Re: Raisons d'texture...

Dawn Stoppiello (troika@artswire.org)
Thu, 30 Oct 1997 18:56:45 -0500

Hello team:

I just went back to the original comment from Mary-Lou
">also, the question arose of the necessity of the technology. For it
>to be effective should the audience be aware that the dancers have the
>ability to control the sound... or will it still appear simply as if
>these sounds were already pre-recorded? Has anyone else come across
>this dilemma?

how interesting is her choice of the word "necessity". Is the dancer
necessary to the dance? Is any technology "necessary" to the art. I know
its symantics but none of it is necessary, however most of it is fun,
entertaining, infuriating...whatever. My response to her statement was
really more about the awareness of the audience and if that is im[portant
and not so much about the kind of sound (sampled, mic-ed, etc.) created by
the performers. funny how this whole duel-logue came out of it. The rock
man says "you see what you wanna see, and you hear what you wanna hear. (i
did not read all the responses so don't know what got really discussed)

>from Julie Wilson-Bokowiec"- you don't DO THINGS to dancers - they can
>make choices for themselves Part of the problem I think is that dancers
>are still viewed as objects by both technologists and comp[osers -"

Whose fault is this? I can only blame myself if I am being treated in a way
that I don't feel good about. I think you might be right about dancers
being veiwed as objects but whose responsibility is it to change that? You
and I and others on this list are in fact setting an example! Pushing back
the boundries! We ARE doing it! Good for us!

I also think that if I am working with a composer/technologist who veiws me
as an object (and I am aware of it) - then I stop working with her/him.
Dancers also have to grow a spine sometimes! I simply think that
dancers(choreographers) have come to the technology game a tad later than
the composers, so we just need time to catch up.

>I think that a beautiful solo dance, performed in silence, will prove
>either that the human body is far from obsolete...

Mark may have taken this from my personal desire to one day perform a
movement solo without costume or sound or light and bring the veiwer to
tears. I think that less is most often more and I keep that in mind when
starting to play with all the bells and whistles.

>I am drawn
>to make a different kind of dance that allows the moving human body and
>media (video imagery or computer controlled music or whatever) to come
>together in their own kind of duet.

Me too. (it's a good thing I guess (hi Mark))

more in another month or so.
Dawn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dawn Stoppiello / Artistic Co-director / Troika Ranch / troika@artswire.org
http://www.art.net/~troika
321 Graham Avenue #4R Brooklyn, NY 11211 +1.718.218.6775
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