william forsythe: improvisation technologies
TRANSCRIPT
William ForsytheImprovisation Technologies
• About William Forsythe and how he likes to think about dance.
• Introduction to “Improvisation Technologies - A Tool for the analytical Dance Eye” (CD-ROM)
• “Dance Geometry” (Conversation between W. Forsythe (choreographer) and Paul Kaiser (digital artist)
• About algorithms and key frames and their analogies in dance.
• Creative task.
“Ballet is a geometric inscriptive art form.”
(William Forsythe)
Forsythe’s choreography is grounded in a deconstructive reconsideration of the possibilities of classical ballet structures […].
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Forsythe_(dancer)
http://www.youtube.com/user/GrandpaSafari
“My own dances reflect the body’s experience in space, which I try to connect through algorithms. So there is this fascinating overlap with computer programming.”
Retrieved from Dance Geometry (Forsythe) http://openendedgroup.com/index.php/publications/conversations/forsythe/
In mathematics, computing, and related subjects, an algorithm is an effective method for solving a problem using a finite sequence of instructions [...] Each algorithm is a list of well-defined instructions for completing a task.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm
“I start the idea. I am the initiator. I believe that something could emerge from these conditions. I name the conditions, basically the algorithm to make the choreography, we then work on these instructions, and these instructions then give a kind of result, and we discuss that and from that I have to keep deriving other conditions, variations on these results, until we arrive at something that is agreed upon.”
Retrieved from The John Tusa Interviews http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/forsythe_transcript.shtml
A keyframe in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition. [...]In computer animation this workflow is basically the same. The animator creates the important frames of a sequence, then the software fills in the gap. [...] The animator can correct the result at any point, shifting key frames back and forth to improve the timing and dynamics of a movement, or change an 'in between' into an additional key frame to further refine the movement.
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_frame
•animator - choreographer
•frame - e.g. dance position
•software (algorithm) - dancer (set of choreographic instructions)
The choreographer creates the important positions of a sequence, then the dancer fills in the gap. (obviously a dancer who has a set of instructions to do so, just like a software uses an algorithm)The choreographer can correct the result at any point, shifting positions back and forth (in time) to improve the timing and dynamics of a movement, or change an 'in between' into an additional position to further refine the movement.
•key frame X or starting point (e.g. dance position) at the beginning of the choreography
•key frame Z or ending point at the end of the choreography
•algorithm or a set of clear instructions or operations that define how the dancer gets from X to Z
• “When you get to frame X
• a) hide this image (1st layer of instructions)
• b) also stop and play this movie (2nd layer of instructions) and
• c) activate the photo button (3rd layer of instructions)”
• “When you get to position X in your choreography
• a) hide e.g. your arm (1st layer of instructions)
• b) also stop and dance phrase B (2nd layer of instructions) and
• c) activate another dancer to be ready to execute the next choreographic image (3rd layer of instructions)”
http://www.kristinmcguire.com
“Hypothetical Stream was originally made for Daniel Larrieu and his company in Tours. He wanted a ballet and I said ‘I can’t come – I‘ll fax it to you’. So I took a series of sketches from Tiepolo and I drew any number of vectors emanating from these knots of suspended figures, all flying in the clouds, all very knotted, very baroque, and I drew a number of vectors and said ‘these are knots’ and these need to be solved or unknotted. The lines that I drew were hypothetical solutions. […] the figures in the drawings are all numbered. Your number would be shown, Joan as Number 1 and John as Number 2 etc., and they received instructions on how to construct this ballet and I have done it in three different places, and each one is drastically different and people solved it themselves.”
Retrieved from The John Tusa Interviews http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/forsythe_transcript.shtml
Develop a choreographic algorithm, a set of instructions or a score from which dancers could create/improvise a 5 min dance piece.