Choreographer William Forsythe talks about his motivations for the development of the Synchronous Objects, his perspectives on choreography and about his support for creative exchange and research within his company.
http://synchronousobjects.osu.edu/http://www.theforsythecompany.com/
Thanks to TMA Hellerau
Dresden, Germany
4/5/09
Produced by Marlon Barrios Solano
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Thanks for the interview. I think the comments are very generous and grounding. Makes us think further about the accessibility of dance nowadays and the importance of spreading information around. Does anybody know if there is some kind of online archive where choregrapher´s methodologies, performance or teaching methods can be uploaded or any similar initiative?
I think that maybe the reason has not a textual corpus it is maybe due to the brain fnctions involved.Dancers mainly use our right hemisphere, which is related with visospatial abilities and analogical processing of events. On the other hand writing and its digital processing is related with the left hemisphere, which science has proved that it is less active in most dancers.
Thank you Marlon and Will for this interview. Adding to the storehouse of knowledge on an art form that is always on the verge of disappearing is fundamental to its growth. Discussions amongst the makers is most important but not always welcome; they are as slippery and elusive as the medium within which they work. Thanks for clarity of thought and action and for sharing some solid common ground.
Thank you Marlon and Bill for publishing your ideas in this conversation (even though we hear one side, of course it is about both voices!) Yes – thank god we have freedom to think (maybe not as much time as we’d like) but the ability to think with freedom – that is another story.
Although sometimes poetry transcends language, for the most part language about dance must be metaphor. I think movement is the only way to speak movement.
A choreographed dance presented to an audience in performance - a period of time that will never reoccur - is an object of art precisely because of it’s ephemeral nature. It creates a specific memory in the minds of viewer, and in the lives of the dancers and choreographer, that remains their – in the mind. A virtual object or simulacra (the video recording is far less than simulacra!) A simulacrum goes beyond the limits of ‘reality.” A painting or piece of music can take you there – but the dance is there.
I would like to see brain activity of a dancer (not just any dancer and not just in any dance)... How would the process of being hooked up to sensors and electricity – even if the interface was seamless - affect the dancer's brain activity? Which part of the EEG would be the mediating material? Would the image data created by the EEG be the 'same' as the movement, or would it be a metaphor? Semir Zeki may be interested in this experiment....
Of course, for the Public to understand, (and hopefully to get funding) we need ‘real’ objects (as opposed to – hey, let’s muddy the water even more and call them True objects of art!) so that it can be disseminated, discussed, studied and analysed, so that this art can live in the ‘real’ world ...with historicity!
Comments
Although sometimes poetry transcends language, for the most part language about dance must be metaphor. I think movement is the only way to speak movement.
A choreographed dance presented to an audience in performance - a period of time that will never reoccur - is an object of art precisely because of it’s ephemeral nature. It creates a specific memory in the minds of viewer, and in the lives of the dancers and choreographer, that remains their – in the mind. A virtual object or simulacra (the video recording is far less than simulacra!) A simulacrum goes beyond the limits of ‘reality.” A painting or piece of music can take you there – but the dance is there.
I would like to see brain activity of a dancer (not just any dancer and not just in any dance)... How would the process of being hooked up to sensors and electricity – even if the interface was seamless - affect the dancer's brain activity? Which part of the EEG would be the mediating material? Would the image data created by the EEG be the 'same' as the movement, or would it be a metaphor? Semir Zeki may be interested in this experiment....
Of course, for the Public to understand, (and hopefully to get funding) we need ‘real’ objects (as opposed to – hey, let’s muddy the water even more and call them True objects of art!) so that it can be disseminated, discussed, studied and analysed, so that this art can live in the ‘real’ world ...with historicity!
So thank you Bill for giving us both!
I have also enjoyed your posts about the Synchronous Objects project.
Cheers.
marlon
Thanks!
This is great!
Best,
Doug
Great Dance