Thanks all. What a great day. I totally love these Sundays and wish for them to just go on and on into perpetuity. We missed those of you who were in travels elsewhere and glad for those of us who traveled the journey of today's excursion.
Our Process today. We started with a download/debrief/update of the state of things with the Emory/CCE relationship. And I presented a proposal for August 3. It is inspired by this: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5925/332.2.full
Inspired by that: I want to get three scientists to give us their download. (We've got two - David Lynn and Martha Grover - from whom I have articles, and lectures, and some discussion) I would like them in addition to the weightier stuff, also provide a one sentence summary. Just like the scientists did for their collaborators in the linked example.
We will then create three short dances (which for the sake of August 3 will be videos). Each dance/video goes with one of the scientists' research. Mannie will be filming and editing the dances to work for video.
At the event on August 3.
The audience will be given a handout which outlines the experiment. It also has a summary of the three scientists' researches. Then the audience will watch each of the three video dances. (Each video will be relatively short.) After viewing, the audience is asked to match dance video to research. As they are trying to decide, all three videos will play, simultaneolsy so that the audience can remember what was in each one. The screen will be divided into three areas so we can look at each one as we choose. The videos will loop so that you can reference as needed. (Maybe the theme from Jeopardy will be playing at this point...) Then three volunteers are asked to tell why they think a certain dance goes with a certain piece of research. They must "defend" their decisions. After an audience member has made and defended their decision, "I think Video A goes with research #3 because.....) the audience, if they have a different opinion gets to state their defense.
The ultimate purpose of this experiment is to use art as a way to talk through a different metaphor when thinking about the science.
Mannie will be videotaping our process, discussions with scientists (if we can schedule) and also the event itself, especially the audience part of the interaction. I am hoping to get Dr. Cherilynn Morrow to be our facilitator for the discussion.
The second part of this experiment is to repeat the exact same thing but for an audience of "general public" at my studio. Then we can compare the two different audiences. Of course, ideally would be to do this several times - what would it be like to do it for: an undergrad course at Emory, Ga Tech or GSU? For a grad course? For an Emory dance or theatre class? And for different configurations of "general public"?
I'm suddenly very excited.....
I think our method of creating material - the three x three improv is also providing a rich way of getting at material. I liked our process today:
Version 1: Read the science text before dancing and then try and keep it in mind while improv unfolds.
Problem: There seems to be a general consensus that we loose track of the science text, possibly because we aren't completely immersed in a full understanding of it.
Version 2: Everyone was assigned a key word from the text. This word was to guide movement choices. The words were: polymer (Taylor), copy (Nicole), mutate (Damita), response (Corissa), encoded information (J). My job was to participate in the improv, but in some way that on the third round I could read the text aloud as a layer for the improv.
Problem: The limitation/restriction that the word placed on imagination and bold choices perhaps because of the parameter of having to repeat/remember and the word becomes parameter #2 and we need more time to practice working like this.
Version 3: I read (a new) text from the essay by Tirard, Morange, and Lazcano that David gave us. Dancers were to respond to the text as they heard it. "Illustrating" it in a way, but then the second and third time of the improv I didn't read the text and the dance had to unfold on its own terms, memory, mutations and adaptations.
Happy 4th of July.
