Videodance: A New Approach to Dance and Expression PDF

Didactic Unit III An approach to dance styles and expressive manifestations Dance and Corporal Expression Beatriz Garrido López Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Science Video-dance It is a means of expression where the beauty of the chor...

Didactic Unit III An approach to dance styles and expressive manifestations Dance and Corporal Expression Beatriz Garrido López Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Activity and Sport Science Video-dance It is a means of expression where the beauty of the choreography and the corporal expression of the artists are combined with the advantages offered by audiovisual media and computer technology. Although dance and cinema have been related, it has been video and the advance of digital resources that have been the key factors in the emergence and development of new expressive forms of dance. As an artistic form in full expansion, video-dance is an excellent medium for producing and disseminating dance. This audiovisual expression is more than just a video with a dance, as it is configured through the interaction of these two languages, thanks to which the body and dance make use of technological means. It is a choreographic production especially. An example of artistic hybridisation by using collaboration and dialogue between the language of film and the language of dance as the main expressive tool. Diversity of nomenclatures: the most widespread is video dance; dance for the screen (screendance); cinema-dance; dance for the camera or video-performance.  ¿What is it? ○ It combines video and dance, image in movement and body in movement.. ○ It is not a mere filming of a choreography. ○ The choreography is designed specifically for the camera, to be captured in a particular form, space and time. ○ Joint look between audiovisual director and choreographer. ○ Audiovisual language and dance language cohabit without one having priority over the other. ○ An ideal space for artistic experimentation, where it is difficult to know the limits. ○ It is difficult to give a closed definition. ○ Rosenberg: The screendance is a literal construction of a choreography that lives only as it is rendered in either film, video or digital technologies. Maya Deren (Kiev, 29/4/1917 – Nueva York, 13/10/1961) Considered the mother of American avant-garde cinema and choreocinema, the genesis of today's video dance. A study in choreography for camera (1945), considered the first experimental video dance. He established the principles of interaction between video and dance that would be mastered and perfected by other filmmakers for years to come, such as the rupture of spatio-temporal continuity, the fragmentation of the body and the closeness of movement. Merce Cunningham (1919 - 2009) He emerged as another leading figure in the development of video dance. His relationship with audiovisuals was present throughout his career. Software Life forms (Simon Fraser University. Canadá) ○ See the sequences from different points of view, different angles of vision. ○ The "time" of the movement could be altered, being displayed in slow motion. ○ Changing scenarios or creating earlier work with the dancers, among others. ○ It is possible to see the choreographic sequences animated and no longer static, as it was when the movements were drawn on paper by the choreographers. The new technologies for choreography "are not revolutionising dance, but expanding it, because you can see movement in a way that was always there, but was impossible to see with the naked eye". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROmTHBg8Nw0  But the work that separates in Cunningham's career the purely filmed works (even without being aware of the possible uses of audiovisual language) from the video-dance work is the film Assemblage (Moore, 1968) The movement of the film was to appear to be the result not only of the dance, but also of the relationship between the dancers and the usual activity of the square, in an attempt typical of the period to relate art and life. The dancers performed dance steps that were set, but not closed, in such a way that the final choreography was defined in the editing room, and was also constructed with the movements of other elements. I n addition to constructing the choreography in the montage, the experimental film director Richard O. Moore, in charge of the film, used all kinds of expressive resources typical of audiovisual language, alternating overprints, close-ups of body parts, silhouettes cut out against coloured backgrounds, "mirror" effects, different points of view simultaneously , etc. This left no doubt that the role of the audiovisual in this work was as important as that of dance. That is why Assemblage is considered one of the most relevant pieces in the history of video-dance. https://www.mercecunningham.org/media/#all  Differentiating elements and characteristics Controversy over whether it is good to delimit the defining elements and characteristics of video dance. Some of the leading figures find it even dangerous for their artistic development.: To confine it to the constant repetition of patterns can deprive it of what has always accompanied it: novelty and unlimited artistic research.  Others see the need to create certain elements as proper to video dance in order to classify it, to close the concept and to situate it in its rightful place within contemporary art. Therefore, although it is not possible to speak of essential characteristics of the discipline, in order to help the understanding of the concept, some recurrent ones are highlighted:  LOSS OF FRONTALITY The camera, which directs the viewer's gaze, is not bound to the single point of view of an armchair, but can move around the scene (zoom out, zoom in, behind the dancer, above, to the side...). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T2d5kW5htY&has_verified=1 NON-PERISHABLE PRODUCT (Does not expire) Dance is an ephemeral art, a movement lasts a few seconds and you can't go back to it to appreciate it better. No performance is the same as the previous one. Video dance allows the work to remain in time.  LOCATION IN NON-CONVENTIONAL SPACES Although some works are set in theatres or rehearsal rooms, it is common to work in unconventional spaces, composing a virtual space or not referring to any space at all. ACCESSIBILITY AND NEW AUDIENCES Accessible to a greater number of people through new means of dissemination such as the web. Constant digitalisation and dissemination of content thanks to the internet and social networks. Ideal medium for dance to conquer mass culture; it is easier to reach generations of digital natives through audiovisual media.  Most basic and common elements BODY IN MOTION ○ The body and its movement are the centre, the focal point of video dance. ○ What is created and told with the body, captured by the camera and editing is what gives meaning to this artistic practice. ○ The body gains more dimensions in this format because it is divided by the camera and later reconstructed according to the message or sensations to be transmitted. ○ When dance is intervened by video as a mere record, the aim is for the presence of the camera, of the technology, not to be noticed. In video dance this is not the case; the relationship between technology and the body has a fundamental relationship. The camera chooses what to show of that body.  CAMERA (MOVING) AND SCREEN The possibility of making video dance without using the camera to capture movement is raised, understanding the space as virtual or created from drawings or any other graphic material. Example of the short film "Thought of you", which although it was not presented as a video dance, responds to its definition because it is a piece that is only possible in an audiovisual context. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBk3ynRbtsw It is possible to create a piece digitally without the need for a camera, without the need for a body to film or a camera to capture it with, so the idea of not considering the camera as a defining element of video dance arises.  The screen as a choreographic space, as a place of exploration, is essential for this practice. It is the medium in which the video-dance is going to be exhibited, contemplated and appreciated, and the whole previous process is elaborated on the basis of it. Therefore, the work of the camera (whether using a physical camera or simulating it virtually), in terms of restricting the viewer's gaze to a frame and guiding it through the body and space, is a fundamental element in video dance. The camera is another dancer. The composition and typology of the shots, as well as the creative and expressive possibilities they offer, can completely change the show.  MOVEMENT IN THE ASSEMBLY Editing is a form of choreography. Editing defines the final choreography, which will reach the viewer. TIME In video dance, time is altered and unravelled to form a new one. Audiovisual techniques make it possible to change the speed in the execution of a step, to eliminate a part of a movement or the link between two figures, to repeat a gesture, to rearrange the steps or to reproduce them in reverse. The time of the dance, then, lengthens, shortens, deconstructs and changes position until it becomes the time of the video.  SPACE Alteration of space through montage. A Study in Choreography for Camera ( Maya Deren, 1946) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk4okMGiGic Melange (Charles Atlas film) https://vimeo.com/280552288 It can also be done through other means: in post-production with a chroma key or in the filming itself with the choice of focal length. It is very common for the action to take place outside the natural habitat of the dance, in virtual spaces or even in the middle of nowhere  MUSIC The rhythm of the shots will in many cases be determined by the meter and the musical rhythm, which in turn directly influence the alternation of choreographic steps, as well as the energy and expressive character with which they are executed. In video dances, the music is not the music of the dance, but of the video itself; the dancers do not accompany the music written for the choreography: it is the images and the shots that are coordinated with background music, which enlivens the change from one to the other like a soundtrack to a film. It is very common to add the audio track in post-production, even though it has been played live to guide the choreographer.  NEW NARRATIVE Creation of a language of its own: new narrative. Many of the texts reviewed stress that the most important contribution of the development of this format is the birth of a new way of narrating. In short, dance is another form of storytelling, something that cinema has been doing since its beginnings. The combination of these two disciplines (supported by other narrative elements, such as music) gives rise to a narrative of its own, with even more expressive potential, if possible, than each of the other disciplines that make it up.  SPECIAL EFFECTS The application of these post-production tools in video dances allows you to enrich projects in such a way that you can multiply one dancer to obtain a whole army, or create an animated corps that did not exist. It can also add elements to the space that were not there, such as trails of movement that arise from the choreography itself, dynamic objects such as light, dust or water, or it can make us look like we are looking at an old film by adding grain. The use of video projections, holograms and mapping on the dancers themselves, both live and in dance for the camera, has become widespread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To08O_w8XsA&t=2s Vídeo dance today  Video dance has been growing stronger and stronger until it has become a discipline in its own right, which has grown in recent years with the rise of independent productions and festivals dedicated exclusively to this practice. Events that include not only screenings but also workshops, conferences, live performances, artistic residencies or presentations of specialised books. As an example of the establishment of this discipline, its introduction into education in the field of both visual arts and dance. Video dance has also conquered the social networks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdBuDg7mrT8 (AMA) http://www.fiverdance.com/