Using internet connections in dance educational projects

        There has been different projects which have used internet to develop educational and performing projects in dance.

The TRIAD project (2001)
       This project used internet to establish communication between dance students (9-18 year-old) from the United States, Portugal and England. They worked with internet communications to cosntruct choreographic pieces and to receive feed back about their dance classes. In this case, the internet was not used to communicate simultaneously. In this way, the students had time to analyze and comment their own and other classmates´in other countries with out the pressure of a real-time connection which tends to improvisation.

                     The TRIAD Project: using Internet communications to challenge students’understandings of choreography

                       SITA POPAT,

                       School of Performance and Cultural Industries, University of Leeds, Bretton Hall Campus, U.K.

                       (e-mail: pcusp@leeds.ac.uk)

                       ABSTRACT

                       The TRIAD Project presents an innovative approach to the use of Information and Communication   

                       Technologies (ICTs) in the teaching of choreography. They formed an Internet dance community, sharing

                       their choreographic ideas via movies and text, and developing an original dance work. The asynchronous

                       method of communication encouraged a re ective attitude that supported the learning situation. Through

                       their efforts to explain their creative processes to peer groups via the dynamic Website, the young dancers

                       developed their personal understandings of choreography. The need to communicate clearly via text and

                       movies led to increases in the students’usage of dance-based critical vocabulary, and encouraged objective

                       appraisal of creative work. Discussion of the work by the other peer groups challenged the students to deal

                       with different dance styles and other choreographic approaches.

 

Back ground for the TRIAD project:

 

                        There are several examples both in performance and education of using real-time or

                        synchronous connections for choreographic work. Laura Knott carried out her experiments

                        with online live connections using Internet videoconferencing in 1998 with her World Simultaneous 

                        Dancce project.

                      As early as 1995, Amanda Steggell was working on a project called M@ggie’s Love Bytes where

                       participants from around the world could join a group of dancers in a theatre with an audience and give

                       input to affect the improvised dance.

 

                      In the education world, artists such as Susan Kozel and Wayne McGregor have used live videoconference

                  connections as part of workshops and courses. However, although these types of synchronous connections

                      reflect the immediacy of performance or the studio situation, they rely on reactive rather than reflective

                      methods of response. To be involved in this way in the making of choreography requires improvisation or

                      quick decision making, whereas work that is carried out asynchronously allows time for re ection and

                      consideration. In the classroom, the teacher will commonly set a task and then allow a period of time for

                      experimentation and discovery before asking for presentation of an outcome. During that period, the teacher

                      might move among the students, offering suggestions or advice on an individual basis and returning after a

                      short time to view progress, in a manner akin to the asynchronous method of working. Although

                      synchronous multimedia technology does not have the ‘high-tech’ excitement of live synchronous

                      connection, this research indicates that it may be the more effective vehicle for the teaching of

                      choreography.

                  Research in Dance Education, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2002

 

            This project set a preceding in the use of internet with educational purposes. Additionally, it took into account previous dance works using internet as a tool to work collaboratively between dance artists.Having an understanding about what have been done in the past in the dance field will be helpful to question those works with the objective to produce new interesting ways of using internet performances not only at a professional or university levels but also in regular schools.

Working with delayance

        The use of new technologies in creating dance performances is not a current topic. There are several precedents about that. Since the invention of cinematography, many ballet and dance pieces have been filmed to document them. However, the creation of artistic products combining technology and dance has an interesting precedent. In 1968, Norman Mc Laren filmed a contemporary ballet pas de deux (duo) which shows the use of new technologies (at that time). This is one of the first samples of collaborative projects in arts using new technologies. This work showed a innovating artistic way of expression for that time. 

          Mc Laren filmed two dancers performing a Ludmilla Chiriaeff´s choreography. This film was photographed on high contrast stock, with optical, step-and-repeat printing. In this way, it was possible to obtain a “sensuous and almost stroboscopic appearance” in the film. This cinematographer played with the layers of the movie in order to give many visual effects. One of them was the use of delayance. Actually, he constantly got that effect when several images of the same movement were repeated again, again and again. This kind of delayance built several figures of the dancers which move into the black space harmoniously. These images, one above the other, showed an aesthetic innovating way of “seeing” dance. The high contrast between black and white also helped to make emphasis on visual games rather than just about dance movement. 

 

 

McLaren Pas de Deux video link

         One of the problems when we work in interactive internet performances is the audio and video delayance. As the internet transfer rate for audio is almost simultaneous, dancers are worried about video delaynce. Sometimes, we will work with short delaynces according to the quality of technology devices and internet bandwidth. Other times, we will have to deal with this problem no matter what. Consequently, we could think in a creative way. Seeing the problem as an opportunity will help us to figure out unexpected solutions.

          Do not think about delayance as problem. Keep in mind that this could offer us new ways to construct the choreography visually. Thus, delayance will be another element to play with –as music is— in order to build up our dance. Now, we have dancers, music, images from screens and delayance.

Learning how to deal with new technologies

         As dance artists, we are accustomed to working with our bodies, feeling sensations, listening to the music, moving into the space and interacting with other people on stage. I could say that we are more “physical” people. We need to know very well where we are performing; in this way we are comfortable dancing and acting for our audience. We are interested in feeling and moving our body, internalizing the music and being aware of our surroundings. We like to control our environment. Our natural environments since we were kids are the dance classroom and the theater. Both of them are big spaces to move where you can easily establish with whom you are physically connected (colleagues, audience, teacher, choreographer, musicians). Inside those places, we are able to control and get to know what our dance atmosphere is. However, when this familiar and comfortable environment suddenly changes, we are going to have a weird sensation, a sensation of instability.

       Multimedia collaboration and interactive internet distributed performances are complete new environments for many dance artists. Working with new technologies in order to create performances and artistic products is a relatively new field for choreographers, teachers and dancers. Everything is challenging and demanding in the process of getting to know new and useful technological tools. Working with wires, computers, screens, cameras, mixers, microphones, internet connections, softwares, and many others could be frustrating some times. Mostly, understanding how they work could be unpleasant too. Everything related to new technologies is beyond the “physical connection” that we like a lot. We do not have the control of our artistic environment anymore. The place is new, the way of connecting to people is new, the way of interacting with other artists is new, they way of feeling the music is new; and moreover, the sensations in our bodies will be new when we dance with other people through internet. Now, fear appears. Will I be able to express artistically in this completely new and technological surrounding?



        The course of acquiring new skills is a  kind of demanding for any person. In this process, many doubts could arise especially in artists ‘minds because we are questioning all the time about the validity of our work. Will I be able to master these proceedings in order to gain new ways of expressing my artistic ideas? Could I express my thoughts using new technologies? Will I understand how these devices and software work? How will be the relationship with other artists through internet?  As I wrote above, dancers like to control their environment. It is important to us to understand how our body moves, how to use dance technique, how to listen to the music, how to express our feelings to the audience. Therefore, the first step to become comfortable working in Collaborative projects in the performing arts, using new technologies, is to comprehend how they work.