Examining the Examiners: An Analysis of “Staring at the Sun”

In an increasingly technologic age, video is becoming more easily accessible, and therefore, infused into all the art forms. Dance has always been about the physical body moving, but now performances are moving forward to incorporate recorded video alongside the live performers. However, intermediated works can often lack a strong connection between the physical movement and the video. The purpose of our project is to create an original work that fuses video and live dance to convey a unified message. The creative research and concluding performance are occurring at The Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) in the Experimental Media and Movement Arts Lab (EMMA). This facility enables experimentation with video projected on screens in and around a dance performance space. The final project will be an eighteen-minute long performance with video projection on three screens and eight live dancers. By choreographing, performing, and creating the video, we can manipulate the distinct parts of the project to continuously search for and construct their relationships. Our research thus far has been a cycle that starts by either choreographing movement or creating video, merging the two, evaluating the video and movement’s effectiveness as a pair, and then returning to previous steps to make appropriate changes. We are striving for a complementary relationship between video and live performance in terms of mood, image, timing, and narrative. Although there will never be one correct formula for creating a successfully intermediated dance work, our research will produce our unique version of what an integrated work can be.No embargoAcademic Major: Danc