UNIVERSITY of CALGARY Designing a Choreographic
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UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Designing a Choreographic Movement Matrix: The Intermedia Relationship Between Stage and Screen by Jennifer Mahood A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTERS OF FINE ARTS DRAMA CALGARY, ALBERTA April, 2012 © Jennifer Mahood 2012 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87928-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-87928-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada ABSTRACT In this thesis, I examine the movement connections between stage and screen through my own hybrid works, Somnolence and Fraction (contemporary dance and videodance within live performance). I suggest that a hybrid work and process renders a work intermedia, and that the intertwining of these mediums through the process give rise to an intermedial work that is greater than the sum of its parts. Additionally, I argue that there is something even more foundational embedded in the hybrid process: a web of connections that exist across the mediums. I assert that it is this web of connections (what I call a matrix, or matrices) that is made between mediums that allows for the hybrid work to be perceived and experienced as a whole. u ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and Foremost I would like to acknowledge the encouragement and support of my close family and friends, Heather and Scott, Geri, Marcia, Michael, and Amanda. Thank- you! I appreciate your listening ears and encouraging words. To Mark, my husband, I extend my deepest gratitude for the patience, love, and grounding support that you have demonstrated throughout this process. To Melanie Kloetzel, my MFA supervisor, a special thank you. You are a remarkable artist, scholar, and teacher who skillfully walks the line between encouraging and demanding. Thank you to Melissa Monteros, and the Department of Dance for your support throughout my MFA coursework and concert. iii Dedicated to the memory of Robert E. Mahood IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Dedication iv Table of Contents v List of Figures vii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: WHERE STAGE MEETS SCREEN 7 Intermedia 7 Modern Dance Pioneers 10 The Beginning of Film in Live Performance 17 Dance on Film: Intermedia? 21 CHAPTER 2: MAKING DANCES AND MAKING VIDEODANCES 34 Contemporary Dance Choreography 34 Videodance 38 Focusing the Eye: the role of the videographer 38 Camera Techniques 39 The Editing Process 44 Dance and Videodance 47 v CHAPTER 3: SOMNOLENCE 50 Initial Movement Creation 52 Videography 55 Building a Hybrid Movement Vocabulary: Developmental Dualism 64 CHAPTER 4: FRACTION AND THE LEARNING PROCESS 74 Fraction 74 Initial Movement Creation 76 Videography 76 Building a Hybrid Movement Vocabulary: Developmental Dualism 80 The Learning Process 87 CHAPTER 5: MOVEMENT MATRIX OF MEANING 93 Analysis 109 Moving Forward 112 Conclusion 114 REFERENCES 116 APPENDIX A: Somnolence Timeline 121 APPENDIX B: Somnolence sections 2, 3, 4, 7,9,10, and 11 122 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1.1 Intermedia Chart 2.1 Screen Shot of Final Cut Pro Workflow 3.1 'Stone house' 3.2 'Structure' 3.3 'Rockslide' 3.4 'Tree' 3.5 'River' 3.6 Weather Shield 3.7 Makeshift Dolly 4.1 Fraction Performance Space 4.2 Fraction Television Sequence Still 5.1 Jump Movement Matrix Map 5.2 Pebble Movement Matrix Map 5.3 Section 6 Matrix Map 5.4 Section 6 photographs 5.5 Overlay of Jump Movement Matrix and Pebble Movement Matrix 5.6 Photo: Twice vii 1 Introduction Movement. It is the fundamental core of both dance and film. Both forms rely on motion as an essential ingredient. As a choreographer and general movement enthusiast, I find the juncture between these two mediums fascinating. What happens when dance is on the screen? What happens when that screen is placed within a live dance context? What are the possibilities for movement to collectively communicate through these sites? The combination of these mediums is a paradox. Dance dates back to the beginning of our species, and video (my cinematic medium of choice) is a relatively new technology and realm of artistic expression. One focuses on an organic body, the other on a synthetic body comprised of data bytes and pixels. The two mediums seem worlds apart, yet the common key interest, movement, marries them in an enticing way. Many screen-based technologies connected to dance have emerged in the last two centuries and the discourse around dance and technology has grown full and varied. I am focusing on videodance and dance within live performance because of my fascination with each medium's commonality: movement. Specifically, I am intrigued by the varied perspectives each medium has to offer movement through their individual creation processes, and their sites for performance. By intertwining these processes, I seek to reveal and shift the way we see and experience space, time, and the body. The digitally-mediated body is a counterfeit concoction of data bytes. It is a forgery, not real. It is not made of flesh, blood, and bone. However, through sympathetic human perception, humans recognize and identify with the digitally-mediated body as a replica 2 or a version of the human form. It looks human. However, it is decidedly different. It is considered a cyborg, part human, part machine.1 (Dodds, 2004; Hables Gray, 1995; Hess, 1995; Haraway, 1991) It is two-dimensional. It lives on the screen, free of the earthly realities of gravity, time, and space. In my choreographic works Somnolence and Fraction, I employ videodance within live contemporary dance performance, juxtapositioning the mediated body with the living body through coexisting stage and screen spaces. Through these works, I pose the questions: what happens when the mediated body shares a performance space with its genuine, original, three-dimensional, living, breathing, fleshy self? Where does the dance live? How can I facilitate a process that lends itself to creating a movement vocabulary that is equal and entwining of both bodies? How does the movement communicate between stage and screen? Is there a foundation for the work that unites the live and video elements into a single work? 1A cyborg is considered a hybrid of human body and machine. The term, made popular through science fiction, is applicable to our human dependence on technology. Hess has coined die term 'low-tech cyborg' to include humans with any technology such as a phone or computer, whereas Hables Gray has deconstructed cyborg technology into four categories, 'restorative', 'normalizing', 'reconfiguring' and 'enhancing'. (Dodds, 2001, p. 265) Dodds draws from Hables Gray discussing the videodance body as most closely related to an 'enhancing' cyborg because of the digital capability for enhancing the possibilities for the human body. Dodds draws a correlation, not an absolute, that the videodance body is a cyborg. She draws this distinction because the videodance body is not human. It is a replica unable to think and feel; therefore, Dodds implies that the videodance body can be considered entirely mechanical. Haraway, the original theorist behind all these later arguments discusses cyborgs through a feminist perspective, using the cyboig as a metaphor for the dualisms in feminist politics. Haraway believes that there should be no distinction between bodies and objects. She states, "We are all cyborgs." (Haraway, 1991, p. 150) Throughout this thesis I apply the term cyborg to digital bodies. I use this term to distinguish between the live bodies and the digital bodies. I feel the term 'cyboig' can be applied to the videodance body, because of its perceived-as-human nature, and its digital existence. However, an argument can be made that all involved in the process were cyborgs due to the cyborgian relationships that myself and the live dancers had with the digital dancers. 3 Through my investigation, I developed a movement vocabulary that itself is both carnal and digitally-mediated. It is a hybrid. The movement lives in the bodies of the performers, both visceral and virtual. Each of these bodies is capable of communicating movement through individually distinct processes; however, in these works, each medium is completely dependent on the other to interpret the overall work.