to project video on the larger set pieces from the corner (downstage wings) using words and possibly movement footage representing the stories in the dance. I became interested in the newspaper industry and its recent decline through a Media Studies and History cross-listed course from the fall of 2010 titled Doing Visual History. In this class, my final project was collecting the oral histories of several newspaper industry employees who have been affected by changes in the industry. I would like to continue with the interviews I have conducted and explore the relationships between the reporters and their subjects, as well as the readers of newspapers. I am imagining this piece as a duet, with one dancer representing the newspaper employee (reporter, editor, photographer, etc.) and the second representing the subjects of the stories. Beyond these ideas, I am unsure about more concrete narratives and ideas and I hope that my further research will inform me through the creation process.
To accompany this piece musically, I do not have any particular music I am planning to use, but I would like to utilize the sounds of the paper and of a typewriter, which I am thinking about including as a prop in this dance, as well as some sort of desk station. In my dance for the camera piece I used a piece by Mono called “A Thousand Paper Cranes” and I would like to use something similar in mood and tone, though less dramatic. I often like to create dances musically, but for this piece I am thinking that I would like to build in a more narrative conscious sense, allowing the dance to speak and then possibly having music composed for the dance. I am planning to talk to Frank Vulpi as well as a few students in the music composition course I am currently taking about composing for this piece. I imagine that the music will be more minimalistic, like a solo piano piece or electronic. Costuming is undetermined at this point.
Dance #5: Tap/Contemporary
For this piece, I am interested in the process of choreography of tap dance from a contemporary perspective. This piece may be a solo or it may be a small group piece, but I am currently unsure of my intentions. I am planning to do some research over the summer by attending various classes in New York City and do some in studio research both by myself and with some other dancers who will be in town over the summer. I have a couple of avenues to try in the creation of this piece. One way is to attempt a fusion between tap and contemporary dance by having both forms represented and coexisting on the stage. In this instance, I would most likely have designated tappers and other contemporary dancers working together. Another thought I have is creating a tap solo on myself and using videography to interact with myself in the performance. This projected video would be edited in a way that it would manipulate sound and movement to create a orchestra of dancers, though they would all be me. A third thought is the mixing of these two ideas. I do not want this piece to be purely a video to dancer interaction in the sense that the dance becomes a humorous interaction, but I am interested in the textures of sound and movement that can occur through the choreography. I see this piece relating to the music sensors piece as a contrast. I imagine that no outside music will be necessary for this piece as the sounds of the taps and any percussive sounds the body might make and can be manipulated through Final Cut will be sufficient.
Dance #6: "Habit of Change"
Finally, I plan to reconstruct and rework Habit of Change (2010), a large group piece using jazz music and referencing gender roles and personal habits in social settings. This piece is for a cast of thirteen female dancers and is set to the music of Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus. I am doing a good bit of recasting for this piece, partially because of dancer availability but also to ensure that the quality of movement and performance is cohesive and well-rounded overall. When I originally cast the piece, I did not know what the outcome would be, but now that I have a clear idea of the piece’s style and intentions, I am casting dancers that will clearly embody my visions for this dance. I believe that this piece highlights my strengths in musicality and design while also engaging the audience. Originally, this piece used black dresses and hints of green accessories choreographed into appearances throughout the dance and I am currently planning to continue with this line of thought, unless other suggestions are apparent.
(Bows)
Budget (estimated)
Costumes $300
DV Tapes 50
DV Tapes 50
Flashlights (in bulk – 200 ct) 250
Sensors & Materials 100
Typewriter (if not borrowed) 100
Publicity (Posters and postcards) 200
Typewriter (if not borrowed) 100
Publicity (Posters and postcards) 200
________________________
TOTAL $1000
Timeline
May, July & August
First stages of programming for sensors piece – meetings and studio work on developing sensors for composition and choreography; Tap research, in studio research and development
August – December
Rehearsals (Most works will rehearse 1x per week for 1.75 hours, smaller new works may meet 2x per week for 1.25 hours)
December
Committee Showing – Date TBA
I expect the concert to be 75% completed at this point
January – March
Continuation of rehearsals, concert to be completed by mid-February
Publicity design (poster design, press release, etc.)
March/April
Dates TBA – Full cast run through the week before tech load in. 1 full week of tech rehearsals & lighting. Shows Friday & Saturday evenings.
Publicity goes out – Hang posters, contact newspapers, etc.
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