Dear list members, I want to describe a project that integrated live dance performance with streaming real-time images via the internet, and get some feedback on your experiences and thoughts. The first phase of the project, Sojourn at Alexandria, was presented at Theater Artaud in San Francisco in June '99. We simulated how a collaboration would occur in real time, over distance, using the Internet and also broadcast the performance over the web on www.lissfaindance.org. In order to do this, we built a small stage in the lobby and projected the images of the dancers who were on that stage onto the front scrim and rear screens of the main stage. The set designer, Matthew Antaky, and I worked closely to create a set that would energetically integrate the two elements. Because the images were huge and the video processor softened the outlines of the figures, the effect was slightly surreal and dramatic. We only did this in two short sections of the piece, however, yet I was surprised at how beautiful the effect was. The second phase, Quarry, was presented at the Cowell Theater in SF in September '00. This time, I decided to use the images throughout the dance and to work with a sculptor on a site-specific piece. My goal was to allow the audience to access sculpture that they otherwise would be unable to view--this was on a private estate in the Napa Valley in California--and to bring the unpredictability of a live event to the video images, by having them streamed in real time without editing. I also was curious about trying to view both the dance performance and the video footage for the duration of the dance. The set was comprised of four cloth panels that were textured and washed with paint. I choreographed the dance as a dance that could stand alone, but made the piece quiet in order to allow for the inclusion of the images. Shooting the sculptor at night and lighting his work ended up looking beautiful, but having the two events occurring simultaneously for 30 minutes was enervating to both of them. If the images had occurred infrequently the piece probably would have worked as I had wanted it to. But the original idea of having two equal live events be simultaneous did not work. Does anyone on this list have any comments? I would like feedback and ideas. Thanks, Liss Fain liss@lissfaindance.org
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