DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

         My performance aspect is focused on integrating my learning into others creative processes and working with them, while maintaining the integrity of my creative work and needs. This is a four-part exploration for me with my working in four separate projects in a variety of levels. I recently performed in Frequent Flyers Production’s Theatre of the Vampires. This was an aerial dance show produced in a classical sense with a dance company and head choreographer. I worked with learning choreography in a modern style of repetition and following a choreographer. This process did allow for some self-creation and integration of my learning methods and basis of somatics in movement.

          The other three are working within my cohort members’ thesis productions. I am portraying “Time”  (as well as other characters) in Katie Jones’ Thesis, and creating moments, choreography, and character through that lens. I have given her seven hours of rehearsal a week. In Stephen Geering’s production, an extension of our moment work showing 7/20, I am working with being a supporting member and following an arc that is not of strong interest to me, while keep presence and supporting the project. Stephen has me for three hours a week. The last project I am involved in is Bobbi Kupfner’s work with Shakespeare. This is a shared interest between us. I have yet to rehearse with her, and from my understanding my involvement may be as little as lying dead in a bathtub. My assessment for this will mostly be self-reflection in the project, as well as assessment from the creators and the faculty.

          The last “performance” an individual performance is an installation that was presented at the WIPS and was worked on  with Leeny Sack in the Thesis Intensive. This is an exploration into presence and art as experience. I am using the forms of math, namely the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Ratio or Phi, and John Dewey’s philosophy of Art as Experience to create an installation that provides the viewer/doer (my term for a viewer participant) with experiences in “The Golden Black Box.” The final product is an installation with no “performance” involvement on my part. It is a stand-alone art piece with the viewer/doer at the center. The piece will take part in 9195 for the WIPS in a completely contained, roughly 14 feet wide, 22 feet long, and 8 feet high, black box. The technical aspects of rigging this out will be established as part of the work with extreme presence in the work and creation. For the WIP, the container will be filled with 180 red envelopes, also in a golden ratio of 3.5 inches wide by 5.663 inches long. They will be hung from the ceiling with white twine in a constant rotation out, in what is called the Golden Spiral. In each envelope is an “experience”. What I consider an experience is still being explored. I do not believe I will find an answer to this and this is just a step towards a stronger theory.  This is not the end of this project, but my perfect vision for it is much bigger and requiring more time and effort than I am able to right now, and I hope to continue a more finished product in the next five years. I believe the ideal project is a large completely built stand alone building that will eventually contain 1800 possible experiences in separate envelopes hung from the ceiling in a golden spiral for the viewer/doer to take part or not. I see this as a long-term exploration (lifetime, ten year, two year, or never to be touch again.)  As a performer I am working with the idea of extreme presence and focus on the task as it is being done. A skill that is extremely applicable to a more traditional performance. The questions of “What is performance?” and “What is experience?” are at the center of this exploration.

 

         Timeline

 

    • Theatre of the Vampires 10/31/14
    • The timeline of the other performances I am taking part in is up to the creators, with the performance weekend being the end date.
    • The installation work will be completed in the 18 days between now and my WIP date of 12/3/14.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.