This blog began with "The Annunciation... sort of" , then on to the adventures of Big If dance.theatre and our attempt at a science/art collaboration. Unexpectedly, I moved to Iowa and a whole new group of artists, students and collaborators. First came "Small Elephant Stories" and now "Too Big". Ever evolving.
TOO BIG: “Too Big” is a project meant to use the arts to spur a national dialogue about the economy, access, and opportunity. Satellites have been created on campuses across the country. Each satellite has a faculty member from that institution’s Department of Theatre/Dance in charge of leading a group of students to conduct interviews and gather materials on this topic. All of the materials will be archived on the “Too Big” website. Each satellite will then access this "raw data" and shape individual performances and/or performative acts in conjunction with a civic discourse of some kind. Satellites include Drew University (Madison, NJ), Wayne State (Detroit, MI), Grinnell (Grinnell, IA), University of North Carolina Wilmington (Wilmington, NC) and University of San Diego (San Diego, CA).
For my part, I am interested in exploring images, stories and ideas through a series of community workshops (open to all, some general invitation workshops, and some workshops where we visit particular groups of people). Students from the Grinnell College Dance Ensemble, led by students working with me on an independent study project will be designing and facilitating the workshops in the Fall.
In the Spring we will assemble the material into a production. I don’t know much yet about the production – but I do know that I want to consider audience interactivity, finding and crafting ways that the audience actively participates in the performance. One method might involve “mapping” and online live polling through an app like http://www.polleverywhere.com.
Prompts (examples):
Following are some prompts I am developing for mapping, sociometrics and text & movement exercises for the workshops. Prompts are meant to encourage storytelling and sharing. From these stories, we develop movement work that will then be layered with text. Sometimes this text is personal stories, opinions, and reflections. Sometimes the text is from outside sources like debt loan data, newspaper articles, etc.
Prompts: What is your relationship to money? Does this change over time? How did the recent economic crisis affect your relationship to money?
What is some “money advice” that you have been given? From the worthwhile to the worthless…
On a scale from 1-10, how “taboo” a topic is money for you? What is your comfort level in talking about money? How much of this do you account for culturally?
In your family growing up, who was in charge of the money? Has this stayed the same in your adult life?
As said, all of these are meant to encourage storytelling and art-making.
TOO BIG:
ReplyDelete“Too Big” is a project meant to use the arts to spur a national dialogue about the economy, access, and opportunity. Satellites have been created on campuses across the country. Each satellite has a faculty member from that institution’s Department of Theatre/Dance in charge of leading a group of students to conduct interviews and gather materials on this topic. All of the materials will be archived on the “Too Big” website. Each satellite will then access this "raw data" and shape individual performances and/or performative acts in conjunction with a civic discourse of some kind. Satellites include Drew University (Madison, NJ), Wayne State (Detroit, MI), Grinnell (Grinnell, IA), University of North Carolina Wilmington (Wilmington, NC) and University of San Diego (San Diego, CA).
For my part, I am interested in exploring images, stories and ideas through a series of community workshops (open to all, some general invitation workshops, and some workshops where we visit particular groups of people). Students from the Grinnell College Dance Ensemble, led by students working with me on an independent study project will be designing and facilitating the workshops in the Fall.
In the Spring we will assemble the material into a production. I don’t know much yet about the production – but I do know that I want to consider audience interactivity, finding and crafting ways that the audience actively participates in the performance. One method might involve “mapping” and online live polling through an app like http://www.polleverywhere.com.
Prompts (examples):
Following are some prompts I am developing for mapping, sociometrics and text & movement exercises for the workshops. Prompts are meant to encourage storytelling and sharing. From these stories, we develop movement work that will then be layered with text. Sometimes this text is personal stories, opinions, and reflections. Sometimes the text is from outside sources like debt loan data, newspaper articles, etc.
Prompts:
What is your relationship to money?
Does this change over time? How did the recent economic crisis affect your relationship to money?
What is some “money advice” that you have been given? From the worthwhile to the worthless…
On a scale from 1-10, how “taboo” a topic is money for you? What is your comfort level in talking about money? How much of this do you account for culturally?
In your family growing up, who was in charge of the money? Has this stayed the same in your adult life?
As said, all of these are meant to encourage storytelling and art-making.