This week we were taking inspiration from other site specific pieces of work which were both challenging and inspiring. The reason for this was because we were exposed to different kinds of performance we have never come across before, some shocking and thought-provoking about how we could work with audiences, and this got us thinking. Personally, my favourite was LIGNA’s Radio Ballet, performed in 2008 (Sofaer, J. 2010, Live Art Development Agency). What really got me was the fact that the audience were just members of the public, and everyone with the headphones was performing the actions in the middle of the city. This gave me ideas of what we could with our performance in regards to giving the audience headphones and giving them instructions of what they have to do, guiding them around the shopping centre.

Furthermore, when researching for some more inspiration, I came across the world famous site specific group Punchdrunk, I was reading their manifesto and this sentence really spoke to me and encapsulated some of the points we want to use in our performance; ‘Audiences are invited to rediscover the childlike excitement and anticipation of exploring the unknown and experience a real sense of adventure’. (Punchdrunk, 2014). I feel like we can really use this  excitement and discovery in our performance through the use of colours and sounds to make it accessible for families, especially children.

Hi, so this week we started group formations. I am in a group that is focusing around the idea of Newton Law of Gravity and pushing the boundaries of performance. Though at first I was reluctant about the idea, from researching ways to push the boundaries of performance such as showing anti- gravity by the use of mirrors, I have found myself excited about the project. There are many ways to push the boundaries of performance, in our case we have discussed the idea of having items stuck to walls and ceilings to symbolise the idea of  gravitional pull. we have discussed the use of projection and mirrors to make what could seem impossible i.e. performing on the ceiling or wall possible.

 this is an example of a mirror technique to show anti-gravity.

I really like the idea of using science within a piece, it allows the performance to have a dynamic edge to it.

I decided to join a group about gravity as I felt my knowledge of dance could potentially link with the science of gravity. Isaac Newtons theory on gravity is, if an apple can fall from a tree why can’t something of a larger mass like the orbit of the moon and earth be due to gravity. A potential title for our performance could be an experiment to challenge Newtons law. Our initial thoughts were to ‘defy’ gravity in our performance. I thought one of the ways we could do this was to use mirrors to trick the audience into thinking we were going against gravity. This links back to my initial idea of the prism and the refraction of light. Like the prism uses angles to create different colours, we could use angles with the mirrors to create different illusions. We could also use our bodies to show attraction which links with gravity, as gravity forces all physical objects to attract to one another.

I have so much to write and so little of it makes sense, however I feel that’s my fault for not keeping on top of my blog. I definitely have to do one after every seminar session because my mind just becomes completely bombarded with ideas and images.

The first thing i wanted to talk about was my response to some of the you tube clips of other site specific drama, this really opened my eyes in terms of what performance is. I found Goffman’s thoughts about presentation of the body particularly interesting as he raised the question of why do we feel the need to perform in society? This is a subject i find really fascinating, delving into societies ideologies.

The second thing is what we now have to come up with, after an enlightening chat with Jeremy from Gravity Fields Festival, this performance has already morphed from looking into shops but to looking into science, but the most important element is the fusion of those elements. So without anymore ado my 30 second elevator pitch is this… I want to create a piece based on Newton’s imagination and thought process when the apple fell from the tree and he discovered gravity. (Myth or no myth it is directly related to Newton and his theories) This piece would come about through the interactivity of a simple shop owner selling apples in a vacant shop in Grantham during the festival, the audience would enter the shop and be convinced of sampling an apple, the owner could tell the story related to Newton, and various other performers come to life and reenact the moment and his relative teachings. For example the performers could re create space within a space, having the apple in the centre, mimicking the sun. …. My thoughts on this are still vague but I like the idea of playing with the myth of the apple. It feels like the perfect blend of science (Newton’s life) and drama (creating a story)

I know very little about shopping.
I know even less about science.

So I’ve been trying to do some research into the different kinds of laboratories and scientists we could look at under this huge umbrella. It got me thinking about what kind of sciences interest me. I started thinking about computer science, genetics, chemistry and alchemy and what elements humans are made of (primarily this is oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus). Linking this with an idea that was mentioned last lesson about genetically growing or modifying embryos, I thought about prosthetic limbs and the state of computer science.  It’s not something many of us give much thought to but from a retail point of view it is in fact an ever growing industry. With this in mind we could develop a piece regarding this enhancement in prosthetics and play on the idea of selling or “upgrading” people or parts.