Dance and Camera - Graduate
When technology and the human body become partners, who leads? In this course we will investigate the blending of movement and technology in performance. Why do you look at a huge screen onstage when the live person is standing there beside it? What makes us look at one thing over another? By refining our awareness of how we see, we become more sophisticated choreographers and more articulate performers. Students will be encouraged to develop two perspectives - both of performer and viewer - and to discuss their findings. Technology is such a part of our everyday life; it’s like breathing. We never stop to think about it. But when technology is used on stage as an equal partner with the performer, our habits of seeing are disrupted; breaking habits often lets us discover something new. This course celebrates the imagination. Students will be encouraged to work with simple materials such as cameras and projectors as tools for performance or to harness technology to make live performance more eloquent. Each week, the class will be making sketches to be performed and viewed. At times, dances from the ‘80s by people like Steve Paxton and Ishmael Houston Jones will be conjured up and viewed.