Dance to me is the expressive movement of the human body in space sometimes accompanied by music and rhythm. Dance always adjusts to its settings. It was no surprise to see that 21st-century choreographers are including digital technologies to their performances. I am not sure if computer or robots even puppets are in the same league as the natural human expressive and unique movement. To me seeing another person dance enriches and refreshes my feeling towards humanity.
I used YouTube to search for a dance group that uses digital art. The first search presented me with America Got Talent video of a piece called Freckled Sky. The team presented what seems to be a new form of entertainment they were using high-end image projection technologies. Val Syganevich is the founder of and creative director with Jalen Preston and Olga Sokolova as dancers.
The dancers in the performance on America Got Talent interacted and were engulfed by digital projections and TV screen, as they appear to vanish and cross the boundaries between projection and reality. At one point, they appeared soaked it water while covered with digital rain. The audience and judges of the show were impressed gave the performance the highest compliments.I enjoyed the show but I thought it was too short and too fast to allow me to fully appreciate the new medium and artistic treatment.
I always loved modern dance, one of my favorite movie is Pina a documentary film, 2011 by filmmaker Wim Wenders who filmed dancers in motion as a tribute to legendary choreographer Pina Bausch, who died in 2009. I found her modern dance so rich and her choreography manages to capture the richness of human experience with direct impact and extreme simplicity and grace. In comparison, the elaborate work of technology that I saw in Freckled Sky pieces did not impress me with dance but with digital technology.
Luckily the YouTube algorithm recommended Enra to watch next. This Tokyo based dance company performs with digital projections at a natural dance speed. This dance company uses graphic projections as an interactive part of their choreography. They dance with projected shapes and designs. They make the viewer believe that they are underwater or have the power to lift huge spheres of light while gracefully dance on stage. The company used gymnastics and circus art to create innovative and masterful new dance forms. The digital projection help elevate the dance form and excited the audience
In the video, the piece above the scale play between the dancer and projections is not seen in traditional dance and the use of digital paintings and even martial arts are unusual and pushes the art form to new levels.
References:
http://enra.jp/works
http://sfglobe.com/2015/08/31/mbC/
https://randomwire.com/dancing-with-light/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/12/arts/dance/pina-bausch-bam-tanztheater-wuppertal.html
Khader, I too, went to YouTube to find digital performances. The one I came across was also from America's Got Talent, but was nothing in comparison to the first video you shared. I think that is an excellent example of the cross and combination of a digital and physical performance. The way the performances interacted with the digital projections was incredible. That to me, was still an art form. Yes, there was a substantial amount of computer generation behind the performance, but the human piece was still just as prevalent. That was entertaining to me, and clearly the audience. To see the physical and digital worlds combine like that is special. Whereas with the performance I found, it seemed to be mostly the computer. It is finding this balance that makes the art special.
ReplyDeleteGreat Comment Dusty,
ReplyDeleteThe interactivity of the performer and technology is what intrigues and interests me in my own work. Who controls who?
I like to consider the interface and inter-relation of the technology and the performer. Clearly, this piece is designed with a pure planned execution of the video projection and the dancers. Beautifully, I may add. I wonder if they do anything that is more interactive in which there are programmed parameters that the MACHINE responds to the performer etc. Nice comment and great videos to share, Khader