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TROIKA RANCH LIVE-I WORKSHOP 2013

THE MACHINE IS NOT SPECIAL

In days of old, a computer was an object of awe that had to be handled with great care lest it fail. Today, the computer is just a variation on a wrench or Swiss Army Knife: it’s a household tool used to fix something, to make something, to bash something, to locate something, to tighten something. It is a means to an end that can be wielded wildly.

That’s why this year’s workshop is expressly designed for physical performers – anyone whose primary expressive means is through the action of the body. Our idea is to use computer technology and algorithmic thinking to inspire new ways of devising and organizing movement, a network of digital constraints within which we want you to become a whirling dervish.

To that end, each morning begins with a two-hour movement exercise designed to closely mimic – in physical terms – the technological process that will be explored later that same day. In the afternoon, you’ll learn how make a technological implementation of that physical process in the software Isadora®. Everyone will end up with a very similar structural framework – a tiny “engine” of interaction.

Then, both individually and as a group, we will rigorously explore several questions: how does this technological system inform, dictate, change my movement choices? What conflicts do I feel between my body’s desire and the imposition of the system? Can I, or should I, subvert it?

Each day we will inject these interaction-engines with “fresh fuel”: new visual and aural material, altered action, rigorous rearranging, tender touches, and dramatic destruction.

By the end of the workshop you will have discovered the computer as a tool of intervention in your movement process, will have gained a bit of technical know-how, and – most importantly – will leave with a greater understanding of how digital systems can lead you to surprising compositional outcomes.

When: July 15 – 19, 2013

Time: 10:00AM – 4:00PM, Monday through Friday

Where: Studio 2, 810 SE Belmont Street, Portland, OR 97214

Fee: $750 (Includes a one-year license for Isadora)

Application Deadline: May 7, 2013

Notification of Acceptance: No later than May 17, 2013

Non-Refundable Deposit Deadline: $250 Due by May 31, 2013.

NOTE: Troika Ranch requires a minimum of 6 confirmed participants in order to hold the workshop. If less then 6 deposits are received by May 31, 2013, the workshop may be cancelled. Cancellation would be announced by June 3, 2013.