choreographing newmedia dance through the creation...

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Choreographing newmedia dance through the creation of the dance project,

Ada.

Masters of Arts (Research)

Creative Industries, Dance

Queensland University of Technology

Sarah Louise Neville, B.A. Hons. (Flinders University)

Queensland University of Technology

2003

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Key words

Ada Byron Lovelace, artistic practice, choreography, dance, digital, enactment,

interactivity, interdisciplinary, narrative, navigation, newmedia, performance,

technology, wearable electronic architecture, virtual.

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Abstract

As a choreographer working with new media technologies, I recognised a need to

develop choreography informed by the digital age. This study was framed by the

development of the dance project Ada, over three stages through a qualitative,

interdisciplinary process. Artistic practice as research grounded in task based

choreographic processes led to the following areas of significance in the study, those

being; enacting a narrative, physicalising interactivity, performing virtual dance, and

choreographing through a digital perspective. Findings that enunciated the evolution

of newmedia choreographic forms and structures arose from reflective practice,

dialogue with participants and feedback from a live audience.

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Table of Contents

Title I Key words ii Abstract iii Table of Contents iv Statement of original authorship vi Acknowledgements vii Description of digital documentation ix Chapter One: Dance and Newmedia 1 1.1 Background to the study 1 1.11 Ada 1 1.12 Corporeal sensibilities 2 1.2 Defining newmedia dance 3 1.3 Scanning the field 5 1.4 Professional influences 7 1.5 History of the study 10 Chapter Two: Integrating research design into artistic practice 12 2.1 Research approaches to newmedia dance through artistic practice 12 2.2 Artistic practice as research 13 2.3 My role as a choreographer/ researcher 14 2.4 Data collection 15 2.4.1 Ada 15

2.4.2 Reception studies 16 2.4.3 Stages of the project and participants involved

16 2.4.4 Participant feedback and field data 18

2.4.5 Journal writing 18 2.5 Analytical tools and crystallisation 19 2.6 Research limitations 20

2.6.1 Ethical issues 21 2.6.2 Bias 21

Chapter Three: Creative processes and technological applications 23 3.1 The newmedia dance work Ada 24 Figure 1: Structural outline of the performance script, Ada 25 3.2 Stage One: the developmental stage 27

3.2.1 Digital perspectives 28 3.2.2 Developing characters 29 3.2.2.1 Ada 29 3.2.2.2 Augusta 30

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3.2.3 Conceptual concerns 31 3.2.3.1 Embodying the digital 31 3.2.4 Designing and applying the interactive technological interface 32

3.3 How does ‘enactment’ shift the performer’s role? 34 3.3.1 Nomadic webcaster 35

3.4 In what physical capacity does interactivity manifest? 38 3.4.1 Wearable Electronic Architecture 38 3.4.2 Interactive choreographic devices: technological 40 3.4.3 Interactive choreographic devices: voice commands 40 3.4.4 Interactive choreographic devices: physical commands 42 3.4.5 Physicalising interactivity 43

3.5 How is virtual performed? 44 3.5.1 Transcendence 45 3.5.2 Emotional landscapes 46 3.5.3 Virtual body: form and nonform 46

3.6 How does a digital perspective guide a choreographic practise? 48 3.6.1 Digital editing 48 3.6.2 Digital domain 49

3.7 Digital perspectives 50 Chapter four: New forms and future directions 52 4.1 Evaluation of process and practice 52 4.2 Newmedia dance laboratory findings 53 4.2.1 Digital directions and required skills 53 4.2.2 Stage space / newmedia dance space 54 4.2.3 Technological progress 54 4.3 Original contribution to research and benefits of the study 55 4.4 Future directions 56

Glossary of choreographic terms 58 Bibliography 67 Appendix 1: Sadie Plant email 74 Appendix 2: Betty O’Toole email 75 Appendix 3: Audience forums 76 Appendix 4: Audience responses, questionnaire 80 Appendix 5: Artists skills and contribution to the project 87 Appendix 6: Participants’ responses, questionnaire 92 Appendix 7: Consent form 103

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Statement of original authorship

“The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or

diploma at any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and

belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another

person except where due reference is made.

Signed:

Date: ”

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Acknowledgements

This research project was conducted over an intensive three year period and

involved the time and energy of many individuals and organisations. I want to

firstly recognise the support and guidance from staff at The Queensland

University of Technology, Creative Industries Dance Department. I entered this

degree as a professional artist with an undergraduate degree achieved through

post-modern presentations and subversive writing. My learning curve was steep

in regards to academic research and current writing practice. I want to thank my

chief supervisor Cheryl Stock for her patience, guidance and enthusiasm for my

project, Brad Haseman for introducing me to arts research, Gavin Sade for his

enthusiasm for newmedia and performance and Rachel Mathews for her advice

on structure and editing writing. Furthermore, at QUT, I accessed rehearsal

space, equipment and extremely giving and talented students without which this

study would not be possible.

Organisations to thank for facilitating this research include; the Australian

Choreographic Centre which awarded me a choreographic fellowship. Ausdance

SA, hosted Stage Two, providing publicity, beverages and a DJ at the public

showing. Dancecraft studios contributed subsidised studio rental. Media

Resource Centre and Ngapartji multimedia centre subsidised equipment and

sponsorship and Heliograph Productions produced Stage Two in Adelaide.

Thankyou to Victoria Milne Design and South East Institute of TAFE,

Multimedia Department for multimedia support to create the digital

documentation.

I wish to acknowledge the following funding bodies; The Australia Council for

the Arts, Dance Fund, Arts SA and Arts ACT for making Stages Two and Three

possible. Creative Industries funds were allocated to assist the Wearable

Electronic Architecture.

A huge thankyou to all participants, especially volunteers, Simon Burton, Talbet

Fulthorpe, Cath Brown, Bridget Fiske, Tim Darbyshire, Elise May and Janine

Eyres. Those who demonstrated commitment above and beyond professional

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contracts include; Jo Stone who self financed a trip from Berlin to participate,

Matt Innes who participated through remote communication from Tokyo, Elise

May who contributed considerably across art forms and Aaron Veryard whose

ability to manufacture and design technology without proper financial support

must be given special gratitude.

Lastly I want to thank my parents for emotional and financial support, providing

me with a base from which to write my thesis. And friends, Victoria Milne,

Angus Fowler, Kylie Walsh, Meredith Proctor, Aaron Veryard and my sister

Jane, who helped me through this process through listening, reading, counsel and

in many other ways.

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Description of digital documentation

The digital documentation that accompanies the written thesis is in DVD format,

readable by a DVD player for both PC and Mac. This format was chosen for high

resolution digital viewing of documentation quality video files. There are six viewing

windows on the DVD interface created in iDVD which open to full screen movies.

There is a six page insert found inside the DVD jacket that lists full credits and

includes a time code of significant scenes to be viewed in conjunction with the

written thesis.

The first window is a five minute show reel of the original Ada, performed in 1999 in

Adelaide in a disused night club. Jo Stone plays Ada and Leah Grycewicz plays

Augusta. Concepts, text, choreography and video material extended in this study,

originated in this version. The interactive interface is screen based and triggered by a

mouse click and voice commands. Triggered media includes live video mixing and a

live webcast. Video capture is by Matt Innes, Ruth Cross and Martin Thomson.

The second window houses four minutes of a showing of Stage One, presented at

QUT, May 2001. Cath Brown plays Augusta, Tim Darbyshire plays Babbage / Byron

and Elise May and Bridget Fiske play Ada. The interactive interface was designed by

Aaron Veryard and Gavin Sade and is a wired device worn on the wrist, triggered by

buttons that activate sound and movie files. Costumes and sound were created by the

team and lighting was by Aaron Veryard. Due to the limits in contents capacity of

the DVD, the resolution of this file has been reduced. Video capture is by Joseph

Lau.

The third window contains a slide show of the Stage Two showing at Ausdance SA

choreolab, October 2001. Astrid Pill plays Augusta, Steve Noonan plays Babbage

and Jo Stone plays Ada. Nic Mollison designed lighting and production design and

Matt Innes collaborated on developing the performance script and videography.

Sound and costumes were designed by the creative team. The resolution of the slides

has been determined by the iDVD software. Photographs are by Paul Armour.

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The fourth window displays ten minutes of newmedia dance laboratory

documentation in chronological order. Performers’ names and dance pieces are

labelled on the screen. Video capture is by Sarah Neville.

The fifth window presents a thirty five minute ‘textured’ edit of a fifty minute

production of Stage Three at the Australian Choreographic Centre in Canberra,

October 2002. Wendy McPhee plays Augusta, Chris Ryan plays Babbage and Elise

May plays Ada. Nic Mollison designed lighting and production design with set

engineering by David Worrall and staging finalised by Mark Gordon. Costumes by

Elise May and Summa Durie, videography by Matt Innes, sound by DJ Tr!p. No

interactive devices appeared in this production. Due to the limits in contents capacity

of the DVD, the resolution of this file has been reduced. The digital document is an

edited combination of performances captured by Nic Mollison, a fixed camera, and a

professional video version provided by the Australian Choreographic Centre which

was recorded with unusable sound quality.

The last window displays two minutes documenting the Wearable Electronic

Architecture created for Stage Three designed and engineered by Aaron Veryard,

Benn Woods and Elise May. The performance workshop is with Janine Eyres. Video

capture is by Sarah Neville.

Chapter One: Dance and Newmedia

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Newmedia dance is expanding the choreographic development of Australia’s dance

industry, in that technological innovations are influencing the way some

choreographers are devising work. Across the country and abroad, choreographers

are logging in, surfing through, and networking to the digital generation’s cyber-real

world view. As a result, the dance industry is wizening to respond in the twenty-first

century. Today a newmedia choreographic language is emerging from virtualities

that expand corporeal sensibilities, coupled with trends in collaborations across

science, technology and the arts.

Arising from these developments, there is some conjecture that new

telecommunication technology may make the body superfluous (http://www.critical-

art.net/biotech/biocom/index.html, 20/4/2002), as human organics are fast evolving

into a post-human state of being. Similarly, De Spain (2000: 12), writing on dance

and technology, queries whether dance needs to exist in real time and space and

whether it needs to involve dancers at all. Whilst dance has historically placed the

human body as central, this may no longer be the case in an increasingly mediated

and virtual world. On the other hand dance administrator Hanson (1998: 14) believes

the body still has a place when she suggests, ‘However bewildering all this presently

seems, the attempts to move bodies imaginatively through the next millennium

should nevertheless be embraced as an encouragingly flesh bound alternative to the

disembodied consciousness of the post-humanist. Shall we cyber-dance?’

1.1 Background to the study

1.11 Ada

Such considerations form the background of this study, where by the blurred lines

between the limitations and potential of the body, real and virtual, are explored. The

research project is based on an historical narrative since developed nations’

fascination with the possibilities and implications of scientific advances leading to

new evolutions in technological progress is not new. Technological progress, driven

by physiological inquiry, paired with the repercussions technology has on the body,


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have been identified in the story of Augusta Ada Bryon Lovelace, who wanted to

transcend her body through mathematics and scientific thought. In 1844, Ada

prophesised

‘It does not appear to me that cerebral matter need be more unmanageable to mathematicians than sideral & planetary matters and movements, if they would but inspect it from the right point of view. I hope to bequeath to the generations a Calculus of the Nervous System.’ A.A.L (in Toole, 1992: 296)

Ada hoped to analyse physiology in relation to the natural world as she saw it at the

dawn of the industrial age. This may appear to be an unusual aspiration for a woman

in the nineteenth century, denied direct access to scientific knowledge. However,

Ada gleaned current advances in scientific thought from conversations with men who

entertained the attractive, intelligent and aristocratic young woman’s passion for

progress (Toole, 1992: 55-57). Ada (in Toole, 1992: 114) concluded, ‘This is my

idea of the real use & objective of all graces & accomplishments in women. Let her

be as attractive as she can in all the externals, & she will find powerful auxiliaries to

her more important influence.’

One such man, was Charles Babbage, who called her his ‘enchantress of numbers’

(Toole, 1992: 20) and invited her to collaborate on a document to describe his

analytical engine, a machine now thought to be the forefather to the digital computer.

Her notes were the beginnings of an analytical language on the content and concept

of technical innovation and artistic potential, integrating digital or scientific skills of

reason and analysis from linguistic to numerical, with the poetical skills of

imagination and metaphor. In signing her name to this document, Ada became the

first computer programmer and a prophet of the digital generation (Plant, 1997: 5-9).

1.12 Corporeal sensibilities

Digital technology now permeates our world and as Ada predicted, it influences our

fundamental corporeal sensibilities and perspectives. Physiology is being redefined

by new communicative structures such as digital interfaces that simulate

corporations, advanced telecommunication networks, and computer gaming

technologies, which in turn affects the evolution of our kinaesthetic sensibilities.


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Now it is possible to communicate quickly with banks through fingers tapping a

keyboard/ keypad and children are developing advanced hand/eye coordination by

interacting with computer games. This signals a shift in physiological advancement

from aural to kinetic communication.

An example of a new corporeality is alternate world syndrome, a malady

experienced by pilots who fly Adasoft1 controlled fighter jets. Heim (1998:52)

describes this experience as a body amnesia whereby the pilot’s sense of kinaesthetic

self-identity is ruptured after frequenting virtual worlds. Symptoms can include loss

of postural balance, disorientation and flashbacks (Heim, 1998: 182).

As a choreographer I am interested in exploring the theatrical representation of

evolving corporeality and I am particularly concerned with how a dancer expresses

life in the digital age. Similar questions resound within the larger dance community.

Choreographer Susan Kozel (1995: 3-7) who works with telematic dance or dance

streamed via the Internet asks, ‘Does the body which engages with a computer

manipulated space, become part body and part machine: a cyborg?’ It can be argued

that the choreographic art, with its ability to present emotional expression and

physical representation of modes of being, has the potential to reflect the evolution of

such conflicting yet merged sensibilities.

1.2 Defining newmedia dance

In this study these merging sensibilities are explored through the choreography of

newmedia dance, presented as a theatrical production set within the context of the

dance performance Ada. This is alternative to making dance film, using a digital

aesthetic as scenography or creating a choreographic design that might be utilised for

subsequent choreographic works. By dance, I mean the expression of human

character, action and suffering as outlined by Copeland and Cohen (1983: 3),

1 Ada (Adasoft (1/5/02) http://www.adasoft.com), ‘is a modern general-purpose language aimed at the broad area of systems programming, embedded and real-time systems, and general applications--with a number of features to support concurrent and distributed programming. It is named in honor of Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, who by virtue of her early nineteenth century work with Charles Babbage is considered to be the first computer programmer. With its revision, Ada 95 is the first internationally standardized fully object-oriented programming (OOP) language.’


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combined with Langer’s theory (cited in the same source, 1983: 4) that, whilst,

‘gestures of the dance express feelings,’ they can then be, ‘transformed by the

choreographer into an illusion.’ In other words I elicit the dancer’s emotional

responses through conversation and choreographic tasks and arrange the physical

outcome into an embodied language which makes up the dance.

Newmedia is a term coined to suggest the influence of new technology on the

development of the choreographic art in this study, whilst not aligning the work with

new media arts specifically. It is stated in Australia Council Support for the Arts

Handbook (2003: 82) that, ‘New media art describes a process where new

technology is used by artists to create works that explore new modes of artistic

expression.’ New media artists are therefore aspiring to move beyond current trends

in artistic form. This mandate is utlilised in Ada, as it is a conceptual concern of the

narrative.

Choreographers through their advanced understandings of the body are rapidly using

their knowledge to explore complex relationships to consciousness and have

embraced new technologies in their quest to develop their art (Hanson, 1998: 13).

New media theorist, Levy (2001:125) considers choreographers to be, ‘engineers of

worlds,’ creating ‘virtualities, designing communicative spaces, building the

collective hardware of cognition and memory and structuring the sensorimotor

interaction with the data universe.’ When developing newmedia dance in this study,

the scope of the choreographic art includes such evolving kinaesthetic sensibilities as

developed from contact with the digital age which is consistent with the motivation

of the central characters.

For the purpose of this study choreography is defined as both the art of designing

movement derived from such experiences and the organization of networks of people

in creating a choreographic design. Hence, newmedia dance, like new media art is in

essence transient and shifting, embracing current evolutions in new technology and

reflecting the physiological changes arising. In this case the choreography is named

newmedia dance as is deals directly with the impact of new technology on the body.

I do not foresee that this unique style would be appropriate to be used in any other

context as it has arisen specifically to express the conceptual concerns arising in Ada.


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1.3 Scanning the field

To date, choreographers in the field are devising emergent choreographic forms as

well as extending conventional dance practice through various uses of technologies.

An example of the former, Petra Gemeinboeck (www.uzume.net, 5/3/03), with a

team of collaborators from the Electronic Visualisation Laboratory at the University

of Illinois in Chicago, created the interactive movement environment Uzume. The

immersive sensory environment requires the participant or immersant to explore

graphic illustrations of their own gestures, thereby prompting them to choreograph

the space. As they move, three-dimensional shapes twirl around them, illustrating the

trace elements of the movement. Instigating an interactive movement vocabulary is

an important new development in the history of dance making and is indicative of the

emergence of new forms.

Company in Space (www.companyinspace.com), Victoria, Australia explore an

interactive movement vocabulary within a live and /or screen based performance

context. Whilst Gemeinboeck explores interactive environments through participant

interaction, Company in Space have developed exosceletal hardware devices so that

the movement of performers can create movement files for live performance or

connect live performance to projected 3D environments. The company professes that

these innovations are placed within live performance with the aim to, ‘pioneer

applications of new technology to movement.’ (www.companyinspace.com)

It appears to me that it is Company in Space’s mandate to develop new technological

applications and their relationship to movement, rather than develop new movement.

Alternatively, choreographer Wayne McGregor from the United Kingdom is inspired

by the potential to extend his choreographic practice through a digital perspective.

On video (1998) in an interview following his work, The Millenarium, McGregor

discusses using the animation programs, Poser and Lifeforms to explore an

alternative sense of gravity in his choreography. He asks his dancers to investigate

the idea of zero gravity in the dance studio in any way they can imagine as

demonstrated by the animated figure moving through the digital plane in the software

program.


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On the other hand, in New York, Merce Cunningham who is now in his late eighties

uses Lifeforms software to create movement that he can no longer execute himself

due to age. Cunningham states (http://www.merce.org/technology_lifeforms.html,

16/1/03) that his interest is in the potential for new discoveries in creating form,

which is consistent with his artistic quest for new ways to create abstract movement,

following on from his work with dance film and ‘chance’2 methods. He states

Lifeforms, ‘can produce shapes and transitions that are not available to humans.’

Similarly, Western Australian choreographer Chrissie Parrottt, utilises Lifeforms

software to extend a dance student’s movement vocabulary, and like McGregor, to

place the dance within a digital aesthetic. The influence of the software program on

Parrottt’s digitally inspired choreography and Cunningham’s choreography is more

literal than in McGregors’ where it is only a starting point for movement.

Conversely, European choreographer Rui Horta (1997: 14) worries that technology

threatens choreography. He feels that our minds are so caught up in current

information that we forget to feel our bodies. He questions his role as a

choreographer in the technological age and asks, ‘Is bringing the body to the

forefront of artistic expression a quixotic exercise?’ Horta perceives the late

twentieth century body to be reflective of a Cartesian split between a neglected

physical presence and a hyperactive mental state. He believes that our bodies can’t

keep up with our minds and it is those gestures of fleeting information that are caught

in his choreography and brought to light in his work.

Consequently, Hanson (1998:13) concludes,

‘At its worst, the techno-rhetoric assumes that dance as we know it will not outlast the millennium. The age old Cartesian split of body / mind is elaborated in a future where we are all software, our minds conveniently downloaded into an electronic consciousness, divorced from the cumbersome hardware of our redundant bodies.’

2 Chance methods, were applied by Merce Cunningham in the composition of his work. As Vaughan, (1/4/03, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/cunningham_m.html), archivist at the Cunningham Dance Foundation explains, Cunningham gives the choreography to the dancers in rehearsal, which he has largely worked out and then uses chance methods to determine the sequence of movements, where in the space they will be performed and by how many dancers. Chance results in unforeseen ways of placing the phrases in space and time.


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She suggests it is the role of the new wave of contemporary choreographers to re-

establish conscious links to the physical and that this can only happen through a

reconsideration of the significance of the physical senses. Gemeinboeck’s

choreographic environment and Company in Space’s exosceletal devices enable

movement to develop through an extension of the senses and to express integral form

or movement that is manifested through contact with technology. These concepts are

central to my own work as are the gestures derived from interaction with technology

as perceived by Horta. Likewise, I find digitally inspired and manipulated

choreography influential to emerging corporeal sensibilities. However, unlike

Cunningham, McGregor and Parrott, I aspire to place choreographic tools such as

Poser and Lifeforms within the context of a narrative to justify why or how dancers

move digitally. I do not find any reason in my own work to express digital movement

in a non dramatic context as I do not consider digital movement to be natural to the

human character.

1.4 Professional influences

As a choreographer responding to the digital age, technological invention, digital arts

and the speed of progress, appeal to my creativity. Ada Byron Lovelace’s

philosophies were grounded in mathematics and poetry leading her to call herself a

poetical scientist. My artistic practise was initiated by experience in dance and

technology, hence I identify myself as a newmedia choreographer. My work

continues to be extended in new directions over time, influenced by the speed of

technological change. My early dance background is in ballet, with later influences

occurring at Flinders University in Adelaide in the mid-nineties where I studied

theatre, film and English literature influenced by post-modernist, feminist and

deconstructive critical theory. As a choreographer, I continue to utilise this

knowledge and experience.

In the nineties I identified with emergent trends in conceptual movement based

theatre, as reflected in the works of Meryl Tankard, then Artistic Director of

Australian Dance Theatre, and international touring companies visiting the Adelaide

Festival of Arts, such as Dumb Type and Hakatobo from Japan. These companies

presented dance forms that pertained directly to a conceptual framework that


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communicated meaning to which I could relate personally, through dance. I realised

that similar to the expressionist choreographer Pina Bausch (who influenced

Tankard), I am not so interested in how people move, but I prefer to pursue the

question of what moves them and more importantly, why they move. (Broadhurst,

1999: 70).

I perceived this style of choreography to be more communicative than abstract

contemporary dance forms with which I was familiar, but where I failed to connect

the dance with the concepts proposed in the work. In my view abstract forms reflect

a style or technique of dance in which the concept or message of the work appears

secondary to the dance form devised or in which the meaning is the form itself.

Furthermore, technology as a performative medium, as seen in the work of Dumb

Type from Japan, interested me due to the impact technology was having upon on the

cultural environment at the time.

My peer generation worked in digital arts processes. This led to engagement with

computer game development, motion capture, video installations, electronic music,

streaming media and artificial intelligence. In Adelaide these artists emerged

supported by the Australian Network of Art and Technology and The Media Resource

Centre, dance parties produced by the Dirty House collective, fringe warehouse

collectives such as mindflux based at insect22, and cyber feminist movements such as

VNS Matrix.

In 1995 I moved to Tokyo to study Butoh dance with Kazuoh and Yoshito Ohno as

well as Min Tanaka. I aimed to work towards developing a choreographic practice

through a dance form that Viala and Masson-Sekine (1988: 147) state avoids, ‘the

trap of an established code of expression,’ within a culture that is essentially co-

dependent on technology. Butoh influenced my work by introducing the possibility

of performing immediate emotion in movement, derived from internal imagery and

external awareness, expressing concepts not reliant on a particular style and genre.

I was fascinated by the sheer velocity of life in Japan and how it has led a drive for

new technological tools that in turn have affected the body and the way people

communicate with each other. Communication tools include, the Internet, digital


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phones streaming media3, Bluetooth technology4 and Java5. I observed people

becoming more performative through increased awareness of their public image.

They appeared more nomadic, lateral and coded in the quickening of their physical

expression. I saw Japanese youth on the streets using mobile phones or closed

television circuits such as Shibuya TV to communicate through words, text, images,

signs and hand or eye signals. In this way they were developing codes that were

particular to their urban tribes and cultures by lateral association. They are free to

travel away from phone lines or even each others direct presence, whilst remaining in

contact and aware of significant social and cultural events and happenings.

I witnessed the combination of physical expression and digital telecommunications

into a public performance form, provoked by speed. Kuipers and Aitkan (2000: 12)

attribute speed as a transforming element when they state, ‘As speed changes

perception, our ability to know our senses and even our sensory organs adapt, and

our understanding of time evolves accordingly.’ This led me to question how a

quickening of mixed media signals, shared across networked hubs might be reflected

in a dancer’s movement and subsequently how their experience is shared with a

sympathetic audience. Hence, I questioned the mutability and flexibility of an

embodied consciousness.

I pursued this query whilst in Tokyo working as a dancer with the new media

performance unit 66b a ‘collective [that] maintains an open framework that includes

designers who work in computer graphics, sound, stage and costume design, as well

as performers and choreographers’ (http://www.vision.co.jp/66b/ 1/12/2002). I began

by questioning how working with digital media affected the quality and form of the

dance, when working with butoh image work combined with live video mixing.

Masson-Sekine (1988:147) defines image work as movement formed by the intent

for ‘the body to become the immediate voice,’ of an imaginary world. By embodying

an image or embedding ones state of awareness in the media, the performer might

cross both real and virtual states of performance. 3 Mobile phones can support video and audio streaming over high speed circuit switched data networks. Streaming allows access to information without having to down load the whole file. 4 Bluetooth wireless technology provides freedom from wired connections and enables links between mobile computers, mobile phones, portable handheld devices and connectivity to the Internet. 5 Java technology is an object orientated, platform independent, multithreaded programming environment. It is the foundation of web and networked services.


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Later, supported by The Australian Network of Art and Technology, I pursued an

opportunity to follow my query at the International Conference of Dance and

Technology in Arizona in 1999. There I further recognised the need for applied

research into the evolution of a dance language that was reflective of the technology

and media that was being utilised. It appeared to me at that conference that the

technological environment did not affect in any significant way the style or

expression of the dance which assumed the form of current dance techniques, nor

was the dance supported conceptually by the technology; they merely co-existed in

space and time.

1.5 History of the study

To further understand the digital landscape in which I was working, I read widely

and came across Ada Byron Lovelace and her role in the digital revolution, in Sadie

Plant’s (1997) cyber-feminist text, Zeros + Ones; Digital Women and the New

Technoculture. I identified this story as an appropriate vehicle through which to

create a choreographic work as I was fascinated by Ada’s obsession with technology,

science and art, and creatively saw a connection between this and her ill health which

was manifest in attacks of hysteria and finally cervical cancer. The story provided me

with a thematic framework and complex questions about the relationship of the body

and technology through which to develop the choreography.

In combining the content and form through digital perspectives the focus of my

research became;

Choreographing newmedia dance through the creation of the dance project, ‘Ada.’

I aimed to share choreographic findings with other choreographers and researchers

through my writing and with a live audience through a public performance of Ada,

used to frame this study. I aimed to achieve this by using the following general

objectives as starting points:

• creating choreography specific to the conceptual concerns in Ada;


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• communicating a story based on the digital revolution and its

ramifications in our current world;

• evolving my artistic practise as a choreographer working in a digital

arts culture.

The following questions guiding the study emerged from both the literature

reviewed, my knowledge of the field and the choreographic research.

• How does ‘enactment’ shift the performer’s role in performance?

• In what physical capacity does interactivity manifest?

• How is ‘virtual’ performed?

• How does a digital perspective guide a choreographic practise?

The above questions were explored through collaborative artistic practise in a

process developed via the creation of the dance project Ada, and supported through a

qualitative research design described in the following chapter.

Chapter Two: Integrating research design into artistic practice

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2.1 Research approaches to newmedia dance through artistic practice

The experimental and experiential nature of artistic practice resulted in a

research design appropriate to the high level of subjectivity involved in

creative research. Janesick (1998: 37) uses dance as a metaphor to highlight

the interpretive art of qualitative research design. Concurrently, qualitative

inquiry is (Gubrium and Holstein, 1997: 101) ‘at the lived border of reality

and representation,’ which for the purpose of this study includes digital

representation. 'Lived' relates to the three stages of the study (Gubrium and

Holstein, 1997: 101), ‘where those things, events, and circumstances that

people experience are meaningfully described and conveyed, to one's self as

well as to others.’ In this study this is achieved both through the work itself

and through its analysis. Lastly, whilst the inquiry is designed as Gubrium

and Holstein (1997: 101) recommend, to observe how people in the real-

world behave, this study also includes theatrical and digital realities where

(1997: 101), ‘objects and order normally associated with the real no longer

apply.’ The complexity of the design is therefore skewered and held

together by mixed media, mixed realities and mixed perspectives. From a

multitude of directions the project is pierced by critical differences in

perceptions, methodologies and arts disciplines.

The complexity of the research project is like a crystal (Richardson, 1994:

522), ‘which combines symmetry and substance with an infinite variety of

shapes, substances, transmutations, multidimensionality’s [sic], and angles

of approach.’ In this study, as Levy (2001: 5) proposes, it is technologies’,

‘presence and use in a given place, at a given time, [that] crystallizes the

changing relations of force among human beings.’ Similarly, the mandate of

the digital collective foAM (http://fo.am/communique.html, 1/12/2002)

evolved in response to technology’s binding influence on their work,

leading them to recognise, ‘a shift of artists' role in the world, making them


13

more choreographers of cultural processes, rather than creators of “original”

cultural artifacts.’

In this study, technology is the cohesive agent, crystallizing and binding

mixed media in mixed realities. Whilst technology defines the structure of

the design, crystallisation encourages multifaceted perspectives to cut across

preconceived expectations of the artists’ role in the process through

illuminations of change brought about through artistic practice as research.

The methodology, like the newmedia dance creative process is evolving and

changing whilst held together by the technological aspect. As Richardson

(1994: 522) concludes in ‘mixed-genre texts, we have moved from plane

geometry [triangulation] to light theory, where light can be both waves and

particles.’ This method of validation resonates with my experience in the

newmedia dance laboratory where I discovered paradoxically that I

(Richardson, 1994:522), ‘knew more and doubt what [I] know.’ Through

crystallisation it becomes apparent that there is no single truth.

2.2 Artistic practice as research

Artistic practice as research was conducted in a newmedia dance laboratory

and grounded in Schons’ (1983: 54) principles for professional practice,

‘knowing–in–action,’ which he defines as ‘the characteristic mode of

ordinary practical knowledge,’ and, ‘reflection–in–action,’ which he

describes as, thinking about what we are doing as we are doing it. In this

case, the first principle refers to the knowledge the participant brings into

the newmedia dance laboratory and the second indicates the extension of

that knowledge in practise. Limitations to this methodology are the

application of conventional rationality, whereby reflection paralyses action

(1983: 275), which Schon argues is a myth based on separating thought and

action (1983: 280).


14

Both ‘reflecting–in–action’ and ‘knowing–in–action’ (Schon, 1983) were

applied through choreographic tasks and discussion, wherein I sought a

conceptual eloquence or clarity and a negotiation of potential form. The

former is a process of performative composition, created through what

Parviainen (2002: 13) describes as, ‘bodily knowledge’ in which as Sheets-

Johnson (1980: 129) explains further, the dancer thinks in movement. Dance

researcher Fraleigh (1987: 26) explains further, ‘dance involves more than

just knowing how to do a movement. It also involves knowing how to

express the aesthetic intent of a movement.’ In conjunction with this

knowledge the dancer’s ‘body memory’ reveals a ‘search for meaning,’

which the founder of butoh, Hijikata (in Viala and Masson-Sekine, 1991:

64) describes as ‘transformations.’ Both perspectives were applied in the

newmedia dance laboratory. As Schon (1983: 129) explains, each situation

is a unique case and the professional, ‘attends to the peculiarities of the

situation at hand.’

In the Ada project, participants were asked to apply a digital perspective,

shift their area of expertise, and work across disciplines. Likewise, foAM’s

(http://fo.am/communique.html, 3/4/2002) vision statement describes an,

‘edge-habitat where discrete disciplines, individuals and realities

symbiotically shape a peculiar hybrid whole,’ and furthermore, ‘this process

of hybridisation is accelerated by one common denominator: the use of

technology.’ Alternatively, in more conventional convergent models,

collaborations include communicative structures where each specialist tends

to inform the others’ discipline through instructions and suggestions rather

than the direct sharing of content.

2.3 My role as a choreographer / researcher

As researcher and choreographer, I crystallised the elements through

choices that reflect my choreographic preferences as informed by

professional experience. I defined the physical language for performance by


15

creating movement through the unique sensibilities and physicalities of the

dancers and I made decisions about how those movements were performed.

Moreover, I delivered creative briefs for production and creative parameters

on character development. As Millar (in Creswell, 1994: 163) states, ‘The

role of the researcher as the primary data collection instrument necessitates

the identification of personal values, assumptions and biases at the onset of

the study.’ To interrogate these personal biases I applied the method of

crystallisation and viewed the study from multiple perspectives, as data

emerged both within the practice and around the practice drawing on

qualitative research methods described below.

2.4 Data collection

In qualitative research it is common practice to use a triangulated

methodology to validate the research through the reflection and comparison

of alternative perspectives. As Richardson (1994: 522) states, such methods

carry the, ‘assumption, that there is a “fixed point” or “object” that can be

triangulated.’ In developing the choreography, the fixed point was the

newmedia dance work Ada, and the stages of the work with multiplicity of

processes and outcomes remained in flux. There were more than three ways

to view the Ada project, therefore crystallization, a multi-faceted

methodology, rather than triangulation provided me (Richardson, 1994:

522), ‘with a deepened, complex, thoroughly partial, understanding of the

topic.’ Reflected externalities and internal refraction achieved comparative

facets and perspectives provided by reception studies, the three stages of the

project, participant feedback, field data and journal writing.

2.4.1 Ada

The performance script, devised over four years, began with Plants’ (1997)

(see Appendix 1) cyber feminist manifesto and developed through a

choreographic exploration of a selection of Ada’s personal letters, compiled


16

by Betty Toole (1997) (see Appendix 2). Interpretations of characters’

corporeality provided concepts and questions through which to build the

choreography and reveal a comparative analogy of diverse yet convergent

perspectives. The structure developed from the original version, which had a

multi-media format that aspired to dramatise the Internet through abstracted

dance and a deconstructed narrative, in conjunction with a live webcast. The

work was critiqued by peers, mentors and funding bodies as too challenging

for a wider audience not versed in intertextual reading. I had intended this

work to develop a wide appeal so in response, the performance script in this

study informed by reception studies focused on the development of story

line and characters framed by a theatrical narrative.

2.4.2 Reception studies

Audience feedback (see Appendix 3) in open forums and voluntary

questionnaires distributed after forums (see Appendix 4) were part of the

design. The questionnaires provided a reflective response for those who may

or may not have felt like contributing to a forum. Kolb (2000: 2) notes that

forums are often very successful as it is within this environment that people

are encouraged to share their opinions and concerns. She also suggests that

direct and video documented observation of the audience is a most valuable

method of collecting primary data. In this study, audiences were

documented on video and their response to the choreography and disparate

disciplines involved was noted.

2.4.3 Stages of the project and participants involved

Janesick (1998b: 47) states that by using other disciplines, ‘to inform our

research processes, we may broaden our understanding of method and

substance.’ The disparate backgrounds of the participants as well as the

mixed elements in the process, define this study as cross-disciplinary. As

Denzin and Lincoln (1998: 408) propose, ‘Qualitative research is an


17

interdisciplinary’ field. Therefore participants were deliberately chosen who

had varied degrees of performance experience, previous contact with

technology and histories of working with me (see Appendix 5).

There were three stages in the study Stage One the developmental stage at

Queensland University of Technology developed the key concepts,

characters and choreographic design with the interactive technological

interface. Stage Two at Ausdance South Australia Choreolab / Dancecraft

studios, constructed the performance script with further development of the

characters and consolidation of the choreographic material and relevant

tasks. Stage Three, at the Australian Choreographic Centre was intended to

further develop the technological applications from Stage One and integrate

them with the performance elements developed in Stage Two. Each stage

resulted in a public showing or performance and forums.

Between Stages One and Two the performance script was written in Tokyo.

In Stage Two due to funding limitations, no technology was utilised and the

role of Babbage was not developed. The performance script was rewritten

after Stage Two and there were twelve months for reflection in which

choreographic tasks and design briefs were refined and the wearable

electronic architecture was designed. Furthermore, in Stages One and Two,

roles, disciplines or experience were not distinguished between participants

at the onset of the study and areas of interest emerged as a consequence of

the creative process. In contrast, in Stage Three roles were predetermined

and cross-disciplinary and collaborative practise was defined and explained

in the preliminary creative brief rather than emerging organically through

the collaborative choreographic process. This was a result of firstly time

constraints and secondly the nature of the participants involved who

identified themselves with a particular art form.


18

2.4.4 Participant feedback and field data

The collaborative process mirrored qualitative research methods in the

following way. Participants emailed responses in which, as Clandinin and

Connelly (1994: 421-422) discuss, ‘we try to give an account of ourselves,

make meaning of our experiences, and attempt to establish and maintain

relationships.’ Similarly, conversations were led by me and focused on the

participant’s active contribution, which encourages equality among

participants and an environment where each can establish and share their

own questions. Reflective conversation in the newmedia dance laboratory

(Schon, 1983: 271) was aimed at allowing processes to remain open and the

choreographic findings to accumulate so as to keep the inquiry moving and

prevent closure.

Concurrently, participants were captured on video to provide (Clandinin and

Connelly, 1994: 423) field texts or documents. The reviewed data was

transcribed and codified into conceptual concerns in Stages One and Two

and points of tension and cohesion in Stage Three. Some participants chose

to answer questionnaires to reflect on the project after the event which

assisted in providing triangulation of data in the analysis of the artistic

practice (see Appendix 6).

2.4.4 Journal writing

As researcher and choreographer I maintained a journal to both reflect on

the process at hand and to consider areas and ideas of significance arising

from the artistic practice. In the journal I prepared choreographic tasks and

leading questions to explore in the newmedia dance laboratory. Journals, as

Clandinin and Connelly (1994: 421) state, ‘keep ongoing records of

practices and reflections on those practices.’ Directing notes provided

another layer of reflection.


19

2.5 Analytical tools and crystallization

Analytical tools in this study included observation of creative content and

subsequent feedback through further interrogation. Similar to Schon (1983:

136) in his model for reflection-in-action, my perception of the work at hand

moves toward an interpretive synthesis congruent with my fundamental

values and theories through questions that cross check content against:

• the intention of the performance script;

• the participants’ thoughts and feelings;

• a digital paradigm, as elaborated on in 3.2.1;

• the design of the media;

• audience feedback.

Analysis is grounded in professional experience of myself and my peers. As

Schon (1983:276) suggests, intuitive practices in professional artistic

practice assumes that practitioners have a knowledge base that can be

articulated as a research analysis tool. Research was validated by double-

checking (Huberman and Miles, 1994: 438), ‘findings, using multiple

sources and modes of evidence.’ Sources included participants’ feedback,

field data, journal writing and reception studies. Modes of evidence include:

• the development of the performance script in three stages

from abstract concepts to scenes;

• the accumulation of participants’ experience via

conversations, journals and email correspondence;

• the development of the interactive technology;

• emergent attributes of choreographic practice;

• the development of a cohesive artistic work.

A matrix of data ensued, which resulted in the extraction of focus areas. As

Creswell (194: 156) states, in grounded theory the researcher, ‘attempts to


20

saturate categories through “constantly comparing” incidents with incidents

until categories emerge.’ By reviewing data within the limitations of the

study and observing the creative development, the following areas of

significance emerged:

• How does ‘enactment’ shift the performer’s role?



• How does a digital perspective guide a choreographic

practice?

2.6 Research limitations

Limitations in collecting data occurred because not all audience or

participants questionnaires were returned so it was impossible to truly

represent a demographic or the creative team. Furthermore, limitations in

using digital documentation in the field to observe the audience and the

participants are problematic in that, as Creswell (1994: 151) states, ‘the

presence of an observer may be disruptive and affect responses.’ Lastly,

audience participation in the forum in Stage Three was not directed by

myself but by the director of the Australian Choreographic Centre hosting

the performance session and did not elicit the kinds of responses collected in

Stages One and Two, when I hosted the forums with the participants.

Misunderstandings as to the nature of my process and its outcomes, as

explained further in chapter three, limited my intentions in the realisation of

the work in Stage Three, halting the choreographic component of the

research in the newmedia dance laboratory as well as in production. This

included the application of the wearable electronic architecture in

performance. Despite this fact, the technology was designed and tested.

However its omission in the work, along with the absence of choreography

reflecting a newmedia dance process, led to the development of a more


21

conventional theatrical production. A newmedia dance process is that which

emerged in Stages One and Two as described in Chapter Three.

Due to financial restraints and availability of expertise, this study was

limited to resources on hand and skills pooled from participants and no new

technology was accessed. Whilst participants were requested to apply a

digital paradigm to their practice and to shift their area of expertise, in Stage

Three key performers demonstrated difficulty working with technologically

based concepts and performance practises, thereby limiting their

participation in crucial aspects of the study.

2.6.1 Ethical issues

In personal experience methods, ethical dimensions of researcher-

participant relationships are a concern. As Clandina and Connelly (1994:

422) state, ‘in entering into a research relationship with participants and

sharing their stories and opinions, there is the potential risk that their lived,

told, relived, and retold stories become our own.’ In acknowledging this,

participants signed consent forms that recognise their contribution to the

study as well as assure that any direct quotes or documented material can be

previewed before inclusion in the thesis (see Appendix 7). In addition,

intellectual property agreements were put in place to recognise artists’

original contribution to the work.

2.6.2 Bias of study

The subjective nature of researching one’s own artistic practice suggests

many biases. Most originate in my performance philosophy, not favoring

one art form over another, aspiring to keep performance elements in flux in

production and requesting participants to embrace cross disciplinary

practice that deflects them from their area of expertise in a way that may be

seen as disempowering. Furthermore, audience bias may depend on their


22

expectations of attending a dance performance, their past experience as an

audience member at the given venue or experience in viewing my past

works, as well as reception of the publication and distribution of

promotional materials about the work.

Participants’ bias reflects the expectations and performance philosophies

they brought into the project including their interest, experience and

openness to working in newmedia dance processes developed in this study.

Besides that, their level of enthusiasm for opportunities to work with me in

the future could potentially temper their responses to questionnaires.

Nevertheless, the participants’ voice is integral in all stages of the research

as demonstrated in the following chapter in which the leading questions are

investigated and key issues are identified through a description of all three

stages of the study.

Chapter Three: Creative processes and technological applications

23


In this chapter, all three stages involved in the creation of Ada, are described through

an investigation of the four leading questions identified in Stage One, the

developmental stage of this research:

• How does ‘enactment’ (see glossary) shift the performer’s role?



• How does a digital perspective guide a choreographic practice?

The developmental stage of the study from which these questions were extracted will

be described first and the subsequent stages will be included through woven

description, pertaining to these areas of significance. As outlined in the previous

chapter, Ada evolved through creative processes and technological applications in

three stages:

• Stage One or the developmental stage, at Queensland University of

Technology, developed the key concepts, characters and

choreographic design with the interactive technological interface,

resulting in two open showings and forums for university students and

staff.

• Stage Two, at Ausdance South Australia Choreolab / Dancecraft

studios, constructed the performance script with further development

of the characters and consolidation of the choreographic material and

relevant tasks, resulting in a showing and forum for invited peers and

mentors.

• Stage Three, at the Australian Choreographic Centre, was intended to

further develop the technological applications from Stage One and

integrate them with the performance elements developed in Stage

Two, resulting in a series of public performances and forums.


24

3.1 The newmedia dance project, Ada

Each stage contributed to the development of Ada, the synopsis of which remained

consistent throughout the study as influenced by the original version produced in

1999. A futuristic nomadic webcaster, Augusta, presents a series of webcasts on the

nineteenth century historical Ada (Augusta Ada Byron Lovelace), her collaboration

with Charles Babbage who invented the first computer and their roles in the digital

revolution. In the webcasts, Augusta sequentially:

• dramatises the historical facts of Ada’s life;

• interviews Ada about her prophecies and legacies to the digital age;

• unfolds Ada’s untimely death.

These docudrama presentations are interwoven by scenes depicting Augusta

preparing webcasts through digital manipulation of images, movies and avatars

represented by live performers, via a personalised wearable electronic roaming

device connected to public telecommunication hubs. Scenes include:

• Ada writing letters to Babbage,

• Ada and Babbage collaborating.

Between each scene Augusta surfs through streamed and archived media on subjects

related to her research on Ada, referencing content from the nineteenth century to the

near future. These sections are named media walls.

Both women prophesise innovation in technological advancement and both foresee

an apocalyptic future which is reflected in their relationship to their bodies. Ada

struggles with hysteria and cancer and her quickened mind is compared to the

momentum of the telecommunication technologies used by Augusta in which her

body features in the public domain whilst revealing nervous maladies afflicting her

in ways similar to her predecessor. The work aims to merge both women’s will

towards physical and technological transcendence in the last scenes (see pages 24-27,

Figure 1).


25

Figure 1: Structural outline of the performance script, Ada Scene Characters Choreographic

description Aural input Visual

environment Introduction: (Media wall one).

Ada avatar as a child (live). Babbage avatar (live). Augusta.

Metaphysical child solo, QuickTime. Babbage, QuickTime. Augusta media set up.

Pre-recorded track. Sound triggers.

Projected jpeg and QuickTime files about Ada’s history and the history of the digital revolution.

Scene one: Augusta webcast, Ada’s story.

Augusta. Ada and Babbage avatars (live). Ada and Babbage avatars (digital files).

Augusta webcast: A story of Ada and Babbages’ roles in the digital revolution.

Spoken scripted text from Sadie Plant / Sarah Neville. Pre- recorded background soundscape.

Projected jpeg and Quick-Time files of Babbage’s analytical engine. Ada and Babbage avatars.

Media wall two: Historical Ada.

Augusta. Ada and Babbage avatars (live) (camouflaged).

Augusta surfs / triggers through digital content about the historical Ada.

Pre- recorded track.

Projected jpeg and QuickTime files related to Ada’s history and history of the digital revolution.

Scene two: Ada’s letters to Babbage.

Augusta. Ada avatar (live). Babbage avatar (live) (camouflaged).

Augusta edits / triggers the choreographic design of digital files she has created in which Ada writes to Babbage.

Pre- recorded track. Spoken text from Ada’s letters. Voice commands.

Projected jpeg and QuickTime files of Ada’s original letters to Babbage.

Scene Characters Choreographic description

Aural input Visual environment

Media wall three: Augusta and her collaborator.

Augusta and her collaborator. Ada avatar (live) (camouflaged).

Augusta designs / triggers the media wall whilst arguing with collaborator about Ada and Babbage’s roles

Pre- recorded track. Spoken text, semi-scripted by Sarah Neville.

Projected jpeg and QuickTime files of Babbage’s engine.


26

in the digital revolution.

Scene three: Ada and Babbage collaboration.

Augusta. Ada and Babbage avatars (live).

Augusta edits / triggers choreographic design of a digital file she has created, in which Ada collaborates with Babbage.

Pre- recorded track. Spoken scripted / un-scripted text from Ada’s letters. Improvised Voice Commands.

Projected jpeg and QuickTime files of Babbage’s mechanical dolls, and other media pertaining to Babbage.

Media wall four: Transcend-ence.


Augusta surfs / triggers through media about transcendence.


Projected QuickTime files of media about transcendence.

Scene four: Augusta contemplates transcendence.

Augusta. Ada avatar (live). Babbage avatar (live) (camouflaged).

Augusta dreams of transcending her body. Ada stuck in a loop as a QuickTime.

Pre-recorded soundscape, including text from Ada’s letters. Spoken text by Sarah Neville.

Projected QuickTime files of media about transcendence.



Media wall five: Body without technology solo.


Augusta tries to function without technology.

Pre-recorded track. Sound triggers, fast debates.

No visual media intended.

Scene five: Calculus of the nervous system.

Augusta. Ada avatar (live). Babbage avatar (camouflaged).

Augusta webcast: she interviews Ada about her role in the digital revolution, her personal views and her legacy.

Pre recorded back-ground soundscape. Spoken scripted text from Ada’s original letters. Spoken improvised text for Augusta.

Projected jpeg and QuickTime files of media illustrating the use of Adasoft by the US defence force.

Media wall six: No media / static

Augusta. Ada and Babbage avatars (live)

Augusta’s program crashes. She desperately tries to reboot.


Projected jpeg and QuickTime files of static.


27

(camouflaged).

Scene six: webcast preparation.

Augusta. Ada and Babbage avatars(live) (camouflaged).

Augusta prepares for a webcast.

Pre-recorded track.

Remnants of projected jpeg and QuickTime files. Unrelated media.

Media wall seven: Ada’s death scene webcast.

Augusta. Ada and Babbage avatars. (all camouflaged).

Augusta watches a broadcast of Ada’s death whilst caught in the media herself.

Pre-recorded track including text from Ada’s original letters.

Projected QuickTime files processed from black and white super 8 footage.



Scene seven: Ada’s death scene.

Ada and Babbage avatars (live). Augusta (camouflaged).

Augusta webcast: Ada’s death is expressed in live performance. Ada’s death scene solo.


No media, a green wash.

Scene eight: Byron poem.

Augusta. Augusta recites an apocalyptic poem ‘Darkness’ by Lord Byron, whilst pulling apart her media jacket and placing it in a constellation around the stage.

Spoken text from Lord Bryon’s poem, ‘Darkness.’

No media.

3.2 Stage One: the developmental stage

The initial concepts were further developed in the exploration of four scenes in Stage

One, which involved experiments in integrating dance and technology over three

months, with dance students, Cath Brown, Elise May, Tim Darbyshire and Bridget

Fiske. Together we worked on developing the choreographic design, characters and

concepts through a digital perspective, whilst dancer and electronics specialist,

Aaron Veryard, developed the performer operated electronic interface with


28

communication design lecturer Gavin Sade who designed the Director6 programming

system.

3.2.1 Digital perspectives

To begin eliciting movement for the Ada project as outlined in Figure 1, I asked the

participants (choreographic journal, 26/4/01) how technology affects their physical

relationship to the world. This question inspired the development of creative texts

explored through movement improvisation. Tim considered his walkman and wrote

in a personal email (28/4/2001), “His eyes are broad and he is focused on going

somewhere. Although he is driven by the music, he does not really concentrate on it -

more of a distraction from everyday sounds. His movement is locomotive.” Tim’s

movement and conversation reflected his extension of physical experience through

sound as well as a shift of consciousness away from reality (see DVD, Newmedia

Dance Laboratory: Walkman boy, 02:13). Similarly Beys (1998: 17) critiques digital

communication culture as consciousness downloaded.

Movement emerging in the investigation of daily interactions with technology, led to

the development of choreography for the historical character Ada. In considering her

relationship to her world in the nineteenth century, we created poses inspired by

medical sketches of hysterical women. I spliced them together to make an animation

or movement phrase using technical language from time based video editing

software. In doing so I was presuming the media tools used by the newmedia

webcaster, Augusta, to align the creation of the work to a twenty-first century digital

paradigm.

I extended the animation phrase by embedding poses sporadically into a balletic walk

to establish Ada’s personality and social standing in a romantic era. This technique

created a glitch in the fluidity of the travelling movement, determining the hysterical

character attributed to Ada and emulating a fragmented element in a digital file

(video, choreographic journal, 30/3/01). We had thus begun to choreograph the

6 Director programming, (http://www.macromedia.com/software/director/resources/understanding/, 1/5/03) describes, ‘a multimedia authoring tool designed to create rich interactive content for both fixed media and the Internet, Director can incorporate photo-quality images, full-screen or long-form digital video, sounds, animation, 3D models, text, hypertext, bitmaps, and Macromedia Flash content.’


29

historical movement into a twenty-first century digital paradigm (see DVD,

Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Digital phrase, 01:11). These developments aided the

inquiry whilst remained inconclusive as this was the first stage of the study and

intended to keep the research open.

3.2.2 Developing characters

3.2.2.1 Ada

In order to create a meaningful narrative I used choreographic techniques that are

determined by historical dance styles to seek the emotional tone, gestures and

idiosyncratic peculiarities of the characters and to ground the choreographic tasks.

Ballet and English court dance were used to depict the nineteenth century.

Furthermore, performers drew on personal experiences to identify with the characters

and to embrace an emotional integrity in their work. For example, Elise responded in

a personal email (26/3/2001), “I need to find parts of my personal experience of

people and feelings to carry with me.” Elise collaborated in researching the

character, which helped me to elicit relevant choreographic form at a faster pace in

subsequent tasks.

To develop an emotional score for the characters, we discussed Ada’s mind moving

faster than her body as reflective of the nineteenth century concept of Cartesian

dualism and investigated physical possibilities of representing the body dragged by

the mind. A feeling of frustration emerged, which I asked participants to recall at

different stages of the work (choreographic journal 20/3/01). Jo Stone (questionnaire,

12/02) later recalled after Stage Two that, “Movement was often based on leaving

the body and chasing the mind.” Creatively, I found a link between Ada’s mental

state and a contemporary malady which Kuipers and Aitken (2000: 12) describe as

the, ‘human being feeling, fearing, and freaking at the center of any event.’ This

experience I came to explain as, “having finished the movement in your mind ten

minutes ago and you must move quicker to keep up.” This instruction was

maintained in all stages in developing movement for both Ada and Augusta.


30

Henceforth, I aimed to portray Ada transcending her body through imagination and

mathematics and reworked a solo, Metaphysical child (see DVD, 1999 Original:

Metaphysical child solo, 00:08). Originally created with Jo Stone, it presented Ada as

a child, playing at designing wings. We discussed that Ada was an optimistic child,

who did not respect scientific or physical limitations. A choreographic task was

reconstructed for Elise to rework the solo (see DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory:

Metaphysical child solo, 00:00), based on Ada’s letters as a child (in Toole, 1992:

32-36). This solo was reworked in Stage Two by Jo Stone (see DVD, Newmedia

Dance Laboratory: Metaphysical child solo, 04:04) and again by Elise in Stage Three

(see DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Metaphysical child solo, 09:05).

I stipulated that movement would not be set, the dance developing anew each time

through a progression of emotions and intentions. Whilst the task remained

consistent the variations of interpretation by the two dancers were different. Jo’s

original version is defined by minute unformed gestures that reflected her immediate

thought processes. In reflection, Jo sought to externalise her emotions more

graphically through the use of tape in Stage Two. At first, Elise approached the task

technically without embodying emotion, leading me to suggest that like Jo, she begin

calculating the design in her mind and only through enthusiasm and passion does she

articulate it physically. I then reminded her to recall feelings of frustration after

which Elise commented (email 15/3/01), “Even in the final product - no repetition,

this is extremely hard. Can I choreograph a sequence of emotional changes? Yes, I'm

just not used to it.” She then began to successfully develop the character by working

on the emotional score combined with the physical design.

3.2.2.2 Augusta

Likewise, Cath at first struggled to identify with Augusta, who is portrayed as Levy’s

(2001:125), ‘Engineer of worlds’. I suggested she identify with the role first, which

led to viewing David Cronenbergs’ science fiction film, eXistenZ, in which the

protagonist programs the software design of a game from within the game. This

proved constructive and was later viewed by Astrid in Stage Two and Wendy in

Stage Three. Subsequently, I created improvisational tasks around media

personalities (see DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Augusta, 02:35, 02:50) and


31

Cath worked with a camera to fulfil the experience of creating media in live

performance (see DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Augusta workshop, 03:57).

To provide tension in the movement, I added internal imagery, which was based on

contemporary hypothetical maladies such as cold cement under foot and air-

conditioned lungs and the dancers embodied these ideas through suggestion

(choreographic journal, 24/4/01).

Cath clarified the role as we augmented the mixed media. We placed the

Metaphysical child solo in a confined area and described it as a QuickTime or digital

file that she had created (see DVD, 2001 QUT: Augusta webcast, Ada’s story,

Metaphysical child solo, 02:35). In parallel, a task developed into the construction of

an installation of paper and the modification of QuickTime files / movements, live in

performance (see DVD, 2001 QUT: Introduction, Augusta Media set up, 00:00).

Furthermore, Aaron Veryard and Gavin Sade developed an interactive wrist-worn

device which ran on Director programming through which Cath could trigger

images, movies, sounds and control the performers whom I had theatricalised as

digital avatars (see DVD, 2001 QUT: Ada’s letters to Babbage, 00:34). As a result,

questions arose about how to choreograph the digital movement of the avatars and

how to choreograph the interactive relationship between them and Augusta.

3.2.3 Conceptual concerns

3.2.3.1 Embodying the digital

I sought digitised movement that was fluid, mutable and tangled to represent current

animation technologies combined with the concept of the dysfunctional body in order

to develop the movement of the avatars. To pursue this investigation, I worked with

the animation software Poser4, an application that does not respect boundaries or

limitations in human movement. I asked the dancers to play intuitively with the

program and to use the commands on the toolbar to transfer their experience with the

software onto their bodies and manipulate each other’s movement (video, 15/6/01). I

intended Augusta to manipulate Ada’s movement in performance and this task

allowed the experience to develop. I was also fascinated with Heim’s description of a

transhuman structure and how that might translate to movement. He suggests that,


32

‘Merging with computerised entities requires an extension of our humanity -

certainly beyond current humanity.’ (1998: 238).

Movement derived from Poser4 was intentionally impossible to learn from the

screen, which led the performers to utilise their imaginative capacities to create

embodied interpretations. The dramaturgical intention was that the historical Ada is a

digital entity or avatar that represents a nineteenth century hysterical woman. The

tangled and mutable movements created from working with Poser4 appeared to be

constructive to achieve this goal (see DVD, Newmedia dance laboratory: Digital

phrase, 01:11, 2002 Canberra: Poser movements, 07:46).

Research into Poser4 led me to imagine Augusta animating her avatars through

motion capture technology, a process that extracts movement data from points on a

body. Assisted by Queensland University of Technology human movement lecturer

Graham Kerr, we captured a movement phrase and viewed the data. Cath (video

interview, 11/5/2001), commented that viewing the extracted movement was quite

disorientating and that she could not recognise herself. She said, “It’s not me, this is

my body which I work with every day, but it has only taken the movement. It’s

bizarre.” (See DVD, Newmedia dance laboratory: Motion capture, 03:15). We

considered she might feel more empowered if she rendered the form. However, this

was not possible due to our lack of animation expertise. Further work with Poser4 to

create digital avatars representing human form was thus incorporated into the design.

3.2.4 Designing and applying the interactive technological interface

Digital avatars (see glossary), were created to investigate how a performer interacts

with a virtual entity. We played with avatar projections, of about the size one might

see on a television or a personal computer, so they would appear proportioned to

familiar reality. We found that projecting on a screen emerging from a costume gave

Augusta definition as a nomadic webcaster and controller, as the avatars were

triggered on and off through the interactive technology which she controlled directly

and the presentation was not confined to her immediate surroundings (see DVD,

2001 QUT: Collaboration scene, 01:35).


33

Whilst triggering avatar projections was relatively straightforward, triggering live

bodies representing digital avatars was more problematic. Direct physical

manipulation proved ineffective in terms of reflecting digitisation. On the other hand,

movement that cued sequences used as ‘physical commands’ combined with ‘voice

commands’ extracted from Ada’s letters, embedded as triggers in the interactive

interface, functioned well by driving the performers’ actions (see DVD, 2001 QUT:

Ada’s letters to Babbage, 00:34). An audience member (forum, 22/6/01) realised that

Augusta was controlling the avatars by her facial expressions. Another person said,

“I sensed that the technology is here but that it was not yet part of the movement of

the piece.” I interpreted these responses to mean that whilst the performer expressed

emotion when interacting with the technology and the performers, this was not yet

translating to the wider choreographic design of the work. Further research into

choreographing interactivity became an aim in Stage Two.

In regards to the performer’s relationship to the technology, we learnt that defective

technology made the interactive relationship clear for the audience. As one audience

member concluded, “I thought it needed to be more dysfunctional. It would be good

if you could trigger the phrase, but each time have it change and modulate.” This led

to further discussion in the forum where this sentiment was supported. Furthermore,

Cath (forum, 22/6/01) spoke about how she had mastered the device to an extent that

limited her improvisational capacities. She felt disappointed that her experience and

performance with the technology was not extended. This was noted for developing

the technology further so as to provide narrative and functional clarity in the work.

Lastly, I questioned whether using technology as a navigational device shifted the

performer’s role in the work and might suggest the development of an enacted

narrative more similar to that found in computer games.

The concerns and challenges elicited from Stage One were reinforced in reviewing

audiences’ comments, field notes and the participants’ opinions transcribed from

video. As outlined in chapter two, four areas of significance were extracted from the

data: enactment, interactivity, virtual and digital. These were explored in depth in all

three stages, and formed the four key questions of the study.


34

3.3 How does ‘enactment’ shift the performer’s role?

Considering the four areas identified, a performance script was constructed before

Stage Two, in consultation with videographer Matt Innes. Dramaturgical input

during Stage Two at Ausdance South Australia Choreolab and Dancecraft studios, by

designer Nic Mollison, webcast consultant Martin Thomson, newmedia producer

Teresa Crea and experienced actor / dancers Jo Stone and Astrid Pill, clarified the

scenes, characters and choreography.

Matt (email, 9/01) challenged the choreography to meet the narrative demands of

film. He suggested the movement pieces were interpretations of dialogues, feelings

and ambitions and I could use dance to convey abstract ideas and let the video

content provide the narrative. As I am interested in dance conveying the story we had

to find a compromise. Henceforth, the structure developed with the intent that

movement and gesture expressed character and emotion and media illustrated

concepts, whilst Augusta’s performance, choreographing the elements in

performance, compiled the story through an enacted narrative. Augusta’s role as the

creator from within the performance, assumed a revision of the performer’s role in

the work.

Theoretical research and experience playing the computer game Final Fantasy, in

which the participant navigates the story and performs tasks, aided the question of

how ‘enactment’ shifts the performer’s role. I considered incorporating the role of

Augusta as both participant and audience within the work, inspired further by Laurel

(1997: 127) who describes interactive gaming as a domain where the will of the

participant is projected into the animated, virtual character and their world(s).

Likewise, Levy (2001: 115) testifies that new media artists (like Augusta) are defined

through, ‘not only their participation in constructing meaning but, rather, their co-

production in the actual work.’ They are artists who create their identity, devise their

methodology and manipulate their surroundings from within the creative process or

performance in collaboration with all other elements. This is similar to playing a

computer game, where you can select your character/ identity and manipulate your

surroundings and path through the game and in doing so alter its form and contents.


35

In Stage Two, I initiated an investigation about Augusta’s role, through successive

rounds of questions similar to Stage One. I questioned Astrid, who was playing

Augusta, about her relationship to computers and her attitude to technology to gauge

her perspective and potential participation as co-creator within the performance. She

admitted inexperience with computers and then considered how technology might

affect her on a subliminal level, such as her familiarity with electronic doors in

supermarkets. Improvisational exercises were devised around a fast interrogation of

approaches to further her investigation:

• Kinetic: Perform your feeling walking through supermarket doors;

• Aesthetic: How do you want to look at the other end of the modem?

• Image based: Dance weather patterns on your brow.

Astrid practiced reacting immediately to my directions and imagined manipulating

media and making decisions about her environment and her path through the story by

extending her senses beyond her physicality, as she would in an enacted

performance.

3.3.1 Nomadic webcaster

Defining Augusta’s role as a nomadic webcaster and locating the performers’ place

in the narrative did not eventuate immediately. Of the three performers who played

Augusta, none were particularly familiar with technology, Wendy McPhee in Stage

Three was the exception. Similar to Leah Grycewicz who played this character in

the original version (see DVD, 1999 Original), Wendy collaborates with new media

artists in her own work. I observed Cath in Stage One appeared comfortable in

working across art forms in her own arts practice which was reflected through her

enthusiasm to work with the technology. However, in Stage One, we created a

calculated geometric choreography for Augusta which did not reflect Cath’s ease

with the medium (see DVD, 2001 QUT: Introduction, Augusta media set up, 00:00)

and an audience member (forum, 22/6/01) asked, “Why does the Augusta character

have to be so linear and precise? That’s not very accurate of European standard

technology today. If she is using this technology, maybe this character could benefit

from actually using it in a non linear way, play with it.”


36

As a result of this feedback, with which we agreed in consideration of the application

of the technological interface and the emergent design of the media, Astrid evolved

the precision of Cath’s movement to clarify the presentation of media files in Stage

Two (see DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory, Augusta webcast, Ada’s story, 04:48).

Files could be triggered in an order of her choice, not defined by strict sequencing,

presented through basic video mixing software. Astrid responded by incorporating

the files in an exacting manner into her movement. We loosened the linearity of the

choreography, by adding a feeling of disorientation to her presentation. In response,

an audience member enunciated an attitude pervading in this showing (questionnaire,

27/10/01), that “Her mind is not grounded in the same way the other characters are. I

was looking for some rather different way for her to interact with the space and

dimensions.”

The character brief in Stage Three then evolved to include fluid, organic movement

inspired by Poser4 and internal imagery to elicit alternative performance realms.

However, this concept was problematic for Wendy McPhee who played Augusta in

this stage. An audience member in a questionnaire (25th September – 5th October,

2002) reflected my journal notes and wrote, “The modern character is not clear as to

what/who she is?” Furthermore, reviewer Soboslay (www.realtimearts.net,

(21/12/02) penned that, ‘Problematic for me is the “slightly futuristic” webcaster’s

angular and restricted cyborg movement vocabulary.’ Lastly, Nic (questionnaire,

3/03) contemplated how this may have eventuated by writing, “The performers

ignored the choreographer’s directions, so it wasn’t clear what was intentional or

what wasn’t, especially the Augusta character.”

As Nic observed, Wendy blocked the research by appearing to be unable to respond

to my methodology and encouraging the other performers, creatives and The

Australian Choreographic Centre administrators to do likewise. Hence my

choreographic research was regrettably aborted. When this occurred I was successful

in continuing my research by encouraging the development of the Wearable

Electronic Architecture. I observed the technical development and sought the

services of an unpaid volunteer dancer to further the study as explained in the next

chapter.


37

I negotiated Wendy’s difficulty with my creative process by explaining it in depth to

her through individual and group discussions. Wendy voiced concerns about the

relevance of my morning performance training and choreographic tasks to

developing her role, so I orchestrated discussions on conceptual, theoretical and

cultural issues to contextualise the studio work within the greater project. Following

discussions, choreographic tasks were re-attempted and information discussed was

re-enunciated. Wendy continued not to respond, so I re-considered the application

and tone of the tasks in consideration of her individual sensibilities, skills and levels

of comfort. I tried a variation of alternative approaches aimed at appealing to

Wendy’s creativity and skills in dance including; eliciting personal input, direct

transference of choreographic content through teaching, intellectual puzzles to be

interpreted physically, improvisational scores based in character development, acting

techniques including emotional memory and alienation techniques, kinaesthetic

response to relevant concepts, creative puzzles to ‘physicalise’ space, sensory

experiments with pace and timing, choreographic phrase building through motifs and

manipulation, mathematical challenges interpreted through the composition of given

movement material, reference to popular media and well know personalities through

mimicry, reference to films, literature and digital aesthetics, interpreting text through

movement, re-writing text, working with voice, responding/ reacting to co-

performers, chatting informally to her on social occasions and asking her to work

alone.

None of my choreographic approaches achieved a positive response from Wendy and

after persevering patiently and creating new methods daily, I was asked by the

Artistic Director of the Centre to cease attempting to communicate with her. It has

been suggested by observers that Wendy is skilled as a dancer and performer and she

may have chosen not to work with me upon arriving in Canberra for unforeseen

reasons. She may have blocked my creative process due to a personality clash, which

I failed to recognise either in auditioning or working with her. From this experience I

learnt to not assume that my expectations of professional behaviour are the same as

others. I also learnt that it might be advisable to introduce established members of the

creative team into an audition process to see if there is an imbalance of power.


38

Lastly, I might also want to question the participant about their knowledge as to the

nature of my work before choosing to work with them.

Consequently in stage three, I observed from a distance that Wendy chose not to use

the technological triggering device designed to control the media, and did not

perform the triggering choreography. Rather, she appeared to prefer to call up

theatrical technology, cued by technicians as would be common practise in most

staged contemporary dance performances (see DVD, 2002: Canberra). This

conventional outcome was disappointing as my vision for an immediately responsive

performative environment was then unrealised. I had hoped to eradicate rehearsed

form and experiment with actual performance tensions through the progressive

development of unpredictable outcomes. Wendy’s inability to come to terms with the

onstage triggering technology had a major impact on the final production since it

limited further research on how enactment might shift the performers’ role and

subsequently, the question discussed below.

3.4 In what physical capacity does interactivity manifest?

3.4.1 Wearable Electronic Architecture

The technological triggering device was intended to give Augusta creative freedom

in performance. Matt and I designed a creative brief, inspired by a promotional

publication (2000) New Nomads; An exploration of wearable electronics by Philips.

We envisaged a jacket that would trigger media; sound, still images, movies and

light, through a pulley system that in application could express a physical geometry

and define Augusta as a nomadic webcaster. The geometric triggering choreography

was chosen for its association with Ada’s child mind, which designed a flying device

through geometry in proportion to her body, as presented in the metaphysical child

solo.

Aaron Veryard, Elise May and computer programmer Benn Woods collaborated to

fulfil this brief in Stage Three, through electronic design and engineering, jacket

architecture design and creation and computer programming, respectively. The

powers of invention and skills acquired by these artists, contributed to the


39

achievement of a unique device which we named, Wearable Electronic Architecture.

The device was named as such because the jacket was made with the intention that it

would be worn, the electronic design is the dominant technological aspect and it was

constructed in an architectural design with focus on inhabitation, flexibility and

structure that reflects an urban landscape. Working in this capacity the artists

combined technological skills with embodied knowledge through their collaborative

process. Outcomes included custom electronics, computer programming and fashion

design, combined with innovative choreographic performance perspectives (see

DVD, Wearable Electronic Architecture).

The jacket was tested in the laboratory on one occasion by trapeze artist Janine Eyres

who volunteered to explore its potential to perform interactivity. In experimenting

with the Wearable Electronic Architecture, we considered the dilemma posed by

Sobslay (www.realtimearts.net, 21/12/02) who critiqued the hypothetical of utilising

the interactive technological device in performance and asked:

‘The illusion of a performer in control of wayward elements, her own conscious director, self-actualising and responding to what she actualises as she goes? I find myself thinking: at some, any point, the performer could well ignore all her own directorial choices. And no-one in the audience would ever know.’

I deduced that having empowered the performer to make choices and to

communicate their choices to the audience, I would respect their output on any level,

assuming they were working from an informed and performance intelligent position.

I looked forward to their unique performance interpretation from night to night.

However, it became clear to me as an observer that I did not seek a cause and effect

relationship from the interaction. Rather, the performer struggling to manipulate the

technology in performance, both responding to and ignoring media, interested me in

a similar way as it did the audience at the Stage One showing. The participants who

worked with me in this capacity, namely Cath and Janine, were fascinating to

observe because they sought new approaches each time; where to place their gaze,

how to exhibit frustration or surprise, and they requested added complications in the

design. Hence, interaction read most clearly when the workings were rough and the

physical and emotional responses performed by the dancer, were actual.


40

3.4.2 Interactive choreographic devices: technological

I recognised my choreographic aspirations when I observed Janine (video 1/10/02)

playing with the pulley triggers and asked her to consider her reactions to the sound

she triggered. Eyeing the audience she asked me back “Is it about the jacket? Is it

about me? Or is it about what people are hearing?” and suggested she would like it to

be, “part of what the audience are thinking.” She sought to use the technology to

interact with the audience, which was a relevant point of interaction as she was alone

on stage and I was her audience. I asked about her relationship to the visual imagery,

to which she replied, “I think you would have to become really familiar with it and

be able to work your way around glitches.” The performers’ familiarity with the

media was not my intent however. What interested me more was how Janine could

recognise images as part of a series and how when an alternative image arose, she

simply reprogrammed the device or adapted her outlook and continued.

Lastly, in regards to triggering movements, Janine preferred buttons to pulleys, as

they were more discrete. I observed that she felt quite expert when performing button

triggers, her movements were minimal and my gaze as audience was held by the

digital imagery. This validated my suspicion that good multimedia presentations

defer focus from technological tools and the presenter to highlight the media

presentation. Hence, using the technology to elicit unpredictable outcomes fascinated

me as it kept both the performer and the technological device present in the scene.

Developing choreography for the pulleys was important in theatricalising the

architecture and function of the technological device, whilst it also wove conceptual

ideas, such as geometric design, into the work through movement. In Stage Two

without the technology, Astrid and I developed a triggering choreography to emulate

this function, using the characters’ emotional score to dictate movement quality (see

DVD, 2001 Adelaide: Slide 15, Trigger demonstration).

3.4.3 Interactive choreographic devices: Voice commands

Apart from the above technological choreographic device, there were two other ways


41

for Augusta to interact with media and to manipulate and edit the choreography of

Ada and Babbage as avatars. Voice commands and physical commands were created

for this purpose. In the developmental stage, Cath used references from Ada’s letters,

embedded as sound files in the triggering device to manipulate the choreography (see

DVD, 2001 QUT: Ada’s letters to Babbage, 00:34). In later stages, voice commands

were derived from the dancers’ understanding of digital terminology, gleaned from

Poser4 (see DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Ada’s letters to Babbage, 04:58;

2002 Canberra: Ada’s letters to Babbage, 10:48). In all three stages, voice commands

were answered with responsive movement. For example, when Augusta said, “play,”

Ada began moving, “pause,” and she would hold the movement. In Stage One, the

sound of Ada’s digitised voice, reading the letters aloud would cue the dancer

playing Ada to perform an embodied version of the text.

In Stage Two, Jo as Ada at times chose to ignore commands or express alternative

response and hence began an interactive dialogue in which Augusta worked hard to

maintain control of a mutating or anarchic Ada avatar, choosing to either counteract

or extend Ada’s movement into her choreography. Levy (2001: 127) suggests that

people like Augusta, are explorers of virtual environments who, ‘will construct not

only its variable, multiple, and unexpected meanings but the order of reading it.’ Jo,

in her understanding of the intent of the interactive choreographic device and her

interest in digital files attributed with artificial intelligence, challenged Astrid’s

decisions as Augusta. Jo evolved this skill from her experience in the original Ada,

when Leah Grycewicz as Augusta would sometimes repeat her choreographic design

from one performance to the next. This disappointed Jo’s desire for new challenges

as a dancer developing Ada’s choreographic vocabulary in performance (see DVD,

1999 Original: Ada’s letters to Babbage, 03:15).

Jo and Astrid developed the potential of voice commands from a conventional call

and response mechanism, to an embodied dialogue. This led me to develop the task

further in Stage Three and create a new scene in which Augusta interviews Ada and

an interactive play of text and movement developed. This dramaturgical suggestion

came from Jo who wanted Ada to have more opportunity to converse and debate

with Augusta across history. This scene later named, Augusta webcast, Calculus of a

nervous system is one in which the Ada avatar is restricted to movement interpreting


42

any text chosen by the dancer from Ada’s original letters. Augusta’s line of inquiry is

unscripted and her movement, whilst confined to idiosyncratic gestures and

expressions, is like Ada’s, not strictly choreographed.

In Stage Three Calculus of the nervous system, was resolved as a fully scripted fixed

scene, choreographed through conventional methods that fixed the workings of the

scene, as interaction between the performers was more difficult. Whilst Elise playing

Ada embodied a scope of Ada’s opinions, Wendy demonstrated little interest in

Augusta learning from Ada through an embodied and vocalised inquiry (see DVD,

2002 Canberra: Augusta webcast, Calculus of the nervous system, 23:13).

3.4.4 Interactive choreographic devices: Physical commands

Physical commands developed concurrently with the voice commands and were

devised by the dancers sharing choreographic phrases that expressed a portrayal of

Ada articulating letters to Babbage. The character Augusta employed four phrases to

manipulate and edit the choreography of Ada, via physical suggestion in live

performance. This choreographic device was initiated in Stage One as Cath

explained by her comment (forum, 22/6/01), “I’ve taken movements from Bridget

that I like and I take them and put them onto Elise,’ describing how she made choices

as Augusta to transfer movement from one performer to another through physical

suggestion or voice commands.

In Stage Two an audience member commented after viewing the same scene with Jo

as Ada and Astrid as Augusta (questionnaire, 27/10/01), “Repetition of movement,

with commands given by Augusta really clarified computer / cyber affect on the

work - funny too!” This attitude was also reflected in the documented video as the

audience laughed appreciatively at Astrid’s skill with the physical commands (see

DVD, Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Collaboration scene, 05:37).

Whilst the theme of each of Ada’s letters to Babbage is similar, each express

different issues and attitudes and the performer playing Augusta can choose to

highlight any part. Astrid played with different variables by using both physical and

vocal commands to edit the choreography of the scene, and brought selected


43

opinions, voices and content into focus each time. Astrid performed with a sense of

risk and added a humorous dimension to the work that I would not have been

comfortable editing myself. Alternatively, in Stage Three, Wendy learnt the four

phrases, expressing Ada writing letters to Babbage and selected segments of two,

which she choreographed on Elise in rehearsal and cued in the same place each time

in performance. Consequently, the physical and vocal commands which were

intended to modify the choreography in both rehearsal and performance became

fixed choreographic material (see DVD, 2002 Canberra: Ada’s letters to Babbage,

10:48).

Astrid was aware of the potential dangers of this interactive choreographic device to

her art as a dancer, when she wrote (questionnaire 3/03), “I create very emotionally

and intuitively and if my head gets too involved it can be a disaster!” I observed that

Astrid had some difficulty with the digital construct yet demonstrated willingness to

experiment with potential outcomes by making conscious decisions about which

material to use, whilst Wendy resisted selecting material herself, preferring to refine

one version of events. I feel that Astrid’s ability to perform intuitively strengthened

her choreographic choices. Her emotional delivery of the choreographic content,

exhibiting frustration and wonder to the challenges initiated by Jo as Ada allowed the

audience to identify with her experience. The realness of activating technological

devices and the events elicited heightened the audiences’ engagement.

3.4.5 Physicalising interactivity

In consideration of the above, it appears that enactment shifts the performer’s role by

necessitating intuitive decisions about the selection of media and the choreography

of the work, by the performer, in the company of a live audience. This can lead to the

evolution of an embodied choreographic dialogue, in which the performer becomes

eloquent to other dancers and an audience by expressing an emotional response to

their own actions. Whilst performers find interacting with technology, digital media

and other performers a challenge, it can lead to unsuspected and humorous physical

expressions.


44

The skills of the dancer are developed through a practised understanding of

movement pertaining to their characters combined with understanding the function of

their characters’ role in the work. On the other hand, incorporating enacted structures

and interactive choreographic devices may lead to performers resisting engagement

with performance elements in flux. Furthermore, voice commands and physical

commands worked as interactive triggers, as a call and response mechanism and

might be employed in a more sophisticated, embodied dialogue, at a time when the

performers seek new challenges in developing their character’s choreographic

vocabulary.

3.5 How is ‘virtual’ performed?

In Stage Three the performers resisted these potentially uncomfortable challenges

and it was therefore inappropriate to explore enactment or interaction. Likewise it

became very difficult to explore the question of how virtual is performed, to develop

the relationship between Augusta and the digital avatars. A compromise was struck

whereby scenes were fixed to ensure that performers felt more comfortable by being

released from having to make choreographic decisions in performance (see DVD,

Canberra 2002).

An important lead in the investigation on performing virtual, pursued in the

development of the choreography of the avatars in previous stages, arose in reflecting

on the question (Kaiser, 2000:9); ‘where do the boundaries of physical and digital

information blur or separate?’ Electronic artist, Aaron (questionnaire, 11/02)

considered virtual to mean something not represented by itself, “Possibly anything

residing in some form of electronic memory.” Whilst butoh dancer, Jo

(questionnaire, 12/02), regarded virtual (in relation to dance) as the embodiment of

an emotional landscape through which movement is derived.

This brings us back to the dilemma of embodied or disembodied function and

representation. Kaiser, interviewed by De Spain (2000: 9), argues that physical

intelligence must be embodied and states, ‘If you look at the way our spatial

reasoning works, it has so much to do with our being in our own bodies.’


45

Conversely, Plant (1998: 177) prophecies a future with a cybernetic physicality,

inspired by data networks, complex matrixes and webs and champions a body that is

becoming more complicated and malleable. In this sense, Augusta’s relationship to

the Ada and Babbage avatars and the aural and visual digital media that she created,

modified and triggered in performance, might fulfill to some degree Plant’s ideals of

a disembodied consciousness expanding physical capabilities beyond our local

spatial reasoning.

3.5.1 Transcendence

These concepts of disembodiment are also related to a newmedia interpretation of

transcendence as they involve the extension of the physical into the nonphysical

world. foAM (3/4/2000), investigates the capacity of hybrid spaces to incite

alternative states of consciousness, similar to what mystics and shamans describe as

a journey towards rapture (a state of overwhelming emotion). 'Virtual' in these

worlds is generally defined as the spiritual. In Stage One Bridget Fiske considered

Ada’s desire for transcendence in relation to her historical context and suggested

(video, 13/6/01), “If she believed that she could transcend her body, she obviously

believed in a spirit.”

Following this comment, I led an image based task in which the participants

imagined themselves replicating, moving beyond notions of their own physicality.

Bridget noticed (video, 13/6/01), “My replicated body lost all its flesh and its

humanness.’ Whilst Cath lamented, ‘My body still had the restrictions and

boundaries that I had,’ a sentiment also supported by Tim. Further physical

workshops were necessary and included morphing7 around objects and swimming,

which allowed the participants to play with new performance perspectives and

clarified our discussion about transcendence through immersion in various physical

states.

7 Morph (www.dictionary.com)

v 1: cause to change shape in a computer animation; "The computer programmer morphed the image" 2: change shape, as via computer animation; "In the video, Michael Jackson morphed into a panther"


46

3.5.2 Emotional landscapes

From these explorations a scene developed that attempted to reveal Ada and Augusta

transcending their bodies. In Stage Two, after conducting similar tasks as described

above, I introduced Astrid to an emotional landscape, or choreographic suggestion. I

asked her to embody the idea that there is obsession in her skin and after some time

that this emotion transforms into numbers to be rearranged to solve the emotion and

those numbers become literature to be rewritten. In creating this task for Astrid I had

attempted to give her the experience of embodying problem solving through notions

typical of Ada’s character. Additionally, I added the hysteria poses developed in

Stage One into the design and limited the movement by tying Astrid up in string,

strung across the performance space, intending to limit her real space and expand her

virtual space (see DVD, 2001 Adelaide: Body without technology solo, Slides 10-13;

Newmedia Dance Laboratory: Body without technology solo, 06:37). Jo

(questionnaire, 12/02) remembered that in her experience, “We worked on a lot of

specific landscapes to be in, which are not based on reality that we know everyday.”

These experiences developed into Augusta’s body without technology solo, whereby

she performs her virtual body and displays residual actions from her experience with

technology, such as triggering movements and the choreographic vocabulary of Ada.

We added ‘Alternate World Syndrome,’ (Heim, 1998) a twenty-first century

kinaesthetic malady, as a dramatic wash, to disorientate the movement and to

disallow Astrid a connection with current physical reality. A dramatic wash is a layer

of “likeness” performed by the participant, over existing movement. I might suggest

something like, “do the movement again, feeling dizzy.” Through observation and

discussion around the concepts of spatial disorientation and the displacement of

physical senses, choreographic content was extracted, further manipulated and

modified into the dance.

3.5.3 Virtual Body: form and nonform

In Stage Three, transcendence was better reflected through Ada’s death scene (see

DVD, 2002 Canberra: Ada’s death scene, 30:50). Here, the idea of virtual is bound to


47

Cartesian dualism and symbolises the spirit struggling to be free of the body. In the

dance Elise presented remnants of form pertaining to her character. Having

developed choreographic material over four weeks, she embodied a range of Ada’s

movement, expressed through body memory in improvisation. I choreographed her

movements into a design and together we worked on the emotional score. In this

study I noted (choreographic journal, 16/9/02) that improvisations worked well both

at the beginning of a process when the dancer is struggling to find form and thereby

expresses non-form and also at the end when they can reference established form.

Nonform can be observed when a body does not hold any form at all and either

disappears or is struggling to become an image.

Nonform, in this study, is a poetic construct that suggests that the embodiment of

space is not contained to the physical, as demonstrated by dancers camouflaging into

their environment when their roles are not primary in a scene (see DVD, 2001

Adelaide: Introduction, slides 1-3; 2002 Canberra: Scene one, 05:16). Nonform is

also expressed as a conceptual essence, as in scene four when Ada’s movement

whilst stuck in a digital loop was created through images isolated to body parts, such

as an orbital system in the right arm and a mathematical equation in the left (see

DVD, 2001 Adelaide: Transcendence, slide 9; 2002 Canberra: scene 4, Augusta

contemplates transcendence, 20:32).

Nonform in conjunction with form, on the other hand can express variations of

possibilities, derived from the remnants of body memory pertaining to the character

the performer is playing as well as their own lived experience as reflected in Ada and

Augusta’s movement in the Body without technology solo in Stage Two and Ada’s

death scene in Stage Three. The body expresses body memory as a ‘semiotic chora’,

defined by Kristeva (1984: 25-26) as, ‘provisional articulation constituted by

movements and their ephemeral stases.’

Ada’s death scene expressed such provisional articulation, whilst challenging Elise to

perform a digital entity invested with strong emotion. It was this mix of embodying

form and nonform with an emotional integrity that began to resolve the question of

performing virtual. The performer’s emotional focus is elicited either through

identification with choreographer-suggested internal imagery and / or their own


48

emotional memory. The emotion is placed decisively in the body, body part, the

overall performance space or portion of the real or digital matter to evoke a practise

of performing virtual. Choreographing virtual characters and movement through a

digital perspective kept the work cohesive, but was often at odds with the dramatic

intent, as discussed below.

3.6 How does a digital perspective guide a choreographic practise?

3.6.1 Digital editing

Choreographing through a digital perspective, accepts, ‘the ontological fact that we

move in a new layer of electronic reality’ (Heim, 1999: 44). In Ada, both the

character Augusta and I as choreographer use a verbal language grounded in digital

terminology. Jo remembered (questionnaire, 12/02) this, “allows you to manipulate

time, edit, and rearrange movement.” It became difficult to apply this digital

language, at times when I worked with Elise, as it went against the emotional grain

of the character she had developed for Ada. Digital editing required her to switch

quickly between emotions and movement qualities, sometimes beginning in the

middle or end of a phrase. A further complication is embedding a ‘glitch,’ or

movement placed out of context within a phrase, something I often choreographed

with Elise and she resisted performing. Whilst this frustrated Elise and I, we

progressed when Elise stopped her conscious thought processes and let her body

memory take over (choreographic journal, 6/9/02).

Jo in Stage Two had less trouble with digital conventions as she distanced herself

through Brechtian techniques which she has learnt through her acting studies,

allowing her to show movement without completely committing to the emotion

(choreographic journal, 11/10/01). The effect was similar to Beys’ (1998: 17)

concept of consciousness downloaded which first came to mind whilst observing

Tim in Stage One performing ‘Walkman boy’. In Stage Three, I advised Elise to

distance herself from the emotional life of her character and to play the discordant

movements lightly. I observed that working with an emotional score in this way was

new to Elise and I felt that she responded well, portraying a strong emotions and

digital movement, received by the audience as a fragmenting digital character.


49

3.6.2 Digital domain

A digital domain emerged in the staging of Ada inspired by virtualities where

flexible and immersive space held distance between objects as more intangible than

stage space. In my experience of theatrical spaces, bodies and objects are often fixed

in space by the choreographer from a position outside of the work, with the aim to

define relationships, drama and focus for the audience. Alternatively, in creating

Ada, I encouraged Cath to devise the staging in Stage One from within the work as

Augusta, thereby contributing to her role in the enactment of the design as

participant, creator and audience. In performance she built the set, tore it down,

altered the angle of projection, sought new projection surfaces and changed the

performance environment each time she worked in the space, without my direct

input.

In Stages Two and Three, Nic guided the performers who played Augusta to work

similarly to Cath within the parameters of his design concept. He advised a more

controlled way of building an environment in performance with delegated objects,

which could be manipulated and re-interpreted by the performer. This led to the

development of the modular set design in Stage Three, intended as a malleable tool

for Augusta to play with at will.

In the later weeks of Stage Three, a tension emerged between the intent to create an

immersive and interactive stage space with Nic’s preferred way of working which

would be to fix all objects in the space and to rehearse their movement. He felt that it

was no longer appropriate to continue our research into virtual or transient space at

the Centre without the enthusiasm of the Centre staff or Wendy McPhee. Nic then

stood outside the work and make aesthetic decisions for the performers regarding the

placement of the set and the way in which it should be moved. Furthermore, the

artistic director of the Australian Choreographic Centre appeared to work from a

similar premise and supported the change. Consequently my intention for flexible

outcomes in the presence of a live audience did not eventuate. The tensions between

presenting a finished product and my desire for performative investigatory practice

led to unresolved creative compromises in Stage Three.


50

3.7 Digital perspectives

Whilst there were difficulties in assessing the development of the choreography of

newmedia dance through production outcomes, reviewing participants’ recounts of

experiences during the process was very helpful. Bridget (questionnaire, 12/02)

experienced newmedia dance as, “Essentially dance that uses other media or

mediums than the body.” Bridget worked with animation software, motion capture

and the application of an interactive technological interface in Stage One. She also

experienced performing disembodied consciousness in workshops on transcendence,

attributing to performing virtual. Having worked on Ada on two occasions, Jo

(questionnaire, 12/02) considered the choreographic design as one, “Using

different forms and terms of technology to manipulate the movements we danced. In

Ada we crossed technological (mostly computer) language into the rehearsal space

and used systems of media to communicate with the audience.” She recounted her

experience developing the choreography in Stage Two into an enacted narrative

supported by a digital perspective.

Finally, Aaron who contributed to Stages One and Three, perceived (questionnaire,

10/02), “New Media Dance as that which crosses art forms considerably and where

the dance process is affected and challenged by other art forms.” Aaron created the

technology as part of the choreography and witnessed the merging of art forms

through the dance process bound by technological concepts and constructs. In

summary, choreographing newmedia dance is manifest by applying a digital

perspective to the body, the performance space and the choreographic design, to

quote Nic (questionnaire, 3/03), “Notions of real space – virtual space – real body

versus avatars, suspended time and distance constraints.”

Investigation into enacted narratives, physicalities elicited from interactivity, poetic

constructs behind virtual dance and digital perspectives proved integral to

choreographing the newmedia dance work Ada. A newmedia choreographic practice

formed guided by these investigations in both theory and practice through artistic

practice as research. Through this newmedia choreographic process I was able to

present a newmedia dance performance based on the life and history of Ada Byron

Lovelace. In Stages One and Two I achieved an enacted narrative in which Augusta


51

was the newmedia choreographer of her own work from within the performance.

Unique and directly responsive physicalities were elicited through interaction with

technology and fellow dancers. The poetics of virtual performance bridged the

dancers’ creativity with the media and developed the depth of portrayal of the

characters. Lastly digital perspectives framed the narrative and brought forward the

prime conceptual concern of the work, that being the birth of the digital revolution.

Chapter Four: New forms and future directions

52


Throughout the study, the choreography in all three stages of the newmedia

dance project Ada, emerged through creative processes and technological

applications described in the previous chapter. Hence, I was able to address

my objectives successfully. I created choreography specific to the

conceptual concerns in Ada, whilst communicating a story based on the

digital revolution and its ramifications in our current world. In doing so, I

evolved my artistic practise as a choreographer working in a digital arts

culture. Findings that enunciated the evolution of these newmedia

choreographic forms and structures arose from reflective practice, dialogue

with participants and feedback from live audiences.

4.1 Evaluation of process and practice

The nature of newmedia dance is fundamentally different to other dance

forms. I discovered like Levy (2001: 127) that the, ‘more the work exploits

the possibilities offered by interaction, interconnection, and the tools of

collective creation, the more typical it is of cyberculture and the less it

behaves as a “work of art” in the traditional sense.’ Levy assumes that most

art work including dance productions are fixed and finished upon

completion, whereas like the collective Foam he sees digital artworks as

‘continuously transforming responsive realities.’

(http://fo.am/publications/2000_hybrid/index.html, 3/4/2002) I found that

newmedia dance like digital art works, encourages the emergence of

unpredictable unexpected forms during the process of interaction, and these

were the most useful to the study.

Through ‘reflection-in-action’ and ‘knowing-in-action’ (Schon, 1983) in the

newmedia dance laboratory, artistic practice was explored via an open

ended process of discussion and physical, intellectual and technological

choreographic tasks. The process was problematic in Stage Three and


53

choreographic research was limited by the imperative of the Australian

Choreographic Centre for a finished product created through a distinction

between rehearsal and performance, thus limiting my vision for an open

design newmedia dance project. The study was most successful when

participants were open to working with diverse media, embraced the

application of technology and a digital perspective in the development of the

choreography and dared to take creative and performative risks.

4.2 Newmedia dance laboratory findings

The following major issues were identified in developing the choreography

of newmedia dance in Ada.

4.2.1 Digital directions and required skills

Firstly, a conflict was identified between creating and editing choreographic

material through digitally influenced choreographic techniques and the

development of the emotional score of the character the performer

developed. This tension might not have arisen for choreographers such as

Cunningham and McGregor as their work is not embodied by dramatic

characters, but by the dancers as themselves. This method appeared less

difficult for performers who were not only able to identify strongly with the

character they were playing but also access several modes of performance

simultaneously when dealing with choreographic content and digital

directions. It might be said that skills attributed to training across various

performance styles and approaches over time better equipped a dancer to

respond to the research demands of a newmedia dance practice.

Secondly, working across disciplines involves multi-tasking and an ability

to progressively re-assess one’s identity as an artist and an individual. This

concept disempowered participants who were unable to recognise it as

integral to the philosophies of Ada Byron Lovelace and the digital age on


54

which the study is based. These participants found opportunities to practise

skills in which they were expert, were at times taken away from them in

favour of experimenting with new skills, which led to them feeling

frustrated. Being unable to ground their participation from an established

position, may have contributed to their reluctance to interact with

performance elements in flux. Cross-disciplinary newmedia arts practice

was more constructive for artists who actively sought knowledge and skills

outside their discipline and who understood the concepts developed in Ada.

4.2.2 Stage space / newmedia dance space

When working with participants on the conceptual development of the

choreography, I found that creating virtual performance involves the

embodiment of form and nonform and includes practising emotion based

image work in conjunction with technological applications. These creative

processes need to be practised over time, as they were in the newmedia

dance laboratory in Stages One and Two when participants amicably took

part in workshops led by myself. Performing virtual in a metaphorical sense,

or performing in immersive flexible space may then be realised.

4.2.3 Technological progress

In workshops, I found that investigating Poser4 software inspired

alternative perspectives that allowed participants to transcend their ideas

about dance movements. Tangled yet fluid movement derived from this

software helped to theatricalise Ada the character as a nineteenth century

hysteric represented as a digital avatar, thereby maintaining conceptual

relevance.

In regards to working with technology in performance, I found that

choreographing interactivity is achieved through risk taking and requires the

performers to enter a spirit of play with or without the company of a live


55

audience and to be immediately responsive to media. Direct emotional

response by the performer is key in enabling the audience to read

interaction. Lastly it was found that an embodied interactive dialogue may

emerge through familiarity, practise and the performers embracing the same

spirit of play.

4.3 Original contribution to research and benefits of the study

In this study the choreographic research crystallised through a digital

perspective in an attempt to create a work that was neither predominantly

dance, theatre, cinema, web based or virtual reality, and in doing so

established the emergence of choreographic forms and structures for

newmedia dance. Concurrently the study confronted barriers in performance

making in conventional theatre spaces and current dance practices. It was

my observation at the onset of this study that there has been a limited

evolution in choreography specifically created through collaborative

processes involving newmedia practice. The exception appears to be

movement derived through participant interaction with technological

devices and environments, not necessarily identified by the dance

community as choreographic work; such as the work of foAM and

Gemeinboeck.

The influence of established artistic practice is evident in the study,

particularly butoh methodology which contributed to successes in working

with virtual performance, and newmedia arts practise which informed the

open design, cross disciplinary choreographic process. The combination of

these ideologies in conjunction with an enacted narrative and the

development of choreographic phrases used as interactive variables in live

performance, all attributed to the creation of Ada. The interactive

choreographic phrases are aligned to current digital gaming technologies as

the player or in this case the performer can choose the direction and

evolution of the narrative by combating the elements/ variables arising

through their own skills in sensory awareness and kinetic co-ordination.


56

This study developed an original choreographic process, specifically for the

newmedia dance work Ada, which might be applied by other

choreographers to their own work and encourage them develop

choreography that is tightly integrated with the conceptual demands of their

work.

4.4 Future directions

Future development for newmedia dance choreography might include the

instigation of technological applications developed in this study with

alternative conceptual bases and further exploration into choreographing

interactivity with Wearable Electronic Architecture through application in

performance. This technology might be expanded along with the modular

set design into the performance space which might then include further

research into relevant performance architecture for newmedia dance. It

could be interesting to develop the navigational structure and enacted

narrative through consultation with computer gaming developers which may

lead to cross platform applications through further consideration of the role

of both the performer and audience as participants in the work. It could also

be insightful to reactivate a live webcast in performance. This would

enhance further investigation of performance variables and unpredictable

outcomes as an interactive component of newmedia dance performance.

Finally, it may be useful to take Ada Byron Lovelace’s (in Toole, 1992:

331) advice when she discusses her daughter in a letter to her mother dated

twentieth April 1847 that dance ought to be created,

‘Not as the means of attracting & striking, but as an expression of disposition & good feeling. There is much morality, & much Xtianity [sic], in graces and accomplishments, as I understand them.- The philosophy & the morality of the Arts, are less considered & less understood, than their fascinations. The highest ideal of art is (in my opinion) the highest expression of internal qualities & states!’


57

Considering expressions of internal qualities and states may well lead us

further along in the investigation of choreographing newmedia dance across

mediums, with and without direct representation of the corporeal body.

Dance in the future may be performed by extending internal emotional

states through and beyond physical expression to be received by senses /

sensors not limited to the body as we know it. Bridget Fiske (questionnaire,

12/02) thought this evolution in dance may be, ‘Removed from the earthly

grounding of our physical being, but [still concerning] experiences in the

physical because of heightened or other sensory experiences.’ Or, to give

the last word to Ada (in Toole, 1992: 319) ‘You will not concede me

philosophical poetry. Invert the order! Will you give me poetical

philosophy, poetical science?’

Glossary of choreographic terms

58


(Alphabetical listing)

Examples from the newmedia dance project, Ada, 1999-2002

Animated

A style of performance pertaining to a simulated or artificial representation

devised by splicing together a sequence of movement phrases or tableaux.

This process was applied to choreographing the movement of Ada and

Babbage.

Avatar

A digital representation of a human form, which may be represented

through performance by a live performer or remain as a digital file.

The historical characters of Ada and Babbage were both avatars made by

Augusta and choreographed through animation techniques performed live.

Call up

A choreographic device used to fake interaction with technology, whereby

the communication is represented by a predictable call and response.

In stage three; Augusta commanded conventional stage cues from on stage,

to the bio box. The commands were scripted to happen at the same place

each time, to the same effect. This developed as a creative compromise in

the performances of Stage Three.

Camouflage

A performance technique whereby the performer defers focus away from

their body by dispersing energy into the space.


59

This convention is used to hide dancers amongst stage objects and projected

surfaces. This allowed avatars to remain in the performance space when

they were not performing, through “camouflage” until their role was

brought to the fore.

Embed

1. To insert a movement or trope within a phrase of movement or the

score of a scene.

The tropes, ‘paralyses’ and ‘hysteria’ were most commonly embedded

into choreographic phrases in both Ada and Augusta’s choreographic

score.

2. To program a digital file into a system.

Digital sound, still images and movies were embedded into the

interactive wrist-worn device in Stage One and the wearable electronic

architecture in Stage Three.

Emotional integrity

An emotional understanding exhibited by the performer in empathy with the

character they are playing.

In Stage One and Three of the study Elise May sought to identify with the

character of Ada through her memory of a girl she knew at high school who

reminded her of Ada.

Enactment

Making choices to perform or act in relation to technological or movement

material and in doing so change the path of events and evolution of the

narrative.


60

The character Augusta enacts the narrative of the work by choosing which

of Ada’s movements, emotions and parts of her historical story to bring to

the fore each night.

Nonform / form

Nonform is a poetic construct suggesting that embodiment of space is not

contained to the physical body and form can be expressed as an essence of a

concept through the body. Nonform can be observed when a body does not

hold any form at all and either disappears or is struggling to become an

image. A dancer can project an image or an emotion to any given place in

the performance space. Form can express a variation of possibilities, derived

from the remnants of body memory pertaining to the character the performer

is playing as well as their own lived experience. The body expresses body

memory as a ‘semiotic chora’, as defined by Kristeva (1984: 25-26);

‘- the drives, which are "energy" charges as well as "psychical" marks, articulate what we call a chora: a nonexpressive totality formed by the drives [social and cultural] and their stases in a motility that is as full of movement as it is regulated. We borrow the term chora from Plato's Timaeus to denote an essentially mobile and extremely provisional articulation constituted by movements and their ephemeral stases.’

The solos, ‘body without technology’ and ‘Ada’s death scene,’ were both

devised through tasks that elicited combinations of form and nonform.

Geometry

The delineation and demarcation of the performance space, performance

architecture and the dancers’ body into lines and spaces that are metaphoric

of a blueprint of engineering.

The introduction presented an installation created by Augusta through the

above technique that encompassed Ada’s ‘metaphysical child’ solo.


61

Glitch

A trope that appears out of context within a movement or movement / text

phrase.

Ada‘s looped movement was a glitch on the landscape of Augusta’s

‘transcending her body’ solo in Scene Four. The trope ‘paralyses’ appeared

in Scene Three and Stage Two in the ‘Ada tantrum’ phrase to the same

effect.

Immediacy

To respond on impulse when interacting with technology, co-performers or

the audience. In essence, ‘knowing–in–action.’ As Schon (1983:49) states,

‘Our knowing is ordinarily tacit, implicit in our patterns of action and in our

feel for the stuff with which we are dealing. It seems right to say that our

knowing is in our action’.

When participating in tasks the dancer responds on impulse and expresses

physical knowledge pertaining to their character.

Improvise

To respond intuitively to a task with no fixed outcome in mind.

Choreographic tasks were improvised to create movement material. I then

choreographed selected improvised material into a movement phrase or

dance.

Interpretation

A creative response to stimulus that includes the opinion and immediate

impression of the artist on the situation. Interpretation is a translation of a

concept expressed through the body.


62

In the newmedia choreographic laboratory (for example) I asked

participants to; imagine you are Ada as a child and you have designed

wings that are ill-proportioned to your body; you are disappointed in

yourself. I encouraged the performer to interpret their feelings by exploring

them physically through improvisation or by responding immediately to the

task. I observed their movement and after some time they might show me

something they were happy with or I might find something I was interested

in working with further. I discouraged anything that appeared to look like

mime or reflected a dance or movement style that was not useful to the

depiction of the character they are playing.

Loop

A repeated phrase or part of a phrase used to express the idiosyncratic

malfunctioning of a digital file. This convention also dramatises a ‘freeze,’

when a computer stops functioning due to too many commands and not

enough memory.

The participant playing Ada was at liberty to repeat or loop any action, at

any time to counteract Augusta’s control. Additionally Ada was stuck in a

loop and suspended within the digital landscape in Scene Four.

Manipulation (choreographic)

To take a movement that has been created by a dancer and change it in ways

that extends it to match the score of a scene and the cohesion of the work as

a whole.

This device was used frequently to create choreographic language in the

newmedia dance laboratory.

Mutation

The distortion of physical or digital form.


63

Each dancer created a data bank of creative content that consisted of

gestures and malleable movement pertaining to their character. In playing

or improvising with this material, the dancer or the choreographer

manipulated, or mutated the material beyond recognition. This convention

was used for the purpose of expressing an extreme emotion or digital

malfunction. Sound and images files were also mutated to the same effect.

Physical commands

Physical gestures or parts of movement phrases performed by a dancer to

change the choreographic design of the movement of another dancer

through physical suggestion.

In Scene Two Augusta animated Ada writing letters to Babbage and edited

Ada’s movement and text through physical commands / movement triggers,

to bring information and drama that she is exploring at the time to the fore.

Playing

Working with timing and movement quality in response to external and

internal stimulus.

This was essential within the choreographic process to find the pitch and

quality of a movement within a scene or a moment. It was also encouraged

in performance so that the performer might experiment with responses

between each other as well as with the audience. As Schon (1983:56) states:

‘When intuitive, spontaneous performance yields nothing more than the

results expected of it, then we tend not to think about it. But when intuitive

performance leads to surprises, pleasing and promising or unwanted, we

may respond by reflection-in-action.’

Poser

An animation software package, produced by ‘curious labs’,

http://www.curiouslabs.com/.


64

The software was used in the Ada project to familiarise the dancers with

animation software tools and to encourage them to extend their perspective

on the potential of human movement through a digital perspective. This was

possible by not limiting interaction with the software to the intended

conventions.

1. A digital open source format.

All movies embedded in the Director and Max programming systems of

both electronic interactive devices in Stages One and Three, were in

QuickTime format.

2. A staging convention that assists the performers in realising a digital

space in performance.

Whenever Ada or Babbage performed a dance, sequence or phrase, they

were running as QuickTime movies. QuickTimes in this case are

imagined as pop-up windows contained within screen space.

Random

Elements selected via methods pertaining to chaos theory.

In Ada, media appeared that was thematically relevant to a scene however

the order in which it appeared would be random so that Augusta would

have to surf through it to find files she liked. The term was also adopted by

Wendy McPhee in Stage Three as a voice command through which to

choreograph the movement of Ada and Babbage.

Render

To fill in the detail of a digital idea or to translate an idea derived in digital

culture to human form. ‘Animate’ and ‘render’ were used similarly, see

‘animated.’


65

This was a voice command in Stage Two, whereby Astrid as Augusta

complicated the triggering techniques by creating phrases within phrases on

Jo as Ada. Augusta rendered the material so that it would run as a new

animation.

Task

A process whereby participants are given stimulus, parameters and

sometimes a resolution through which to improvise.

This was the process through which most of the research was undertaken in

the newmedia dance laboratory and is also part of the performance script

through which to create the work in production with a live audience.

Transcend

To go beyond boundaries, whether physical or intellectual.

This term was used dramaturgically in Ada, to research concepts regarding

the wishes of Augusta and Ada to transcend the limitations of their bodies

and technology.

Trigger

A mechanical device embedded in the wearable electronic architecture, used

to choreograph movement and media from within the performance.

Augusta triggered her wrist device (Stage One) or jacket (Stage Three) to

summon the light, sound and images and to manipulate the choreographic

material of the Ada and Babbage avatars. The triggering actions were

incorporated into the choreographic language in Stage Two and engineered

into the design of the electronic wearable architecture.


66

Voice command

Use of spoken text or digitally embedded voice commands for the same

intent as above.

First used by Leah Grycewicz in the original Ada, to amplify the tiny

movement of the mouse click. It was also used by Astrid Pill in Stage Two

when the technology was lacking due to funding restrictions and later by

Wendy McPhee in Stage Three firstly for the same reason as above and

secondly to assume a relationship with conventional stage technology,

which developed into ‘call up.’

Wash

A dramatic construct to give a workshop task or scene a general feeling.

It was often used to test the performers’ emotional range or to give a scene

an alterative angle or clarify a perspective. For example, when working on a

task, I might ask the dancers to do it again angry, then ask them to keep five

percent of that and do it again surprised, then ask them to have double the

surprise, keep the angry and do the whole thing as though they want to hit

their co-performer. I then become familiar with the range of emotion the

performer is able to manipulate and in doing so we search for the emotional

score in the appropriate pitch for the character and the scene.

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Research, London: Sage Publications Ltd, pp. 428-439.

Janesick, V.J. (1998) ‘The Dance of Qualitative Research Design;

Metaphor, Methodolatry, and Meaning’ in N. K. Denzin and Y. S. Lincoln

(ed), Strategies of Qualitative inquiry, London: Sage Publications Ltd, pp.

209-219.

Kolb, B. M. (2000) Marketing cultural organizations: new strategies for

attracting audience to classical music, dance, museums, and opera, Dublin:

Oak Tree Press.

Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (2000) New Nomads: An exploration

of wearable electronics by Philips, Rotterdam: 010 Publishers

Kozel, S. (1995) ‘Spacemaking: Experiences of a Virtual Body,’ Dance

Theatre Journal, Autumn, Vol 12, No. 2, pp. 3-7.

Kristeva, J. (1984) Revolution in poetic language, (transl. by M.Waller ;

with an introduction by L.S.Roudiez), New York: Columbia University

Press.

Kuipers, D. and Aitken, D. (2000) I am a bullet; scenes from an accelerated

generation, New York: Crown Publishers.

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Laurel, B. (1992) Computers as Theatre, USA: Addison-Wesley

Levy, P. (2001) Cyberculture, Minneapolis, USA: University of Minnesota

Press.

McGregor, W. (1998) The Millenarium, Random Dance Company, London,

The Place: (Video)

Parviainen, J. (2002) ‘Bodily Knowledge: Epistemological Reflections on

Dance’ in Dance Research Journal 34/1, Summer 2002, pp. 11-26.

Plant, S. (1997) zeroes and ones: Digital Women + The New Technoculture,

New York: Doubleday.

Richardson (1994) ‘Writing: A Method of Inquiry’ in Denzin, N.K &

Lincoln, Y.S. (ed) Handbook of Qualitative Research, London: Sage

Publications Ltd, pp. 518-522.

66b (1/12/2002) http://www.vision.co.jp/66b/

Schon, D.A. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner; How Professionals Think in

Action, USA: Basic Books Inc.

Sheets-Johnstone, M. (1980) The Phenomenology of Dance, New York:

Books for Libraries, A Division of Arno Press Inc.

Soboslay, Z. www.realtimearts.net, (21/12/02), ‘Struggles at the dance-

technology interface’ in RealTime, No. 52, Gallasch, K.& Baxter, V. (ed.),

Sydney: Open City Inc.

Bibliography

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Toole, B. A. (1992) Ada Enchantress of Numbers, Mill Valley, USA:

Strawberry Press.

Vaughan, D. (1/4/03) A Lifetime of Dance

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/cunningham_m.html.

Viala, J. & Masson-Sekine, N. (1988) Butoh; Shades of Darkness, Tokyo,

Japan: Shufunotomo Co. Ltd.

Bibliography

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Primary sources

Participant responses

QUT 2001, Brown C. (11/5/01) video.

QUT 2001, Brown C., Darbyshire T., Fiske B., May E. (3-6/01) video

transcript.

QUT 2001, Brown C. (20/6/01) video.

QUT 2001, Brown C. (22/6/01) forum.

QUT 2001, Darbyshire T. (28/4/2001) personal email.

QUT 2001, Fiske B. (13/6/01) video.

QUT 2001, Fiske B. (11/02) questionnaire.

QUT 2001, May E. (15/3/01) personal email.

Adelaide 2001, Design brief, (1/9/01).

Adelaide 2001, Innes M. (9/02) personal email.

Adelaide 2001, Innes M. (2/03) questionnaire.

Adelaide 2001, Pill A. (3/03) questionnaire.

Adelaide 2001, Pill A. and Stone J. (9-10/01) video.

Adelaide 2001, Stone J. (12/02) questionnaire.

Canberra 2002, Gordon M. (4/10/02) video.

Canberra 2002, Hopprich T., May E., McPhee W., Mollison N., Ryan C.,

Veryard A., Woods B., (9-10/02) video.

Canberra 2002, May E. (26/3/2002) personal email.

Canberra 2002, Mollison N. (3/03) questionnaire.

Canberra 2002, Neville S. (2001-2) choreographic journal.

Canberra 2002, Veryard A. (11/02) questionnaire.

Canberra 2002, Video (25th September – 5th October, 2002).

Audience responses

QUT 2001, Audience (22/6/01) forum, 30 attended.

Bibliography

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Adelaide 2001, Audience (27/10/01) forum, 35 attended.

Adelaide 2001, Audience (27/10/01) questionnaire, 14 responses.

Canberra 2002, Audience (25th September – 5th October, 2002) forum, 150

attended.

Canberra 2002, Audience (25th September – 5th October, 2002)

questionnaire, 15 responses.

Appendix 1: Sadie Plant

74

Appendix 1: Sadie Plant

Home Inbox Compose Contacts Options Help [email protected] Free Newsletters | MSN Featured Offers | Find Message

From :

Sadie Plant <[email protected]>

:

To : [email protected]

Subject : Ada

Date : Fri, 19 Jul 2002 21:56:14 +0100

Reply Reply All Forward Delete Put in Folder... Printer Friendly Version

Dear Sarah, Many thanks for contacting me about your dance work – I’m more than pleased for you to use the text, as long as you can credit it in any documentation – thank you for asking, and do keep in touch to let me know how it goes: I’d love to see any material associated with the show. All the best for now, Sadie Plant

CalenHotmFree NMSNOfferFind MDirecTop nchann

Appendix 2: Betty O’Toole

75

Appendix 2: Betty O’Toole

Home Inbox Compose Contacts Options Help

[email protected] Free Newsletters | MSN Featured Offers | Find Message

From :

Betty Toole <[email protected]>

Reply-To : [email protected]

To : sarah neville <[email protected]>

Subject : Re: ada for performance

Date : Tue, 19 Jan 1999 07:02:29 -0800

sarah neville wrote: > Dear Betty, > > I am a South Australian Theatre director who is currently researching Ada Byron Lovelace for a dance performance. The piece is based on new > media technologies that have evolved through creative and progressive computer programming of the sort that Ada Lovelace was responsible for prophesising. > I would very much like to access your publication on the subject. Please inform me of how to go about it. Any other input or insight that you may have into making a theatrical performance of Ada's character and life would be appreciated. > Regards > Sarah Neville I think you need to read the books that I have written and you will hopefully find he the inspiration, though you sound like you have that, and the correct information. You can check with Amazon and if that doesn't work email me back. Sincerely, Betty

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Appendix 3: Audience forums

76

Appendix 3: Audience forums QUT 2001, Audience (22/6/01) forum, 30 attended.

• Great music. • That freaked me out when Tim came in at the end. • It was like he was stuck in this gust of paper. • I loved the bit with Cath catching the projections, but on her wing I

couldn’t see it, only on her body. • When the light on the back wall was on, it was a bit harsh. I couldn’t

see the projection on the wing. Her dress is really good. • There was a lot more clarity in terms of the relationship between

Tim and Cath. Character and narrative Sarah: can I ask you what did you get out of it, concerning character and narrative? I haven’t told you much about the story.

• I saw the guy as a kind of new age kind of guy assembling things on the floor, and the girls. I didn’t see it as a feminine thing at all just new age girls.

• Light and sound was brilliant • I thought it was about the creativity of the women’s stuff being torn

down by the man and this way it was a bit sad. Even though the man wasn’t there all the time, he still managed to muck everything up. A very dominant sort of character.

• (to Cath) I thought your story telling was really good. • I don’t really understand it

Sarah: So if I told you that is was about Ada Byron Lovelace, the woman who invented the first computer software…

• Then we could relate, but we didn’t know that. • You don’t get it until Cath talks.

Sarah: I didn’t want to tell you anything, just to see. If you had bought a ticket and had a flier at least you would have a picture. That was pretty rough.

• I liked that, so then we could interpret it ourselves. • Then I saw the woman as shut down, brought down by the man. • I thought she had invented an aeroplane or something because of the

wings and everything. • It was like Cath was controlling the others and she wasn’t so much a

character but the controller. • I saw her as almost Ada herself, or playing the ideal. Bridget to me

started off as the little girl and then the two of them moved in to something like a young girl, moving into something more mature


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with ideas. So I thought that you were revealing different facets of the one person.

• She was the brain, especially with the remote.

Integration of technology Sarah: On Sunday people had a lot of trouble with the technology, what did you think?

• In a way, I would have like a little more ritual made out of that. I sensed that the technology is here but that it was not yet part of the movement of the piece.

• On Sunday she was using a glove and that worked better because I got a sense of her having something else, something special. It was a constant reminder that she was in control.

• If there was more movement relating to pressing buttons then this might relate better.

• I could tell by her face that she was controlling it, where she was looking. And you could sense that the others were not in control from their faces.

Interactive choreographic devices Sarah: Those of you who have seen both showings, can I ask you how it has changed? • Well I liked the first scene better before. It felt weird that Tim came

in. • (Cath) Yeah it was different from me too – a huge avatar froze too. • I think that you should make more of a big deal about going to the

computer, that’s good. • (Cath) That’s because something is going wrong. • I liked the repetition with the voice command, but I thought it

needed to be more dysfunctional. It would be good if you could trigger the phrase, but each time have it change and modulate. Change it so that sometimes it doesn’t quite work out. It was more dysfunctional on Sunday and I really liked it.

• (Cath)Well Sunday was my first time, yeah so now Elise and Bridget know what I am doing. The intention to improvise was there …but I guess we had practised it a bit more. I tried to loop just one sound. That would have been good, to see just one movement.

• But how about if each time you gave them the same word then they might come out with something different? That would be good.

• (Cath) Yeah. • There wasn’t classical music this time, so there was no reference to

history. It could have been quite modern.


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Canberra 2002, Audience (25th September – 5th October, 2002) forum, 150 attended. Characters

• I saw her as a person downloading another woman’s brain, trying to restore files.

• Did you consider during your process developing more choreographic work for Babbage?

• Augusta has this fragile body. I wonder if she still would if she had the suit?

• Ada is very controlled by the technology and very controlled by the narrator, controlled in history. Don’t you think that sometimes she could just let go?

• I saw that a few times she went really still? Is that part of her life, is it about thinking or quietness or working something out?

• I found the male very interesting. He was quite feminised within the set. He was almost like a prop.

Concepts

• Towards the end she seemed to be more live and yet going somewhere else. Is that about AI, is the potential of that, what you are trying to express?

• Is the influence of VJ culture important? How did it inform this work?

• Were there reasons besides humour to use those commands of stop, pause, mute?

Production

• The text was so strong and so clear, but I had to adjust to one performer with a microphone and one without. I don’t think you should give the other dancer a microphone, but it was a little hard to adjust. The set was amazing, the projections were so interesting going across the surfaces, it would be good if you could use it more.

• Which material is consistent and which do you create new in each stage?

• How much of a bank of images do you have, that we are not seeing? • Text and video and sound are consistent? • Another non-human element is when the characters seem to

disappear into the green lines. You are used to seeing things on stage in relation to fixed lines. I realised that you are working inside a screen as well. It made an impact on me. Yes, you are trying to break up the human person.

• There is a tension between theatrical space and the world of a computer screen. Don’t you like theatre? Why can’t you play more into the space you are in? I could have surfed through the Internet and had the same experience. Why come to the theatre if you are trying to ignore it?


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• Where did the images come from and why did you choose to structure them in that way?

Choreographic language

• I liked Ada’s movement it blended well with the narrative. Was she insane or was she so so clear?

• Ada looked quite digital and the other woman more natural. I don’t know if that’s what you wanted?

• You have been working on this for three years. How has your choreographic language evolved in that time?

• Is there a choreographic line with digital figures and mechanical dolls and Babbage’s character?

• Why is the contemporary character so digital? • How did the choreographic language evolve in relation to the suit? Narrative • You give us the story. Was that hard for you to see the whole, and to

be able to choose parts in her life? • The choice of poem at the end? • It went for 50min, it seemed so short! • How much control does the performer have over the elements and

structure? • What is the section about when you are seeking the incorrect file? • Why doesn’t Ada yell back at the caller? Why is that scene there?

Appendix 5: Artists skills and contribution to the project

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Appendix 4: Audience questionnaire response Adelaide 2001, Audience (27/10/01) questionnaire, 14 responses. Introduction (mediawall) I asked if the audience felt that this scene should be playing as the audience entered or if they felt as though they would like it to happen after the house lights went down. I received the following response:

• I found the two images stimulating but very separate. I thought that I would have liked to walk around and see the images and simply measure them against each other. In this piece I felt that I wanted the experience of freedom that I might find in an art gallery.

• Long • I like crazy old-school grid imagery at the start and the sound. I like

Jo’s abstract movement when she is doing the origami. • A focus on the shadow of Ada on the digital grid would be very

effective as the initial space is being created. I found the actual figure of Ada distracted from the more powerful projected image. Depending on the proximity of the audience, at times it was hard to focus on both characters at the same time so that I could see their interaction due to their distance apart.

• Beautiful connection between dancers. Very serious. This scene brings important information that introduces the environment, material and content. Too long.

Scene 1, Augusta webcast, Ada’s story

• Great sense of history, time, parallel life times. • Under developed, hard to relate to words, words, words- not

digested. • Great use of media. • Cool costumes. Spoken word delivered well. Love the inside coat

projection, it’s a shame about the delay. Is the ballet stance of Ada supposed to signify formality?

Scene 2, Ada’s letters to Babbage

• Repetition of movement, with commands given by Augusta really clarified computer/cyber affect on the work- funny too!

• Maybe try same speech – different actions – different times….Anger build up interesting. Augusta can add emotion to media archives!?!

• Beautiful duo – text and movement effortlessly executed – unpretentious. Connects us - technology rarely makes us feel warm - this does – we see relationships and feel passion - her passion almost becomes comedy – great scene.

Scene 3, Transcendence

• I liked the abstract – nice ending.


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• Real Augusta + motionless/ VR apparition = Astrid. • If I was pure information...yes, once again good personalisation of

this line – can go further. Scene 5, Projection workshop

• Cool idea of dancer moving with animation. • re: Augusta as media icon – “how”? • re: mechanical dancer - “old school?” Future = better mechanics i.e.

more like humans, less mechanical. • Not enough to comment on.

Scene6, Body without technology solo

• Projections effective. Like the string. Disjointed movements against string excellent. Perhaps more of that.

• Nice movement – ecstatic. Needed more reference to her media tools.

• Would like to see this more developed. It would have more impact if these images are not shown until the next scene – I would have liked to have seen creation leading to destruction.

• Great use of space – movement captivating. Scene 8, Ada’s death scene

• Recognised some motifs – some new motifs – wasn’t sure if disorientation was obvious enough!

• Why? Opposition between human and technology?

Do you understand the story? • Got a little - ok very lost - needed notes - came good at the end. • Yep, but could be more distilled. • Only vaguely and partially that was because of the script. However it

is engaging. • Without the background readings, I am not so sure if all would be

clear. Only in a few scenes do I know exactly what’s going on. • I think that something is still missing in translating Augusta’s

motivations and connections to Ada. At times it was looking beautiful but I was looking for something more tangible as a viewer at the end. The media may help with this.

• Sort of – not at first. • In an abstract way, kind of like reading a condensed history. Really

poignant moments. • Think so ha! Ha! If not I like the gap! For my own

imagination/interpretation. • Story line connects us as viewer to all the abstract movement and

imagery - if kept simple and perhaps short bursts of information, would take in more as an audience member – clarity and delivery is always a goer.

• Yes.


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• Kind of. • Yes. Some more animated / plum footage – but not too literal could

flesh out its concepts more. Is the choreographic language clear?

• Yes, but the two performers seem to have different styles. Astrid is more emotional and Jo is more detached.

• To a dancer, yes. • Can the images of numbers in scene 5 be animated? A sense of

swimming. • Retro but clear. • Only one or two scenes at this early stage, but I would imagine this

is dependant on the intended audience. • The letters scene is beautiful. • I liked the binary nature of the gestures alongside, ‘faultiness.’ • It sometimes remained on one level is this deliberate? Would like to

see movements of release to contrast all the strict precise qualities (personal choice).

• No, but please understand I don’t have a dance background. • I think that the obsessive nature of Ada’s work is diffused by some

of the conversation. The silent toil in the tonal work reflects this well.

Are the characters interesting? How can they be developed further?

• More humour. The almost accidental humour between Ada and Babbage was very refreshing and human.

• I wasn’t drawn into them - not due to the acting. • Humour is good – lighter touch to contrast with complex ideas. Ada

and Babbage seem to be real people. How to personalise Augusta? It does happen more as the work progresses.

• Push Augusta further into the future. • Ada and Babbage are interesting as Augusta’s creations – but not

Augusta. • As a visual person I want images to explain or help to flesh out the

story as much as the performance – or images at least to set the scene for the historical perspective.

• Yes, it needs to be more clear that Ada’s work was ground breaking – and was used for military code.

• Augusta lacked definition in relation to the other characters. I don’t think that she needs to be more real. It could be interesting to explore further her relation to the space – her mind is not grounded in the same way the other characters are, I was looking for some rather different way for her to interact with the space and dimensions in a new way.

• They needed more delineation and depth and time. • Yes! Both really engaging but I could see more emotiveness in the

relationship.


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• Yes, yes, yes – very interesting – draw us towards them perhaps just playing with the dynamics of contrast between the two women and within their own characters (mostly talking about movement qualities).

• Yes and extremely well performed. • Make-up and costumes? Make it more dirty. • I think the characters could reflect an interesting 3rd Ada, or invisible

presence if they used recorded voices. General comments from the Showing

• Liked the urban-street sounds of Hindley street as a back drop to the piece.

• So dense – the text. Felt like I had just picked up a thesis and started reading a third of the way through. I am convinced that your process will workout this problem – good luck

• Love the approach of today. Be very interested in how you integrate the media.

• There already seems to be nice moments of balance in terms of space and its use- dance versus text and even the media used. A sparsity and density. Some of the sparce moments held the most strength and it would be nice to see that held when the other media is incorporated.

• Potential for more multidimensional feel and interaction once the media is more developed is very positive.

• Some parts were obviously more developed than others, but the perception was clear enough for a development. The performers were excellent with such difficult material. I would have liked to have seen it run without the breaks and talks. I loved the dance sequences just a bit disjointed from scene to scene.

• I enjoyed the precision matched with the faults (tantrums, falling apart –ha! Ha! Technology!) I felt that there was a real melding of the media and performance, a sensitivity and humanness. But more dirt and dust please!

• Was really sad at the end, what is the final over-all feeling, thought, quality do you want us to have? What are we left with? Humour is great, a bit 2D at the moment- perhaps emotional perspective?

• Enjoyed all. Very engaging performers and direction. • Very innovated and stimulating. • Some of the images on the body are stunning. • The blinds in the background could make a very powerful backdrop

for media if they were horizontal. They look like screen ‘scan wings’ and a heliograph on a window. I think its looking great and humorous. I feel that the time schism between Ada’s could be a little more pronounced. I loved the physical ‘threads’ connecting Ada to the performance space. – nice sampling puppetry / automata reference.


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Canberra 2002, Audience (25th September – 5th October, 2002)

questionnaire, 15 responses.

Did you understand the story?

• Knew some of it before hand. Words helped. Expect it would be difficult to do just with movement and vision.

• Yes well treated and informative. • Yes the narrative was very clear. • Yes, the information (Verbal) covered enough of the topic to allow

general comprehension. It has also wetted my appetite to research more on the subject.

• Yes. • Yes, but not entirely. I didn’t follow a lot of the technological

jargon, I am extremely unmathematical and quite computer illiterate, however the relationships between characters was clear.

• Yes very realistic. • Yes, but I was already aware of the history of computing and Ada’s

role in it. • Yes. • Yes. • Very clear – in some instances overly descriptive. • Yes. • Yes, the narrative was clear and Ada’s mentality and attitudes were

certainly emphasised by the movement. Having a feeling of not quite knowing exactly what was going on in Ada’s mind led to the mystery of genius of her character.

• No. • No.

Is the choreographic language clear?

• ‘stilted movement’ for modern times. More fluid for 19th century – possibly could be controlled. Confident for Babbage for 19th men’s power and position.

• Yes. • Yes. • In some cases I could not understand the connection but, I’m not

generally a dance goer. • Yes, very vivid. • Yes, could their faces and focus between each other be

choreographed? • Yes.


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• Yes but some passages continue for far too long with no real purpose.

• Not entirely. • Yes. • Yes, lots of tension. • Yes. • The physical scenes were clear. The whole performance had an

excellent digital archive feel like a little computer projecting her likeness into the performance and the too frantic and slightly clean movements really helped us to believe she was the digital likeness which helped to pull the audience into her world. Positioning was excellent. I didn’t get the dying of cancer thing until the end, perhaps mention it earlier.

• Regretfully, no. • Not for me.

Are the characters interesting, how could they be developed further?

• Narrator – very controlled, Ada a bit gentle, Babbage no further development needed.

• Very interesting, how to develop the character is an interesting concept as what was presented was extremely clear and well defined.

• Ada remained somewhat remote as a character. • They are fine. • Yes, relationship between Ada and Babbage unclear though. • Babbage could be developed further. More so, choreographically

rather than theatrically. What are his movement qualities and why was Ada attracted to him?

• I enjoyed them. • The modern character is not clear as to what/who she is? • Ada is developed well, the others are more obscure. • Yes- more Babbage and their relationship. • They are interesting – Ada seems so constrained and restricted all

the time, maybe she could break out a bit – women in the mid 1800’s – very passionate/genius, maybe transcended the restriction?

• Fascinating. Interesting story that is not well known. • Perhaps show some modern feelings and attitudes towards Ada.

Show webpages and the source of the info on Ada and her life. I liked that Ada had questions about her true intentions, like we were peering into her mind. This could have been developed a little further I thought.

• Only one the other girl not Ada. • Not very, Ada was the best. I don’t know who the other woman was.

Babbage was dull. Do the technological aspects of the production work?


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• Good use of screens and images, liked the videos plus contrast with old style props, contrast in choreography. Did not like the fog. In this theatre I nearly fell asleep because fresh air was needed.

• Very much so. • Yes. • Yes, love the verbal commands and the sense that a student was

using a tool to research the subject. • Yes, very nice. • I was a little overwhelmed by it all! • Dance and music good, more diversity and development in different

forms unclear. • Yes but some of the optical effects are disturbing visually –go too

long. • Yes. • Yes – interesting. • Yes, it adds to story, creates atmosphere and tension. • Yes, the images really helped to show Ada’s world and what she had

been through. Even the Random machine like images helped to show that Ada was obsessed with mathematics and perhaps even too smart beyond normal human comprehension hence making her almost a mad scientist.

• Beautifully. • It sent me to sleep.

General comments…

• Liked it • After it all, it’s a lesson on an unknown (to the general public)

identity. • I enjoyed the production although I sometimes had difficulty

understanding what the character said (not sure if this was intention or not) but as I am hearing impaired it was distracting.

• I’ll be going out to buy a biography on her!! So you must have captured my imagination.

• Great • Music good / perhaps some snatches of ‘historical’ music box /

mechanical music would be a good add in. • At times, I was not sure where it was going (that is those segments

with no narrative) • Linking then and now is a good idea. • I enjoyed the visual and sound technology, beautifully produced and

directed, very imaginative. • Was Ada the inventor of AI? I was fascinated at her comments how

it could work (for multiprocessing leading to the random function) There is definitely an IT PHD Topic just there – I’m an IT graduate) Very mature and well researched. Well done with the mix of dance and theory, although I would like to see a little more dance. Good unfolding of the story to explain what is happening in Ada’s life. I


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loved the digital projections!!!! Thanks for an inspiring performance☺

• Elise May was brilliant. The work really depends on her performance and the use of media. Enjoyed the first part – Music and Ada. Came back a second time with my teenage children and husband who thought it was brilliant.

• The talk at the end was more interesting. Appendix 5: Artists skills and contribution to the project Artist and time spent on Ada

Professional history and skills

Contribution

Cath Brown (QUT 2001, 3 months weekly, 2 weeks intensive)

Dance student Visual arts Video editing, filming, photography Installation No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Some experience working with technology.

Concept creation Visual arts Dance Installation Set / installation Poser animations Acting Motion capture research.

Elise May (QUT 2001, 3 months weekly) (Canberra 2002, 6 weeks intensive)

Dance student New media student Video editing, filming Costumes No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Some experience working with performance and technology.

Concept creation Dance Media development Sound Costumes Poser animations Acting Wearable electronic architecture design and construction.

Tim Darbyshire (QUT 2001, 3 months weekly, 2 weeks intensive)

Dance student Drama No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. No experience working with performance and technology.

Concept creation Dance Acting Poser animations


88

Bridget Fiske (QUT 2001, 2 weeks intensive)

Dance student Solo performer No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. No experience working with performance and technology.

Concept creation Dance Poser animations Installation

Artist and time spent on Ada


Contribution

Aaron Veryard (QUT 2001, casual) (Canberra 2002, 6 weeks intensive)

Dancer Electrician Video editing, filming Computer Animator Director programmer No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Very experienced working with performance and technology with various artists.

Concept creation Lighting design and operation. Movement Wired wrist worn device, design and construction. Wearable electronic architecture, electronic design and construction.

Steve Noonan (Adelaide 2001, 2 days)

Physical theatre performer Actor Dancer No experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Unknown experience working with performance technology

Movement Acting Dance

Jo Stone (Original 1999, 7 weeks intensive) (Adelaide 2001, 5 weeks intensive)

Dancer: ballet, tap, butoh (Anzuoh Furakawa, Berlin). Actor: undergraduate degree. Singer: cabaret, musicals. Physical theatre performer. Previous experience

Concept creation Dramaturgy Dance Acting Costume design and construction. Installation Sound


89

with Sarah Neville’s process through ongoing training and performance opportunities. Experience working with performance and technology limited to working with Sarah Neville.



Contribution

Teresa Crea (Adelaide 2001, 2 days)

Artistic Director Doppio Parrellelo. No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Very experienced working with performance and technology with various artists.

Performance script development mentor.

Astrid Pill (Adelaide 2001, 5 weeks intensive)

Dancer (no formal training) Actor (no formal training) Opera singer, trained Physical theatre performer: Voice and movement training, Roy Hart Institute, Poland. No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. No experience working with performance and technology.

Concept construction Dramaturgy Dance Acting Sound

Matt Innes (Original 1999, 7 weeks intensive) ( Adelaide 2001, casual, remote from Tokyo) (Canberra 2002,

Graphic designer Video editing, filming. Previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process through collaboration in one other performance.

Dramaturgy Videography Script advisor Character consultant


90

casual, remote from Tokyo)

Experience working with performance and technology limited to working with Sarah Neville.



Contribution

Nic Mollison (Original 1999, 7 weeks intensive) (Adelaide 2001, 5 weeks intensive) (Canberra 2002, 4 weeks intensive)

Lighting designer Previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process through ongoing training and collaboration opportunities. Co-director with Sarah Neville, Heliograph Productions 1999-2001. Experience working with performance and technology initiated by working with Sarah Neville.

Lighting design Production design Movement Production Media preparation and development. Sound Costumes

Martin Thomson (FTR) (Original 1999, 7 weeks intensive) (Adelaide 2001, 1 week)

Newmedia artist Web streaming Experience working with Sarah Neville limited to Ada. Very experienced working with performance and technology with various artists.

Webcast consultant Character development Concept development Movement Design

Tyson Hopprich (DJ TR!P) (Canberra 2002, 4 weeks intensive)

DJ, Electronic musician No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Experience working with performance and technology with various artists.

Sound composition


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Benn Woods (Canberra 2002, 2 weeks intensive)

Computer Programmer No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Experienced working with performance and technology with various artists.

Concept development Computer programming, wearable electronic architecture



Contribution

Wendy McPhee (Canberra 2002, 6 weeks intensive)

Solo contemporary dance / theatre performer No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. Experienced working with performance and technology with various artists.

Performance Choreography

Chris Ryan (Canberra 2002, 6 weeks intensive)

Dancer Physical theatre performer Director Dramaturge No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. No experience with performance and technology.

Performance Dramaturgy Direction

Janine Ayres (Canberra 2002, 40 minutes)

Trapeze artist No previous experience with Sarah Neville’s process. No previous experience with performance and technology.

Dance

Mark Gordon (Canberra 2002, 6 weeks intensive)

Artistic Director Australian Choreographic Centre

Administration Production Direction Design


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Lighting Design Costumes

Appendix 6: Participants’ responses, questionnaire

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Appendix 6: Participants’ responses, questionnaire 1. To what extent did you experience the creative process as a collaborative one?

Aaron Veryard: I found the process of making the jacket for this piece with Elise to be quite collaborative as compromises had to be made and the final outcome was a combination of ideas. With the piece itself I don’t feel that the jacket was ready early enough to enter into a collaboration with performers and director. Nic Mollison: Ada 1- I consider the process a fully collaborative process. Ada 2 – I found the second stage less collaborative though this was necessary due to the nature of that stage of development. Ada 3 – I did not consider the creative process in Canberra a collaborative one. Bridget Fiske: The creative process was collaborative in the sense that the performers contributed ideas and material. Some of this was driven by tasks that Sarah as a director set within the process. Therefore in many ways I could see my role as more about being willing to contribute generously and fully my ideas and skills within the parameters of what the director was trying to achieve. There were though aspects of the process that seemed to really be given over to the performers. Our installation ideas were encouraged and contributed to the performance space. Although in many ways by my understanding of collaboration this process embraced those ideas, I saw it as more about openness and tasks that were driven by a vision of Sarah’s desired outcomes. Jo Stone: I found both 1 (original) and two to be very collaborative. The structure Sarah prepared was open enough to interpret the roles and leave room for experimental ideas. I think the second one for me was clearer for me as I had already performed in the 1st was pleased the 2nd was a totally different version which left room to continue the work in a new form. Tyson Hopprich: It was a collaborative process in which artists from different media came together to produce one final product. Through crossing and sharing and also learning new skills from other artforms in this process. Matt Innes: Adelaide was a collaborative experience. ACT was not because I merely supplied content without a clear idea of what was going on.


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Astrid Pill: I found the process to be pretty collaborative. Sarah set quite specific tasks but the ultimate material was initially created by the artists with a bit of tweaking here and there. The interesting thing about this was the fact that although it was collaborative, because of the isolation of the character’s roles there were many times when we were working alone and then slotted together from the outside. This was fine and it felt as though this was necessary as the two Ada’s were from different worlds. The collaboration stretched as far as working on the dramaturgy together, even with the techy lighting dude! 2. Which art forms did you work in and in what capacity? Aaron: I worked in electronics most of the time. I touched on dance by watching and giving feedback. But had little to do with actual movement process. I worked as a programmer for about 5% of the time.

Nic: Ada 1 – lighting Ada 2 – video / set + lighting designer Ada 3 – set + lighting design – video content preparation. Bridget: I worked predominantly in movement that was clearly influenced by my dance practice. Although I did make a paper installation that was informed by the ideas of the young Ada and her fascination with mathematics and geometrical shapes. Jo: Mostly in performance (text) and dance \ movement. The Role of Ada 1 is less technically driven and more live, but we also used video vj-ing and utilised a computer program to experiment with choreography that we then imposed on the body. Tyson: I worked in sound design and composition. Also helped in other fields where possible… Matt: Video content, script ideas. Astrid: Theatre / dance…I felt…strangely enough that architecture and maths were involved! I personally didn’t feel the technology factor very fully because I was involved in the creative development stage so the technology for me was still in my imagination.


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3. What is newmedia dance? Aaron: I perceive New Media Dance as that which crosses art forms considerably and where the dance process is affected and challenged by other art forms. Nic: New media dance = movement forms that introduce external technologies into the choreographic process to present various mediums in live performance, to enhance the audiences experience + understanding of what is being presented. I.e. Video content as external narratives; sound – live mics as text + soundscapes – textures – voice + percussion ECT; interface – content video + sound clips ect. They are very often dealing with notions of real space – virtual space – real body vs. avatar. Suspended time/distance constraints – live webcasts. Bridget: I can only begin to define new media dance by relating to the use of technology, essentially dance that uses other media or mediums than the body. Associations that arise but that are not exclusive include; video, editing, software, digital and projection. Jo: Its using different forms of technology to manipulate the raw presentation of dance. In Ada we crossed technological (mostly computer) language into the rehearsal space and used systems of media to communicate with the audience. Tyson: A new generation of dance expression which includes the use of technology (a/v) and new techniques of movement. Matt: No ideas, dance by email? Astrid: Where technology…other modes of communication are used as an element…another art form? Where technology is used as a choreographic living element? 4. Can you describe the choreographic language in the Ada project as you know it? Aaron: As I understand the choreographic language uses certain tools and workshop practices to create a mix of set and improvised material which is paralleled by a large amount of technology but yet not necessarily dependant on it. These tools and workshop practices are about embodying an idea, which has


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its parameters set by the story of Ada and as defined by the director Sarah. Also however some of these ideas may come from the technology to give movement but can exist if parts of the technology were to fail. I believe that the choreographic language exists without using technology as in this instance but that it would be greatly enhanced, in fact needs the technology to be available during the development so that it can affect the choreographic language. I see the media as being secondary to the choreographic language and supporting it rather than affecting it.

Nic Mollison Ada 1 – I found the choreographic language explored Ada’s child mind – prophecies, notions of the dysfunctional body and the natural body vrs the computers interpretations of the body’s movements. Fluid movements – metaphysical child. Paralysis – metaphysical child. Linear and exacting – Augusta. Decay – destruction – all. I don’t consider this to be a pure movement piece – I view all elements together equally. Voice, movement, media, interface, design = Ada. Ada (Canberra) it’s hard to evaluate the movement as it was presented, as I found the performers ignored the choreographer’s directions, so it wasn’t clear what was intentional or what wasn’t, especially the Augusta character, the movement all seemed the same through the whole piece. Bridget: The choreographic language used a fusion of gestural movement, abstracted movement, video projection and visual environments that create a sense of the past and the present (or future) in the same performance environment. No one media is the central focus of communication but there is rather a melding of images and text that work to create meaning and communicate the ideas within the work. Jo: I would describe it as an everyday language that you use with technology such as television, mobiles, computers and a language that allows you to manipulate time, edit, and rearrange movement. Tyson: I saw language through the link of movement, music and video projection. Matt: Gaelic with a smattering of Swahili. Astrid: The contradiction between maths and emotion…I don’t know…its almost like Ada’s journey dictated the choreographic language…the contradiction between straight lines and a mess…success and failure etc.


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5. In what way have you interacted with technology in the project? Aaron: I have built the technology of the jacket specifically but also operated lighting, sound and programmed at one stage or other.

Nic Mollison Ada 1 – lighting Ada 2 – AV Ada 3 - set design I consider the set concept and the physical structure of the set a technology. Although ignored as technology during the process. I found a great opportunity for it to be used by the performers, to manipulate to enhance the presentation of the story. Unfortunately, a missed opportunity to work with this technology. It was also an intention to introduce lighting technology to the interface but this was not possible at the choreographic centre due to the budget and equipment constraints. Bridget: In a small part of the creative process I had the opportunity to play with the Poser program. I feel that this was the extent that I interacted with technology other than lighting and sound equipment. I felt that my contribution was more related to the physical performance, although I would be interested in interacting more with technology. Jo: We studied the program… (forgotten the name Sarah sorry) to manipulate bodies on screen and became quite familiar with how to use this , I spent more time researching the movement than the name of the program so its slipped my mind. I’ll call it the green mesh figure manipulation. We also had live v-jing and web cam in the first performance. Tyson: Through the music, it being technology based, and the interaction with the computer visuals and the media suit. Matt: Entering data with a standard 96-key QWERTY keyboard and visual pointing device (MOUSE). This became PIXELS (picture elements) on a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) screen., and was in turn, projected as some form of moving backdrop (SCREEN) for performers. I also successfully operated a Bread Crisping Device (a BCD or toaster) on several occasions. Astrid: Mainly through discussion and research. I found this aspect engaging and fuelled my imagination in terms of character development and creating physical language. Being involved in the CD stage didn’t really allow me to deepen my relationship with the actual technology though.


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6. How would you describe Sarah Neville’s creative process and how is this different to your own? Aaron: I am unsure of Sarah’s creative process as I assume this relates to how she has arrived at the choreographic language. I am sure that many people have contributed to her creative process with feedback and ideas. And that there is a large amount of reading and research involved. My creative process would be different here, as I have not done a lot of background on things I have created or helped create.

Nic Mollison Unique – detailed – informed – ambiguous. I enjoy the butoh inspired processes that Sarah employs. Performer devised phrases arranged and edited / expanded by Sarah. My process could not be more different to Sarah’s from a lighting design point of view, where Sarah works from cerebral or inner references for inspiration and or content, my mind is more dealing with purely visual and presentational ideas. I would prefer a more open process, where all people involved are involved in the process, i.e. as in insectspace. Designers + performers – blurred roles + expectations and everybody owned the process. Bridget: Sarah’s project is very open and looks to the unique ways that individuals can contribute to her exploration of ideas. My processes vary as I am often creating solo work. Essentially though when working with other artists I aim to embrace their uniqueness and ideas that contributes to the revealing of ideas within a work. Differences that can be commented on relate to stimuli and tasks from which movement material are created. I also don’t at this point do a lot of multi-media visual work but rather I am interested in collaborating with musicians on the development of aural landscapes, which involves the use of technology in a recording and editing process. Jo: I have seen Sarah’s process through years of development. In Ada she usually works with a strong narrative or historical base and has ideas for scenes which are then developed collaboratively with the technicians and dancers \ performers. She uses a very clear language that is crossed between modern technological language and a dance language (Butoh influenced). The dramaturgy of her work is always clear. For these reasons her process and mine feel very similar. We differ more in the style of work we make but otherwise her process is strongly physical theatre based. Tyson: Sarah’s process comes from a choreographic background which is quite different from music composition but not so in many ways. Both try to create an abstract narrative with structure and purpose.


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Matt: Sarah’s creative process: Stay cool and fiddle with the script till the last minute then panic and have stress attacks for weeks after. Mine: Drink far too much coffee and stay up late into the night fretting about Korean missile attacks. Astrid: Sarah’s process is very collaborative in that she does not EVER set material onto her performers bodies. I think the major difference for me is that I create (perhaps because of my lack of formal, physical training) very emotionally and intuitively and if my head gets too involved it can be a disaster. A lot of Sarah’s tasks were based on quite abstract, mathematical tasks. I enjoyed them, though and it was a challenge to balance the different elements of creating material. Some tasks even freed my brain…which surprised me. 7. Have you discovered any new artistic forms whilst working on this project? Aaron: Video DJing

Nic Mollison The new artistic forms I experienced were – the ongoing installation of the workshop, where performers made costumes, designers made video, technicians + software engineers tested their wares. I feel this performance dynamic was more interesting. I would put that on stage. Next the morphing cyclorama where the images where distorted as the structure moves adding an extra dimension to the subject matter. Bridget: New forms were mainly revealed in our warm-up or preparation time before rehearsals. Sarah led us through a manipulation series in partners that was meant I was exposed to different practices for the body. Jo: Working with the media and technology aspect for me at the time was quite new. I had also studied butoh and the combination of the story and this dance form and practises made a very specific and strange head space to work in. The form, because we were working with butoh techniques, contemporary dance and speaking about technology, ambition and at the same time de-composition of the body and focus on the mind, was very estranged. It had a highly and imaginative and narrative content almost surrealistic and also because of the technological aspect was at a distance. Tyson: Yes, the link with audio and the media suit.


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Matt: Yes toilet graffiti – a scintillating and liberating new form of open source self expression. 8. What does ‘virtual’ mean to you? Aaron: Virtual means something not represented by itself. But is presented in another form usually using computer equipment and possibly anything residing in some form of electronic memory.

Nic Mollison Virtual, a fake representation of reality / nature utilizing visual art, technology, media communication, to transcend space / time. Bridget: Virtual for me relates to being removed from the earthly grounding of our physical being, but yet to have experiences in the physical because of heightened or other sensory experiences. Words that manifest also are; another realm, transcendence, computer technology, data and creativity. My understanding of virtual is defined by the viewing of dance works or films that use it as a subject matter, rather than direct experiences. Jo: A landscape Tyson: Manmade environments in many forms… Matt: No touching.

9. Who is Ada Byron Lovelace? Aaron: The first woman programmer, mother, gambler, lover ...daughter of…etc.

Nic: Ada is the first woman to create software languages for Babbage’s analytical / difference engines. System analyst – Lord Byron’s daughter – Annabella Milbanke’s daughter. She was a mathematician, who had prophecies about – notions of email technology – mapping the human genome. In the mid-1800’s, ahead of her time, died at 36 from cervical cancer. Bridget:


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The knowledge I possess of Ada Byron Lovelace is limited to knowledge that Sarah shared through her creative development period. I understand that she was a woman of great inquisitiveness. She had dreams of flight and was that first to suggest concepts that today can be related to the reality of email. Ada wanted to transcend her physical self. She was also the daughter of Lord Byron. Jo: A pioneer of a technology beyond her era and a practical dreamer. Tyson: You know who she is ; ) Matt: A long dead lady who mucked around with computers, a dilettante (ss). Astrid: An amazing woman…with an amazing history. Someone whose intellectual discoveries were stupidly unknown. 10. Did you experience or observe anything that could be described as disembodied movement? Aaron: I saw animations of figures that did movement that was impossible projected during the performance. Nic: Ada1 at generator – yes with the frenetic poser animations and the frenetic decaying movement of act 2, use of scrims, layers and improvisation. Ada 2 (Ausdance) NO. Ada 3 (Canberra) NO. Bridget: Disembodied movement was evident in the use of projection that contained footage of human performers. Although at one point that movement was embodied by a performer once on film it was still repeatable but away from the original physical source. Jo: Yes. Both in physical terms and in the thought process of the work. Physically the movement was often based on leaving the body and chasing the mind. The movement was particularly quick and in isolation and the thought process always was based in the story of the scene but we worked on a lot of specific landscapes to be in that are not based on reality that we know everyday.


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Matt: Yes. On several occasions I “virtually” went to the toilet at night after too much coffee…only to wake up and find that I hadn’t been yet…don’t you just hate that… Astrid: Yes. See 6. Some tasks took me outside my body. I think that had I been more agile or fitter this would have worked better for me. 11. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the creative process and product as you have experienced it? Aaron: In terms of reaching a product? Casting. Time and Money are weaknesses. In terms of media I think that the people Sarah has chosen to work with is a strength as they are engrossed in their fields and this brings exciting new innovative and funky media, which I think has the best chance of appealing to a wide variety of audience. Bridget: My time in creative process on this project was so short and there was awareness that there would be a showing after a short period of time. The only weakness (but weakness is still not the right word for it) was perhaps the amount of time given to looking in to the movement material that was created and whether it is itself was clear in its articulation of ideas. I acknowledge that this idea is strongly affected by my personal philosophies where the ability for movement to create meaning is important. What made this process strong was the active focus of all involved to make the work. This meant people were willing to change roles and learn new skills. This can only occur with the openness of a director. I have only experienced the creative product through the performance of it, which makes it hard to comment on this question. But the creative product can only be strengthened by Sarah’s continual interest and development of her ideas relating to her subject matter. I am aware that she has had this work in fruition for some time and continues to work on it. Jo: I found the strengths to be the cross over between the dance and theatre element. The story grounded the work and gave us a very secure dramaturgy to work within. Also the differences between the two characters deepened and modified the story of Ada. I only think the 2nd time we worked the lack of funding to be able to play with the technology in rehearsal hindered the process. Tyson: Strengths: fellowship creates a greater bond between artists and the final product. Weaknesses: not having your whole music studio at your finger tips.


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Strengths: excellent coverage of the show, unique story, good content to explore. Weaknesses: the media suit was not ready on time. Matt: Strengths: interesting attempt to convey meaning of technology as it relates to the body. Weaknesses: Fell between the cracks of experimental dance and scripted theatre. Bad communication in stage 3. Needed more dynamic staging and music/sound. Also more criticism of techno-fascism (Ada for fighter pilots). Astrid: Sometimes…some tasks took a long time because they were difficult to start. 12. Any other thoughts? Aaron: Thankyou for the opportunity to work on this project. And I think it has the potential to be much bigger. I think it could easily go international. And I am curious as to what would happen if a filmmaker were involved that crossed over into areas of animation, manga and computer graphics. This project more than any other I think has the capability for crossing art forms and genres to more effect not less. And media has been used affectively but could also affect the choreographic language and echo it much more. Thanks again. Bridget: The use of other media seems completely organic in this work, as the subject matter deals with an individual vision for transcendence and technologies. Jo: Thanks Sarah the memories of this project stay with me well.

Appendix 4: Audience questionnaire response

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Appendix 7: Consent form ‘Choreographing newmedia dance through the creation of the dance

project, ‘Ada.’

Sarah Neville 6/172 Petrie Terrace

Brisbane 4000 [email protected]

Consent form of participation and acknowledgement of the inclusion of written and video material in Sarah Neville’s masters thesis. I, the undersigned, agree to participate in the research conducted through the newmedia dance project, ’Ada’ and understand that I am free to withdraw from this study at anytime during the process without any penalty or comment, with exception to periods involving contracted performance arrangements. I understand that the purpose of the study is to extend Sarah Neville’s artistic practise. I agree to the inclusion of interview ,video material and written reports relating to the production of, ‘Ada’ as it appears in Sarah Neville’s Masters thesis, after first being contacted for approval prior to thesis being submitted. I understand that all documented material will be stored securely for a period of five years and may be accessed upon request. I understand that I can contact Sarah Neville if I have any questions about the project, or the Secretary of the University Human Research Ethics Committee on 3864 2902 if I have concerns about the ethical conduct of the project. I understand that copies of the thesis will be held in the relevant libraries and be made available for bona fide research, subject to Australian and International copyright laws. Name Signature Date / /

Appendix 4: Audience questionnaire response

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Appendix 7: Consent form

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