EDGAR VITE TISCAREÑO
CREATIVE LABORATORY BODY AND IMAGE IN MOVEMENT
CREATIVE APPROPRIATION OF PUBLIC SPACE While I dance I can notice the presence of my body, just to be here and now, the beginning of a displacement, the dynamics of the weight, the ow of energy, the sway of time, the quiet and the silence. I can perceive everything that surround me with all senses, focus on my own breath, let it go and be open to the encounter...
These pictures where taken by Lina Macela Benavides, during the workshop
When dancing the body is inscribed in the domain of technology, the complex system of the production of meaning is further complicated thought techniques of recorporealization; of re- making the dancing body within a technological environment. Rosenberg, Douglas. Dancing for the camera, 2001:http//dvpg.net/essays.html
From the last 10 years I have being interested in dance and its creative possibilities, and for this reason I have explored the gesture and the corporal expression of the body, as a form of introspection and also as a way of interaction with other people. For this reason I have generated the Creative Laboratory: Body and Image in Movement, which is a workshop that explores the digital technologies, the image in movement and the body on its experimental and creative dimension, taking as reference the artistic language of Videodance.
The
first edition of the Creative Laboratory was constituted by three different moments that are interrelated; at the beginning we realized a theoretical and historic approach about the development of videodance till our time, then we executed several exercises with body movement, spontaneous displacement and a collective exploration of the public space; and finally the participants applied all these elements to construct images
with accessible recording devices. For this workshop I had the opportunity to work with Diana Palacio, who is a very talented dancer and Professor of the Department of Scenic Arts from Universidad de Antioquia. I also had the valuable support of Museum la Tertulia, where we developed the workshop, which is a very significant place and a cultural referent of the city of Cali, at Colombia.
The
most interesting knowledge and discovery of this experience was that allow me to explore collectively the creative processes in a new way and to use accessible technological resources with the goal of appropriating the urban space and mix different artistic languages for expressing personal inquiries and ideas.
VIDEODANCE
National Autonomous University of Mexico
1ST UNIVERSITY SYMPOSIUM OF DANCE AND PHILOSOPHY. NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MÉXICO (UNAM).
I
would like to talk about the experience of my participation at the 1st University Symposium of Dance and Philosophy, organized by the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Dramatic Literature and Theater of the National Autonomous University of México (UNAM). In this occasion I presented a coauthored lecture with Diana Palacio, who is a very talented Professional Dancer and Professor at the Department of Scenic Arts of Universidad de Antioquia.
The title of our lecture was The contemporary dance as a new form of knowledge and creative experimentation, where we discussed how the contemporary dance constitutes itself as a particular way of interdisciplinary though, that reveals new ways of knowledge and creative experimentation, taking as reference the conception of the body and its multiple lectures, trough different art disciplines. With this goal in mind we analyzed the choreographic proposal of Isadora Duncan, Merce Cunningham, Jirí Kylián and Philippe Decouflé, showing how their particular conception of dance and body changed the cultural and cognitive paradigms, and generated new creative possibilities. On this lecture we analyzed a selection of choreographies and scenic montages from the dancers mentioned above, emphasizing the characteristics of the movement sequences, the scenic space, the musical composition, the clothes design, the use of lights on the scenario, and the contact with other bodies and objects that are translated into new spatial and dance relations. This theoretical approach allows a deep comprehension and interpretation of the world and the others, making possible a transdisciplinary epistemology and a convergence between different art fields, which generates a new kind of interaction between the audience and the dancers.
3.
This pictures were taken by Edgar Vite TiscareĂąo during the workshop
We also were invited to realize the Creative Laboratory: Body and Image in Movement, and we decided to do it at the Cultural Center from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), which is a place of cultural convergence on the university campus. One of the most interesting things of doing the workshop there was that it is an architectural and sculptural space with lots of stairs, banisters, bridges, interconnected buildings, fountains, and gardens with lots of trees and flowers. It is a place that stimulates the creative exploration, and it also has a profound symbolic meaning and allows the encounter of the habitants of Mexico City, not only the students.
In this occasion, we realized the Creative Laboratory in two different days, on the first one, we show a series of visual referents from Videodance and established theoretical inquiries around the configuration of this artistic language, making place for a discussion about it. Then we made an intervention in the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, we searched a transited place and we found some stairs that goes from a low level to a high one, and arrive to the Faculty and the Central Library. The exercise consisted in an exploration of this transited space, and each of the participants approached to it in different perspectives and unusual ways of movement. The most interesting result of this exploration was that the people that use to transit this place incorporated themselves in a spontaneous way through the choreographies and movement sequences created by the participants.
The second day of the Creative Laboratory was realized in the Cultural Center from the university, where we realized several exercises for activating the body and all the senses, including a dance technique called moving architecture, which includes the use of the own weight and the counterweight as a key for moving in a particular place, and adapting to its forms. Then the participants explored different specific places of the Cultural Center, appropriated them in a personal way and developed a collective project. The result of all this was the construction of a series of Videodances, where the participants developed their own inquiries. Finally, I would like to share the video of the lecture that we gave at the symposium in the National Autonomous University of Mexico and also some images taken from different moments of the workshop.3
VIDEODANCE AND CREATIVE PROCESSES ONLINE
Since the year of 2014, I have the oppor-
tunity of creating and teaching Specialized Online Seminars on Contemporary art, at the online program of Aula Virtual from Taller Multinacional, exploring innovative ways of approximating to the Art Theory and the Art Criticism in our time, but also configuring new methodologies applied to creative processes that explo
res the incorporation of technology and new media. In this sense I would like to
talk about my experience as professor and facilitator of the online seminar Videodance: Hybridization between Body and Image in Movement, which I have developed in relation to this audiovisual gender and how can be used for artistic porpoises in the contemporary context.
Videodance: Hybridization between Body and Image in Movement includes a theoretical approach and a practical project, in accordance to the interests and inquiries of each one of the participants.
At the beginning, we discussed the origins of Videodance and its influence by experimental and avant-garde cinema, especially in the case of Maya Deren, who was influenced by the aesthetics of Surrealism and created films with the idea of constructing a choreography for the camera. I also oriented the analysis of a wide range of proposals from different times and contexts around Videodance, like the ones developed by dancers and choreographers like Merce Cunningham, JirĂ Kylian, and Philippe DecouflĂŠ, emphasizing the principal characteristics of this gender and the way it mixes diffe-
rent languages and art disciplines. We also explored the connections of dance with new media, digital art and performance, in the installations created by Klaus Obermaier, who explores the interaction between dancers, audience, and technological devices in real time. Finally, we examined the connections between video clips and Videodance, taking as reference the musical videos of Sigur RĂłs, whose work mixes very complex visual aesthetics related to their kind of music and lyrics, and they collaborate with cineastes, photographers, dancers, and choreographers.
This seminar has allowed me to prepare specific materials, contents and didactic tools for online education, with the goal of generating a continuous interaction and involvement of all the participants in collective creative processes.
One of the most interesting things of working in online education is that it allows the connection with different people from all over the world, developing projects, no matter the place, nei-
ther the distance.I had students from
very different disciplines, cultural backgrounds, and countries, like Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile and even China, interested on the convergences between dance and visual arts in our time. All these factors have contributed enormously to the creative process that I have conducted in two intensive months, and also has opened new inquiries and perspectives around this audiovisual gender and its artistic possibilities.
Here I share some projects developed by the participants during the seminar, with my orientation and guidance along the process, but also with a continuous feedback and interaction between all of them, which has been a very rich experience for all of us. Finally, I would like to say that each of these videos has been created as a very personal search of the own body and its creative possibilities, with the goal of constructing images, including a wide range of conceptions about dance and movement in the contemporary context.
These Videodances explore the place of the body and its relation to cultural identity, the connection and distance between nature and urban space, the inspiration of daily life rhythms for constructing choreographies, the convergence between different art fields, the blur of the frontiers between reality and fiction, the fragmentation and reconfiguration of body, and the suggestion of new experiences about time and space.
EDGAR VITE TISCAREĂ‘O Contacto: vite_edgar@yahoo.com