Re: workshop discussions -Reply

Doug Rosenberg (rosend@mail.soemadison.wisc.edu)
Mon, 16 Feb 1998 11:58:48 -0600

Following is a press release for an interactive dance/media project
premiering at Arizona State University's Institute for
Studies in the Arts Intelligent Stage April 22-25. As one of the
principals in the project, I am interested in any dialog around dance
and tech. I'm sure that most of you know abouit the Dance and Tech
Conference that will be hosted by ASU in one year from now as well. My
e-mail is rosend@mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
I nitivced some discussion re: Big Eye.. I am currently teaching at UW
Madison in the Interarts and Tech section of the Dance program, where we
have a new interactive lab set up w/Big Eye as well. I would be
interested in how others might be using the tool in their labs.

Media Contact: Sheilah Britton
Phone: 965-0964
e-mail: sheilah@asu.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

FALLING TO EARTH REUNITES AWARD-WINNING CHOREOGRAPHER AND VIDEO ARTIST

Choreographer Ellen Bromberg and video-artist Douglas Rosenberg, whose
previous collaboration Singing Myself a Lullaby was honored with the
prestigious Isadora Duncan Dance Award, are breaking new ground at
Arizona
State University's Institute for Studies in the Arts. Working with ISA
resident fellow, John D. Mitchell, the three artists have combined their
talents to create a work which will integrate interactive technologies
with
the creative and performing processes. The collaboration extends the
continuum of dance and technology and brings together the artist's three
individual histories drawn from their extensive backgrounds in dance,
video, and electronic music. Falling to Earth will be performed in the
Intelligent Stage utilizing the tools, technology, and resources
available
through the Institute and its artists and technologists.

Collaborating with creative research teams at the Institute for Studies
in
the Arts has been an integral part of the process in creating Falling to
Earth. "The ISA has provided an opportunity for the project to develop
through different phases and to explore new ideas through research,"
says
Bromberg. A movement sensing system, developed at the Institute, is
triggered by a dancer's movement to control lighting, sound, and media.
"You have to work over a period of time to develop a language within the
interactive space," explains Mitchell. Rosenberg describes the ISA as
"a
think tank for art and technology," and adds, "This freedom to explore
has
allowed Falling to Earth to establish its own terms."

Bromberg, who has worked with the dancers and the movement sensing
system
for nearly two years says, "The choreography for Falling to Earth was
developed with the notion of interactivity and interdeterminacy which
influenced my thinking regarding structure and movement." Rosenberg
employed media to create a sort of holographic environment where images,
sound, and movement exist with equal value. Each performance will
ultimately be determined by the dancers movement. "We are working to
create a seamless, and yet intimate, integration of technology and live
performance, and at the same time providing the performers the ability
to
participate in shaping the piece during the performance," says Mitchell.


Falling to Earth will premiere at Arizona State University's Institute
for
Studies in the Arts Intelligent Stage April 22-25 at 7:30 PM. Please
call
the Institute at 965.9438 for reservations. Falling to Earth will also
be
performed at the University of Arizona's Lab Theatre in Tucson May 15-16
at
8pm.

Falling to Earth is supported in part by grants from the National
Endowment
for the Arts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and the Tempe Arts
Commission.


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