Live & OnLine 2013 Report

MOTION BANK LIVE & ONLINE 2013 (LOL13)

REPORT

After four years research into the creation of digital dance scores with guest choreographers, the Motion Bank project of The Forsythe Company concluded Phase One with a presentation of results both live and on-line and proposals for the future (the original announcement). All events took place from 28 Nov-1 Dec 2013 at The Frankfurt Lab, Motion Bank's home base for the first phase of the project. 

Presentation panel left to right: Matteo Fargion, Ingo Diehl, Jonathan Burrows, Nik Haffner, Scott delahunta, Bebe Miller & Thomas Hauert. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Following an introduction by project leader Scott deLahunta (download the text here), the panel discussed firstly the TWO project with Bebe Miller and Thomas Hauert, followed by Seven Duets with Jonathan Burrows & Matteo Fargion. As members of the Education Workgroup, Nik Haffner and Ingo Diehl shared aspects of the education research they had undertaken throughout the project -- more results of this research would be presented at the Experimental Study Platform on Saturday.

Guest choreographers Bebe Miller & Thomas Hauert. hoto: Jessica Schäfer

Two large group discussions were organised during LOL13, the first was on Friday at mid-day on the theme COLLABORATION WITH CODE. This focused on the interdisciplinary collaboration with digital artists and designers at the core of some of the Community of Practice projects, including Motion Bank. Invited to be on the main panel were Daniel Turing, Nick Rothwell, Florence Corin, Baptiste Andrien, Florian Jenett, Chris Ziegler and Amin Weber. Zach Lieberman joined the discussion from the Choreographic Coding Lab running in parallel to LOL13.

Collaboration with Code Discussion. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Specialised digital tools that are easily useable by choreographers and dancers in the studio are not common due to various reasons ranging from values (belief that technology and dance do not go together), artistic (not the kind of tool the artist would like to use), practical (takes too much time to learn or requires an expert), and economic (too expensive). Erasing these last two points, WDT and PM2GO are both relatively easy to use and free. Related link: a 2001 research project Software for Dancers organised to address these issues.

Students from Palucca Hochschule für Tanz experimenting with WDT by BADco. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

Participating in the LOL13 Platform were students and staff from: Masterprogram Contemporary Dance Education (MA CoDE (formerly MAZTP) from Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts; BA Dance from Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden; and the BA Dance, Context, Choreography and MA Choreography from Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin. Accompanying the Inter-University Center for Dance Berlin was the Meta-Academy, an online lab exploring embodiment & co-creation on the internet.

Students from the Inter-University Centre for Dance Berlin. Photo: Jessica Schäfer

The second large group discussion came at the end of the event on Saturday late afternoon on the theme DISCOURSE FROM PRACTICE. This focused on the motivations and goals of the artists publishing their choreographic ideas in different media, on the impact of these efforts and on prospects for the future. Invited to be on the main panel were (left to right in photo) Maaike Bleeker, Kristien Van den Brande, Scott deLahunta, Jeroen Peeters, Bojana Cvejic and Sarah Whatley.

Discourse from Practice Discussion. Photo: Jessica Schäfer