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dance-tech.net interviewed via Skype dance and technology pioneer Robert Wechsler, director of Palindrome. He is a choreographer, dancer and developer of interactive ways of performing using new technology. His interest in sensors and electronic devices dates back to the 1970's when he used hand-held electronic devices to generate sounds through his movement on stage. This was in Ames, Iowa, in the United States where he was studying genetics. A move to New York City and a ten-year dance training (SUNY Purchase, Merce Cunningham, Maggie Black, ...) did little to lessen his interest in science and technology. For his choreography and dancing he has been honored with a Fulbright Fellowship, a Nürnberg Innovation Award (2000), CynetArt (first prize for multi-media achievement, 2001), first prize for best interactive art at the Berlin Transmediale (2002) and was second place for the Jury Prize of the Monaco Dance Forum in 2006. In 2004, Wechsler designed England's first masters degree program in digital performance at Doncaster College which he head for two years. He is the author of articles concerned with dance and new media for Leonardo Magazine, IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, Ballet International, Dance Magazine, Dance Research Journal, Nouvelle de Danse, Der Tanz der Dinge and others. His first book, "Motion Tracking -- a practical guide for performing artists" is scheduled for publication later this year. Video Editing courtesy of Ashley A. Friend
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The Golden Viral: Leslie and Ly's

On the day of love, I stood on an old dirty couch and watched a Midwest diva rap about the powers of her shoulder pads and sweater appliqué. The low-budget big-impact show was all flash with projections, heavy electro beats complete with backup singers. It was the Leslie and Lys show at the Mercury Lounge in New York City, and it was sold-out: people dancing, laughing, singing along to her not-so-underground hits, and getting the chance to touch her red rouge cheeks. CDs, t-shirts and other crap were being sold near the front door. How did this happen? In a city of million dollar rat holes, how does an underground phenomenon emerge? Simple: she unleashed her shtick via the internet, exploiting her talent for visual art, music making, dance and performance. Well, the dancing is not going to make her a star, but her moves are fierce and funny.Her entrance that night:In front of skewed videos of chubby aerobic classes, dog grooming, and other weird 80s cultural ephemera, I felt like I was watching a genius. There were low tech effects, like a giant black sock to disguise her dramatic entrance, and the music was courtesy of her laptop, which sat right to the side of the stage. It was technological full disclosure, low and hi-tech. And she shakes and strokes her full-figure beauty/booty in a tight gold-lame confection…a space suit for her alien glamour. Again: nothing to hide. Nobody laughs at her, they dance with her. There were fans with gem-sweaters, called up on stage to get letters of gem-sweater authenticity and then dance: performance pop art without the pomp.It’s Americana from hell. But so lovely are Leslie’s talents that what could be simple kitsch becomes a sophisticated commentary on body-image, whiteness, celebrity and DIY technologies and culture: she didn’t name her CD ceWEBrity for nothing. And, it’s a shit load of fun.See this article about her formative gemness: http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2005/05/24/bedazzled/ http://www.lesliehall.com/#
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Conference March 6-7 New York University Radars and fences, satellites and walls, networks and bunkers. Two different sets of technologies confront us: the former epitomize the selective and flexible character of what Gilles Deleuze termed the “societies of control”; the latter embody the “old” disciplinary paradigm based on separation, physical mass containment, and restriction of the freedom of movement. Most of the times control and discipline coexist ad reinforce each other; sometimes they seem to collide. This is due to a variety of far-reaching factors and transformations occurring in the productive sphere. As a matter of fact, it is the very structure of the network society, with its decentralization of tasks and constant multiplication of electronic eyes that threatens the opacity of physical and immaterial bunkers. By looking at the grey areas where control and discipline, transparency and secrecy, democracy and the state of exception overlap and collide, Radars and Fences provide a cross-disciplinary platform whereby researcherstists, journalists, filmmakers, and activists can negotiate new and critical p, arositions. Go to conference site
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This is a very interesting post by Doug Fox and very relevant comment thread: Danciti and Article19 are discouraging dancers and dance companies from using YouTube. And both are critical of New York City Ballet for creating a new video channel on YouTube. I believe that both Danciti and Article19 are way off the mark. YouTube is one of the most popular websites and their traffic far exceeds sites such as Vimeo and Blip.tv, which the two publications reference. Go to post or see feed in out left side bar
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Tonight, I went to see (Rus)h, presented and produced by Here. A theater/dance multimedia piece directed by Kristin Marting , text and video by James Scruggs and media effects by Hall Eagar. This intimate tale of pleasure and pain with a complex take on the "down Low" gets augmented with a brilliant and slick stage and video design. Besides a very clear integration of the technology in their creative process, is the the use of "tablets" as "video puppets" that makes it more compelling. These tablets are carried by two performers that engage in the actions revealing complementary segments of the global composition or re-arranging them in complete new wholes. The video is ran using Isadora for the two rear projection screens and it is also used to send cues to the tablets. The tables running Isadora receive the cues via the wireless network and play video files that are stored locally. They will be paying until mid march. Very good! If you attend please comment here!
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Yanira Castro+Company is at Dance Theater Workshop.this weekend. I went last night and it really creates a dynamic space within the DTW theater. She transformed DTW theater in a space that reflects the instability and energy of puberty and gestation. I enjoyed a distributed way of integrating the musicians (directed Castro and Stephan Moore) within a changing world of analog sounds and digital processing, from 8bit game toys to real vacuum cleanrs. It is surprising and quotidian. The musicians radicalize the space with their deliberate and simple actions creating a counterpoint of movable nodes. The space became a changing body flooded by "hormonal sounds". The space danced! I you go please comment here!! Yanira Castro + Company Photographer: Julieta Cervantes Title: Center of Sleep Choreography: Yanira Castro, in collaboration with performers Venue: Dance Theater Workshop Date: February 26, 2008 Performer Credits Luke Miller (audience watching) Joseph Poulson, Heather Olson, Luke Miller Watch interview with Yanira Castro:
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I had a lot of fun dancing to the music created by Bubblyfish with loops payed from several Gameboys. Sorry that I had to change the soundtrack! the sound levels of my camera were too high so lots of distortion. That is her music anyway...

MIXER, Eyebeam’s new series dedicated to showcasing leading performing artists in the fields of live video and audio. In addition to live performance by video artists, musicians, VJs and DJs, each MIXER event will present new interactive work by Eyebeam artists that encourages audience participation and creative play. Hybrid in format, and Eyebeam in spirit—collaborative, spontaneous and a little off-the-wall—MIXER will electrify Eyebeam’s Chelsea warehouse for a Saturday night quite unlike any other. Media sponsor: The Onion. Liquor sponsored by Newcastel Brown Ale and Kronenbourg 1664 http://www.eyebeam.org/about/news/022008.html http://www.eyebeam.org/
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A CROSS-SECTED VIEW OF 16 PEOPLE, 16 ROOMS, 16 PRIVATE LIVES, SILENT ROOM IS AN X-RAY VISION OF 16 INTERIORS. IN THIS FILM-POEM, THE ROOM IS FELT FROM THE INSIDE. AN INTERIOR STEEPED IN DISCONTINUITY, WHERE UNUSUAL AND POETIC COMMUNICATIONS UNFOLD WORDLESSLY, THROUGH A CONTAMINATION OF THE SENSES. RATHER THAN A STORY LINE, THERE IS A SET OF TABLEAUX VIVANTS, EACH CRAFTED AROUND A FIXED IDEA, AN IMPULSE, A VOID, A HUNGER FOR AN IDEAL. SILENT ROOM IS A CINEMA OF LIGHT AND SHADOW, A CHAMBER CINEMA, WHEREIN THE MOST SILENT AND LEAST VISIBLE ELEMENTS VIOLENTLY DESCEND TO MURMUR ITS PRESENCE. IN THEIR WORK, THE SKOLTZ_KOLGEN ARTISTS USE A FOTOCINETIQUE APPROACH FOUNDED ON THE TEMPORAL FRAGMENTATION OF ACTION. TO ACHIEVE THIS EFFECT, SEVERAL SIMULTANEOUS CAPTATION TECHNIQUES WERE USED, IN CONFRONTATIONS OF VARIOUS VANTAGE POINTS. FOR A MORE PRECISE CONTROL OF TIME, A BATTERY OF CAMERAS WERE SEQUENTIALLY SYNCHRONIZED TO TAKE OVER 10,000 PHOTOGRAPHS, WHICH WERE SUBSEQUENTLY DIGITIZED AND ANIMATED. THE SKOLTZ_KOLGEN CELL THEN DEVELOPED DIGITAL FREQUENCY-SENSITIVE IMAGE- GENERATING SOFTWARE THAT INSTANTANEOUSLY SHADOWS THE AUDIO TRACK — SOMEWHAT LIKE A HEARTBEAT MONITOR THAT SHADOWS THE FREQUENCIES OF A HEARTBEAT, BUT IN THIS CASE EACH FREQUENCY OF SOUND CAN GENERATE ITS IMAGE EQUIVALENT. PLAYING WITH INTERLUDES OF THIS SPLIT-SECOND SYNERGY BETWEEN SOUND AND FILM, THE MUSIC AND SCORING EXPRESS A STATE OF AFFECT WITHIN THE ROOMS AND THE INTERNAL REALITY OF THE CHARACTERS. THIS IS THE FILM'S NARRATIVE TRACK. THERE IS NO DIALOGUE TO FOSTER UNDERSTANDING OR ANY REASSURANCES FOR THE VIEWER. INSTEAD, WE REMAIN IN A STATE OF CONTROLLED HYPNOSIS. SILENT ROOM IS AN ART OBJECT THAT DEFIES CLASSIFICATION — A HIGHLY POTENT FILM OF ITS TIME. Via dance-tech list by Hélène Lesterlin I saw the video work of skoltz_kolgen in Montreal and thought their work also had a very strong element of choreography, movement, humanness, tenderness, staging, theatricality... I saw the five channel video work entitled "Silent Room". Beautiful! If you get a chance to see their work, do it. http://www.skoltzkolgen.com/
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dance-tech.net went to Eyebeam's Mixer party. This is a short video showing visitors interacting with drawn - an installation for hands and ink, zachary lieberman (2006) From Zach's website: This project presents a whimsical scenario in which painted ink forms appear to come to life, rising off the page and interacting with the very hands that drew them. Inspired by early filmic “lightning sketches,” in which stop-motion animation techniques were used to create the illusion of drawings escaping the page, drawn presents a modern update: custom-developed software alters a video signal in real time, creating a seamless, organic and even magical world of spontaneous and improvised performance of hand and ink. http://www.thesystemis.com/drawnInstallation/index.html MIXER, Eyebeam’s new series dedicated to showcasing leading performing artists in the fields of live video and audio. In addition to live performance by video artists, musicians, VJs and DJs, each MIXER event will present new interactive work by Eyebeam artists that encourages audience participation and creative play. Hybrid in format, and Eyebeam in spirit—collaborative, spontaneous and a little off-the-wall—MIXER will electrify Eyebeam’s Chelsea warehouse for a Saturday night quite unlike any other. Media sponsor: The Onion. Liquor sponsored by Newcastel Brown Ale and Kronenbourg 1664 http://www.eyebeam.org/about/news/022008.html http://www.eyebeam.org/
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