The Annunciation Dance
I lived in Florence, Italy, from January through May of 2013. My husband was teaching a course for American students on a study abroad program with the ACM, and I was still working on my MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. I wasn't sure how spending time in Italy would influence my artistic practice or what the work I made there might be. I expected to work in bookmaking, but this choreographic project became my main focus.
The process of creating this (yet unresolved) piece was a new experience for me.
All of my previous choreographic works began with a piece of music that I created movements for. In Italy, I mostly looked at visual artworks, both sculptures and paintings, and I became interested in representations of the Annunciation - particularly the gestures and postures of Mary.
Here are some of the artworks I studied. (Many locations did not allow photography, so I wrote down descriptions of Mary's gestures)
The process of creating this (yet unresolved) piece was a new experience for me.
All of my previous choreographic works began with a piece of music that I created movements for. In Italy, I mostly looked at visual artworks, both sculptures and paintings, and I became interested in representations of the Annunciation - particularly the gestures and postures of Mary.
Here are some of the artworks I studied. (Many locations did not allow photography, so I wrote down descriptions of Mary's gestures)
I dissected, reassembled, and sequenced aspects of Mary's postures and gestures from more that eighty artworks. I then selected music for the performance of the sequence. I have performed the dance twice: at a Goddard College MFA-IA student critique/performance in Port Townsend, Washington, and during a presentation of my art for students studying with the ACM program in Florence.
Here is a (rough) video of the piece as it was performed.
Here is a (rough) video of the piece as it was performed.
I was not sure about the original choice of three songs and the repetition of the movements.
This (rough) video was shot in Florence. The music was something I had picked up in a museum of musical instruments in Venice.
This (rough) video was shot in Florence. The music was something I had picked up in a museum of musical instruments in Venice.
I have not worked on this piece anymore since the summer of 2013.
It does not feel resolved, but it opened up a new way of working in choreography that is much closer to my process of Resonant Abstraction that I use in creating visual artworks.
It does not feel resolved, but it opened up a new way of working in choreography that is much closer to my process of Resonant Abstraction that I use in creating visual artworks.
UPDATE: (June 2015)
I shared this site with Karen Graffio, an artist and Professor at the University of Montevallo, where I completed my undergraduate studies in Fine Art.
In April, she was in the process of creating an exhibition called, Negotiated Identities: Saints and Tears, which would be held in Space One Eleven in Birmingham, Alabama. Work she was creating for that show reminded me of this dance, so I sent her this page, and she asked to use the video above, "Buying Light" in the exhibition. She altered it so that text rolled over the video as it was played on a monitor in the gallery. This collaborative change completed the piece.
I shared this site with Karen Graffio, an artist and Professor at the University of Montevallo, where I completed my undergraduate studies in Fine Art.
In April, she was in the process of creating an exhibition called, Negotiated Identities: Saints and Tears, which would be held in Space One Eleven in Birmingham, Alabama. Work she was creating for that show reminded me of this dance, so I sent her this page, and she asked to use the video above, "Buying Light" in the exhibition. She altered it so that text rolled over the video as it was played on a monitor in the gallery. This collaborative change completed the piece.