Tag Archives: nature

Research Critique: Dance Performance

Eiko & Koma: My Parents

Eiko Otake and Takashi Koma Otake, generally known as Eiko & Koma, are a Japanese performance duo. Since 1972, Eiko & Koma have worked as co-artistic directors, choreographers, and performers, creating a unique theater of movement out of stillness, shape, light, sound, and time.

Eiko & Koma’s iconoclastic work combines slow and nuanced movement vocabulary with bold theatrical design. Whether performing in a theater or in natural sites outdoors, Eiko & Koma often move as if they are not human.
Eiko & Koma’s iconoclastic work combines slow and nuanced movement vocabulary with bold theatrical design. Whether performing in a theater or in natural sites outdoors, Eiko & Koma often move as if they are not human.

In post-war Japan, nature was part of the life and life was simpler without much technology. Baby boomers including Eiko and Koma protested on the streets for the damages done to the earth during the industrialization. That was where their aspirations came in.

In their dance, they often move as if they are not human. The movements are in their most pristine forms. While they are dancing on the floor, they reminds me of those earth creatures with a long, narrow body and a lot of legs. Many of their works contain nudity, which emphasizes the vulnerability of humans and transforms their appearance so they do not have everyday human bodies.

“A fish is naked and stone is naked. Why not us?”

 

Motion Control

Motion Control was produced with an Arts Council England / BBC Dance for Camera Award and examines the synergy between camera and performer. The film is notable for hyper-sound Foley score overlaid with text and electro-opera.

Devised and choreographed by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie and directed by David Anderson, Motion Control examines the synergy of camera and performer.
Devised and choreographed by Liz Aggiss and Billy Cowie and directed by David Anderson, Motion Control examines the synergy of camera and performer.

Take one glamorous and ageing dancer. Trap her in the real world, then smash into her private reality. Control her movement, contain her emotion. Well you can try but she has already beaten you to it. With hypersound and super smart awareness submit to this bizarre journey of entrapment.

This screen dance challenges traditional notions of choreography through depicting movements both viscerally and conceptually. And of course it is very hard to get it out of your head after watching it. The performer’s face, her hair, the soundtrack, the camera angel, the special effect, her dance in the small box trying to fight against gravity made it one of the most strangely fascinating things I have seen in a while. As I was reading through the comments on Youtube, I found one really interesting: “oh my..this is very dark, makes me feel very uncomfortable.a horrible piece of work but one that raises strong and powerful emotions. fantastic!” 

Yes, the film looked really dark and horrible at the beginning, especially when the camera came out of the ground and entered this red room with a witch-like woman lying in the green bed. But the choreography/cinematography really fascinated me.

lizaggisshead

Research Critique – Biometrics

Dana Haim is a textile designer living in London. She finished her MA in Design for Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins. I found one of her biomimicry projects during MA Textiles Futures course particularly intriguing. It’s called the braided beaded ball suit.

Vimeo caption: ‘The braided beaded balls suit’ eventually becomes a paradox of adornment, seduction, and fashion. In a way it mimics nature, whilst being an artificial counter strike to its natural descent.

This video was made in collaboration between Dana Haim and Learke Hooge Andersen. It was part of a biomimicry project where they were very much inspired by the glowing creatures of the deep sea as well as weird formations in the human body to inform new approaches in design. They created a kind of hybrid of the two using this costume that they made specifically for this video.

research2-1
Dana (Left) with her Danish buddy Learke (Right)

They also used several kinds of recycled materials to create the costume such as left over tights, ribbons, and beads. The dancer in the video is Supitchanga Vanasirikul.

” I am inspired by: The beauty of a forgotten old wall layered by the patina of time, remnants of posters, flyers and staples, cracks running down it and rust dripping through the cement. Multi colour neon graffiti dancing between the layers of paint, paper and dirt. Colourful dreamscapes. Wild animals and all the patterns and textures found in nature for instance the beauty of wood grain or the many facets of mineral stones. ”                                                                                                                            – Dana Haim

What is special about this project is its emulation of the beautiful symmetry in nature. For centuries, symmetry has remained a subject that’s fascinated philosophers, astronomers, mathematicians, artists, architects, and physicists. No one’s sure why it’s such an ever-present property, but it’s definitely one of the greatest gifts from nature.

research2-4
Examples of symmetry in nature

research2-3

 

Sources:

http://deehaim.flavors.me/#dana-haim

http://theglittertrail.blogspot.sg/2010/09/balls-suit-was-shortlisted.html