BeginnINgs

Researcher Elizabeth Becker uses personal experiences of pregnancy alongside scholarly research on the developmental movement patterns of the human embryo, fetus, and newborn’s first year of life to explore the multiplicity of these movement patterns within and outside the womb. Becker explores the relationship between the fertilization, germinal, embryonic, and fetal stages in relation to a newborn and its mother. These movement patterns within the beginning stages of life are valuable to research because they simulate neurodevelopmental patterns, which help wire the central nervous system in early childhood. These movements also help lay the foundation for sensory-motor development and life-long learning. Using contemporary dance performance as a medium, Becker creatively manifests her research while exploring how a somatic practice, such as Body-Mind Centering and dance performance by the mother, may contribute to movement in the womb

Sensual experience of architecture and dance

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1991.Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-89).Dance and architecture are two disciplines of creativity that share a special relationship. Both disciplines define and use space as the main medium for creative interpretation. Dance is movement of the human body through space over time. Architecture and its spatial qualities are experienced by the human body through movement over time. To think about space created for and by the body as the common linkage between dance and architecture. I utilized the dance performance theatre as a vehicle of design investigation. By employing spatial concepts as perceived in dance to inform the design of architectural space. I can address the creative process of design through the interchange of ideas from two artistic disciplines. The intent of this thesis is to find an architectural solution for the dance performance theatre that informs the users of dance and allows dance to inform the definition of the architectural space. In this reciprocal dialogue. I hope to expand the vision and interpretation of both architecture and dance.by Emily Rai-Pi Huang.M.Arch

Mengamati Aspek-Aspek Visual Pertunjukan Tari Sebagai Pengayaan Kajian Senirupa

According to the medium, arts can be classified into the art of visual, the art of hearing, and the art of words. Those included in the art of visual are dance and fine art, in the art of hearing is music and in the art of words is poetry. This paper describes one of the art of the visual"”dance, which use human body and its movement as a medium of expression. Fact shows that a dance performance exists due to the involvement of supporting elements such as visual disposition. Certain dances limit themselves to the supporting elements of costumes, make-up, property (tools) and musical instruments; others equip with stages, decorations, and lightings. Traditional dances"”in particular"”extensively equip themselves with supporting elements to show its characteristics. Thus, since dance requires the supporting element of visuals, it is reasonable to observe it as similar to the way we observe the object of fine art. The scope of observation for the supporting elements of dance performance may cover the whole visual events or just merely one of the scenes. Therefore, a contextual knowledge of both inside and outside can be fully grasped to form the background of the dance performance

su dansi. A dance film – and – Dancing elements: The making of su dansi - a dance film. An exegesis

This research project titled Dancing Elements explores choreographic conversations between the body and natural elements, specifically water on film. I question how natural elements when viewed in relation to the dancing body, can begin to be seen as a dancing entity. This research is divided between scholarship and the creation of a new dance film, su dansi which is Turkish for ‘water dance.’ su dansi is a collaborative and explorative outcome that plays with the dancing body and water through the art form of film. Drawing from author Sylvie Vitaglione (2016), I have adopted her term “natural elements’’ in reference to elements such as earth, water, fire, sand and air and look to Vitaglione as a departure point to discuss dance on film that is centred on such elements. Through the medium of film I attempt to take the twenty-first century gaze away from urbanity, technology and consumerism, and point toward the beauty and virtuosity of the human amidst the organic natural elements of the world. The creative process uses practice-led research as a paradigm to investigate how water moves, more specifically how it ‘dances’. I studied the movement of water and bodies through various filmed scenes to portray cinematic and choreographic techniques that highlight the ‘dance’ of water

Sentient: An Investigation of the Sensuous Self

I choreograph with the goal of filling the space with palpably sensuous experiences. As living bodies (dancer or not), we construct our own reality based on experience. The medium for experiencing the outside world is the body, more specifically the sensing body. Through sense memory, we attach ourselves to the world around us, drawing conclusions and connections according to what we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. Sense memory is a rich and compelling tool I’ve had dancers utilize in making movement that I eventually compile and organize. Although dance performance is a dominantly visual art form, I aim to engage the whole physical self, the sensing self, to communicate with my work when an audience experiences it. Personally, dance choreography is an outlet for investigating the nuances in human connections, both on and offstage. Dance has the potential to reflect the person we don’t share with the larger community on a daily basis. I’m influenced by the strength in vulnerability, the sincerity in dancing with another person, and the generosity in sharing secrets with strangers in the abyss-like setting of a darkened theater. Dance choreography can act as a magnifying lens to the human condition or abstract elemental aspects of how we’re individually wired. The body can potentially transform into something novel or ordinary. Nevertheless revelations are made. How beautiful is the dancing body that it can rewrite history like this. I act on sensitive intuition and an architectural eye for shapes and figures. The empty space is a blank sheet of paper and my dancers become the blueprint on the page. I’m literally building my work with muscles and bones, directing how they carve through space, how they lie still, or how they weave together to create instantaneous snapshots of human interaction. And just as an edifice has its own unique creaks, echoes, and resonance, each dancer has an internal rhythm that converses with another to make a unique phrase or relationship. The music and architecture of the human body amalgamate to create movement. This semester I choreographed two separate pieces: Imprints of Wounded Marble, Lodestone. These pieces serve as a physical commentary on my artistic perspective—within the dance-making process, performance, and being a regular Jane looking for connections, however varied in nature

Dancescape: A Work in theTranslation of Bodies and Movement

Translation is inevitably challenging work. When the human body and its movement are the subjects translated, the work may be particularly difficult, as questions both technical and ethical may arise about the representation in the second medium. Yet the exercise can also be very illuminating, creating space for insights that may not have been possible without the translation. For my Scripps College art thesis, I have created a series of paintings of Western dancers and researched four artists whose work involves bodies, movement, or dance and whose approaches differ tremendously. These artists are Edgar Degas (1834-1917), an impressionist painter known for his images of ballet, Julie Mehretu (born 1970), an abstract painter whose work implies dynamic movement, David Michalek (born 1967), a video artist and photographer who recently created a video exhibition called Slow Dancing, and Yvonne Rainer (born 1934), a choreographer and filmmaker whose work analyzes the audience-performer relationship and the politics of the body being watched. The work of these artists exemplifies four unique approaches in rendering the ephemeral and handling the politically charged territory of bodies as the subjects of artwork. With analyses of Degas, Mehretu, Michalek, and Rainer laying a comprehensive backdrop, I will then examine the technical and ethical implications of my own attempt to translate the body and movement to canvas

La danse étatsunienne du début du XXème siècle aux années 1980 : histoire d’une dichotomie entre mouvement et geste

Le mouvement est l’essence de la danse : le corps se contracte et se détend, fléchit et s’étire, fait des gestes et des mouvements. Depuis le début du 20ème siècle, les chorégraphes nord-américains accentuent soit le mouvement, le fait de mouvoir le corps, soit les gestes, des mouvements auxquels on ajoute quelque chose comme la signification, la fonction, la connotation ou l’intention. Influencée par les théories de François Delsarte sur le lien entre les mouvements et le comportement psychologique, Isadora Duncan est convaincue que la danse est un médium plus efficace que le langage pour révéler les désirs et les sentiments. Les gestes dansés ont la capacité de communiquer de façon affective. D’une façon similaire, Martha Graham pense que le mouvement ne ment jamais. Pour les danseurs modernes, la danse est une pensée humaine pratiquée par le corps humain, avec des intentions humaines. Merce Cunningham prétend que le but de ses danses est le mouvement : lorsque l’on se concentre sur le mouvement, on peut considérer la danse comme un système semi-autonome. La signification se situe alors dans la manipulation structurelle des éléments espace, temps, rythme, dynamique et le contrôle physique du corps humain. Pour les chorégraphes postmodernes, l’objet de la danse est en priorité le mouvement, la création d’un schéma éphémère dans lequel le concept (les idées sur la danse), le processus qui conduit à la représentation, le médium (le corps comme instrument) et le produit, la performance dansée, fusionnent. Dans ce cas, l’attention se porte plus sur les qualités formelles de la danse.Movement is the essence of dance: the body contracts and releases, flexes and extends, gestures and moves. Since the beginning of the 20th century, North-American choreographers have emphasized either movement, the fact of bodily action, or gestures, movements to which something is added like meaning, function, connotation or intention. Influenced by Delsarte’s theories on the link between movements and psychological behaviour, Isadora Duncan is convinced that dance is a more effective medium than language in revealing desires and feelings. Dance gestures alone have the capability to communicate affectively. Similarly, Martha Graham thinks that movement never lies. For modern dancers, dance is human thought and emotions performed by the human body for human purposes. Merce Cunningham claims that the purpose of his dances is movement for movement. When movement is the focus, dance can be considered as a semi-autonomous system. Meaning is then found in the structural manipulation of the elements of space, time, rhythm, dynamics, and the body’s physical control. For postmodern dancers, the purpose of dance is primarily movement, the creation of an ephemeral design in which concept (ideas about dance), process which leads to performance, medium (the body instrument), and product (the dance performance) merge. In this case, attention then focuses more on the formal qualities of dance

Soul Furnace / فرن الأرواح

“This is the good washing, this is (the washing) which separates the dirty body from the pure body. This is like silver mixed with lead, it is separated from it by this (process): one makes for it a cupel of bones, which is what is called the “head of the dog” and of which the common name is kūja-which is the crucible—and this must be made of burnt bones. One melts the silver in it, one gives it a strong fire: the cupel will absorb and receive the lead, the fire will make its subtle (part) fly away and extirpate it, and there will remain unmixed silver with no adulteration in it.” — Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurtubī (339-342 or 906-964) from Rutbat al-hakīm (The Rank of the Sage) My practice occupies several crossroads—crossroads between pattern and poetry, ritual and time, artifact and the body, and obsession along with devotion. Curiosity is my primary medium. I draw somatic influences from my childhood and young adulthood as a ballet dancer; as a result, I seek to work viscerally. In my studio, to work viscerally means to reference my own body from a visual and an internal, felt perspective. Utilizing my dance background in unconventional ways outside of the pressures of the traditional Vaganova-style ballet studio in which I grew up is integral to my work. Subverting dance allows me to be both innovative in defining what dance is through a constant exploration and redefinition, as well as allowing space for kindness towards my physical form, a kindness that was out of the question in intensive ballet training. I no longer see my body as a tool to wield perfectly, but my apparatus in expressions of imperfect, asymmetrical, lively bodily autonomy. Freestyle movement as expression is a celebratory act of what is inevitable in human existence. One of many inevitabilities is the end of the experience in the imperfect human vessel. My practice is influenced by the metallurgic process of cupellation, from both visual and metaphorical perspectives. Cupellation is a refining process in metallurgy where ores or alloyed metals are treated under very high temperatures, typically using hot air from a furnace, to separate noble metals from base metals present in the ore. I believe that a similar process of moving from impurity to purity is present in the collective human psyche in terms of our relationship to technological advancements involving the human body. Notions of high pressure and undergoing transformative processes seem akin to the scientific journey towards life-extending implementations, while the color changes involved in the cupellation process echo the human corpse in the decaying process. This shared quality of color change reminds me of the inevitability of death, but equally the transformative qualities in the processes of life. The human body is alchemical and mortal in tandem. Only a mortal existence can be an alchemical one, and an alchemical species such as humans comes with technology, the thirst for discovery, and the yearning to live without constraint. However, without death, life would have no meaning. My work is a meditation on the human body as artifact outside of time as we continue to attempt to escape aging, natural disaster, decay, and our inevitable transformation into something else entirely