Re: FW: New web dance

Richard Lord (richard@bigroom.co.uk)
Fri, 2 Jul 1999 00:46:13 +0100

Just for the record, in case there's doubt about it, I'd like to say that
I'm also very attached to the human body. This summer I will be
choreographing a small project which just involves dancers, a composer
and myself. For the first time in three years (for me) there's no
technology involved at all (even the music is acoustic and live). This is
what got me into dance originally and it's great to get back to it.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy working with technology - variety is
the spice of life, etc.

This talk of working with human bodies leads me to a thought: I feel
guilty if I ask dancers to work for nothing - to the extent that I don't
do that anymore. If I need a dancer for a project I pay them. My web
dances are a hobby that has cost me nothing but time, mainly because my
commercial web work has required the purchase of computer equipment, and
this is what I use to make the web dances. If there was a commercial
reason to own a living dancer (assuming such a transaction were possible)
then I'd spend my spare time choreographing little sketches and ideas
with that person, but without the commercial justification for the
initial outlay I instead only work with live dancers on my more
substantial and funded live or video projects. This may not be the right
attitude, and it hasn't always been my way, but it is my way at the
moment.

I have a feeling that last paragraph may spark another discussion - go
for it ;-)

Richard

P.S. I'm going to try to keep quiet for a couple of days - all this talk
is keeping me from my work. Will read and write you after the weekend.

>Hi all,
>
>When I posted my comment about "what is dance" on the List, it wasn't to
>be cynical, rather to provoke thought and discussion about dance on the
>internet. Well, it worked! Let's not be so negative by likening this
>kind of questioning with critics of the 50's or any other decade. Some of
>us, or least I am, just very attached to the human body in motion and
>would like to see it involved in "dance", but I also think that everything
>that moves can be called "dance". I hope we can stay open to discussion
>without poo-pooing it.
>
>Jen