MUSIC AND DANCE COLLABORATION

Performance and videos - Lighting Designer (2015)

I worked with Erika Boysen, a flutist who was completing her Doctorate at U of M. She was executing a year-long collaboration project, which manifested as a series of recitals dedicated to interdisciplinary collaborations with music, literature, visual arts and media, and dance. This solo flute recital is the culmination of that project. These are two of the six pieces featured in the recital which I designed lighting for. More information can be found at Erika's page

Tangible Things: Dances Made for the Camera

2015

Film tech director and lighting designer for the thesis of Marcus White, a Master’s in Dance candidate at U of M: two dances made for the screen. My responsibilities included creating lighting looks in the studio, maintaining contact with all performers and camera operators, and organizing contact lists, schedules, and scene breakdowns. The dances were presented at a screening in May 2015 in Ann Arbor.

From his website:

“Smoke” looks at what happens when the moving body is under surveillance. How do issues of power and loss arise?  Where does one find solace?  This work is coupled with “Mirrors” but can be screened independently.

“Mirrors” looks at what happens when one reveals themselves.  Issues of “realness” and passing arise for the five dancers within this narrative screendance.  This work is coupled with “Smoke” but can be screened independently.

THE WAVES, THE CONCH, AND THE KID

2014

Made in collaboration with Kasia Reilly, Isaac Levine, Lucas Grant, and Nicole Patrick.

In the collaborative class Dance and the Related Arts, we split into small groups, were given prompts and artists' work to think about, and made original performances. I had the great fortune of working with Isaac Levine (Performing Arts Technology), Kasia Reilly (Dance), Lucas Grant (Composition), and Nicole Patrick (Percussion). Our process was a lot of fun, since we started our first couple meetings outside of class at a local thrift store. The creative energy between us was electric, and our styles fit together harmoniously.

We ended up exploring themes of time-out and cycles, using fans and waves as motifs. We separated it out into four sections, of varying levels of reality. Each member except me was in charge of the generation and direction of each section, while my role was more of a stage-managerial, tech director, visual consultant role. The piece is about 15 minutes long and moves between four sections.

The first section is set up as a (poor quality, awkward, community broadcast style) talk show interview with a fan, which then moves into an abstract and minimal movement section that uses live-processed sound from the fan that morphs into beach-like sounds. Then a young character has a conversation with the fan, and the fan responds via three people's movement while nonsensical language is projected behind. We end with a simple yet touching children’s story about time-out, That ties everything together. It's illustrated using an overhead projector and shadow-puppet-like animation elements by hand, scored by more toy piano. 

"As each work moved from detailed scene to scene, it seemed that legibility was not an important goal of any of the work. Each performance seemed to rely instead on a well crafted internal logic to convey a sense that there was meaning to be made, without explicitly pointing to any meaning. Nothing was apparently conveyed, instead each work relied on creating a gestalt born of whimsy and senselessness."

-Charles Gushue, in an academic review of the whole show

WHAT THE TIDE BROUGHT IN

2014

Lighting Design and Tech Coordination for Carisa Bledsoe's thesis performance at the University of Michigan. I coordinated the volunteer camera operators and house managers, double checked every logistical detail for performances, and designed the lights for the production.

Images courtesy of Chris Ford and Nicholas Williams.