Returning to Digital...

This week my passion planner academic diary reads "In stillness and presence we align with our power." Ilea Angaza The passion planner expands on this notion by adding "This week try to find the beauty in the mundane, the sophistication in the simple. and the miraculous nature in the present moment." (How do you reference a passion planner in APA7th?) 

My portfolio of choreographic outputs to date includes some born digital works including 'Alexa, Take Me Back To Reality' www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn6vZOxWhMA , 'Alexa, Make Me Disappear' www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQuy7z1PxOYand 'Neverland: Our Story in Pixels' These ideas have been enhanced by digital technologies. In the past I have struggled to identify as a digital artist, mainly due to my lack of digital patience, rather than my digital desire. However in 2018, I became increasingly interested in what digital can do for dance. I am deeply curious about how technology can amplify, augment, disturb and  disrupt artist's creative agendas. I am also excited connection and disconnection prospects, and how the meeting of the the physical and digital interface might engage new audiences and reimagine the participatory performance experience. There is a lot of potential in this undiscovered, rapidly evolving world. 2020 allowed artists to begin very exciting conversations with our communities about how digital could enhance what we already do. 

This week I participated in a workshop space, where I was introduced to the Mocap facilities, and discussion exploring the possibilities and potential of MOCAP and dance in collaboration. On Monday 14th November, I entered the Green Screen room forgetting that I had hoped of walking in to a space like this many years back. I felt very focussed on my explorations of grief, the Secret Garden, play with a military parachute, an international project that I am a part of, the leadership conversations taking place in the 'Create Place' programme. Whenever I attempt to move away from the digital element within my practice, I am pulled back and drawn to it. It felt like a 'blue sky thinking dreaming session' where I was able to engage in collaborative conversations about what might be possible to explore during my masters study. For many years know I have explored the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of digital dance forms, and I have always faced barriers concerning and a lack of resources, facilities, and digital collaborator. So this was a welcomed possibility for the development of my creative practice. 

I consider myself to be a proactive artist and most of my endeavours have been pushed for from me, or by the communities I engage with. This week has been different as the Green Screen Lecture was organised for us, I welcomed the encouragement from Debbie and Elisa to integrate the technology in to my work. I am reminded that sometimes my initial resistance doesn't mean that I'm not curious, sometimes it is fear around not knowing how I would pull it off. These are the best places to be in, but I can still shy away from them, or think of other artists that might be better suited to working in these spaces. I have a habit of doing that, and I do love that quality about me, but I recognise that it is a trait of my imposter syndrome. 

The session opened up more questions and potential hurdles around how I can marry all of the disciplines together, particularly twith the aerial rig being in one building, the tree in peel park in another and the mocap studio in another place. This initially put me off, however in the past I have challenged myself to create work in impossible conditions in the pandemic, creating between multiple locations via zoom and it resulted in an innovative approach to working with people, an Alexa, a dancer in Cornwall via zoom, and Open Online Theatre based in London for audiences all over the globe, in partnership with Together, formerly known as MDI. This means that I am excited about how I will bring all of these explorations together, and how digital might be able to enable the merging of all practices and locations. 

Despite moments of doubt and a lack of confidence in my abilities to realise collaborative ideas, I have returned to this idea of Freedom/ Escape and how 'The Secret Garden' might be able to integrate principles of escape rooms, challenge and reward systems to earn the code breaker code: freedom, leading to a culminating multi-disciplinary dance work to lead outdoors and allow audiences to unplug and to connect with what's really important; people, nature, outdoor spaces, playfully expressing themselves and being part of a collective experience. It feels very ambitious, in a time where the cost of living is rising. I am a resilient artist and digital thinker and I will find a way. Ideas take time, and thinking space. I have discovered that when I allow myself to do nothing, I realign with my creative power. 

I know how lucky I am to be able to begin exploring the hybrid forms of Motion Capture, and will find the time to utilise the facilities and resources, and embed them within my multi-disciplinary practice. My reflections help me to make sense of this choreographic process as it is unfolding. 

Links to previous digital dance improvisations at Middlesex University: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n24Q-Bok_w and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfpXExJL5uc&t=145s

This tiny reel made and edited for instagram blends aerial harness vertical dance and IG Filters...