This micro-project is a preparation for the final performance and explores the potential of how your dreams can be incorporated as material for movement in live performance. Follow the directions below so that you do not come to dance rehearsal empty-handed. For the Micro-Project: Dream Notation, you have the following tasks.
Task #1: Visit my website (http://angelineyoungdance.com) and view the following:
- Read the home page, Images/videos page, and MFA Dance Research page
- View the following two videos:
A piece about my mother’s forced migration through China during the Chinese Civil War (c. 1946-1949) Thinking herself back…
A piece about my father’s absence in my life
Reaching for my father beyond the bamboo curtain
- Jot down in your journal: a brief statement of what you think the work means or represents, and 1 question for the artist about the work. What is the role of personal narrative in these two films? Be prepared to read your statement and question in class.
Making dance in the 3rd space requires our awareness of our relationship to our bodies, our own personal histories, and the relationship with multiple viewers including the audience and the camera(s).
Task #2: Recording your dreams
For the next week, keep your journal and a pencil/pen on your bedside table. Jot down your dreams each morning when you wake up. You can list words or write simple sentences to help you recall the dream. Upon waking, lay still for a few moments before you open your eyes. This will help you recall the dream.
The goal is to write down the visual/sensual/tactile details of your dreams. You must write it down physically with a pen/pencil on a piece of paper. Your entries can take form as words and/or images. If you wake up with movement, please jot down your movement sequence so that you can remember it. If you notice your clothing in your dream, sketch that down as well. In this exercise you are working on embodiment of memory/personal narrative. A lot of my dances start with my dreams where my imagination talks to me. Bring these dream annotations to our next dance workshop.
Task #3:Translating journal entries into video
Create two 30″ dance videos inspired by your journal dream entries. Upload these videos to a new post (use the “micro-project” category). Also, photograph the journal entries that inspired these two videos, and also include them in the post. If it is difficult to read the journal writing, please write out the text in the post. This post will be presented in class and we will discuss the relationship between your dreams and dance movements.
NOTE: If you don’t dream have any dreams to jot down, describe at least three dreams you had prior to this assignment and create the videos as described above. When I see you next Wednesday, you should have at least 3-7 entries (any combination of written, sketches, movement annotation, etc).
Here is an example of my description one of my recent dreams:
‘I am standing in the street and a car passes through me. I don’t feel any pain. Laying on the concrete, I try to feel my body. A woman asks me “are you okay?” She said couldn’t help me but she pointed in the direction to the nearest hospital. There is a slight ache in my side. I climb to my knees and pull up my shirt to look at my skin. There is a large spreading red bruise in an elaborate desgin of bamboo stalks and leaves climbing from my pelvis, across my ribs up into my armpit.”
I combined my dream sequence with the drawing below by Dr. Christy Till, an earth scientist that I am collaborating with to animate her research which explores the life cycle of volcanoes. Here is the entry from my journal:
Please send an email to Angeline if you have any questions about the assignment: angeline.young at asu.edu