[radical] Signs of Life

Created in Apr.2013

[radical] Signs of Life is an interactive multi-media performance project directed by Heidi Boisvert.

The collaborators include:

Pauline Jennings – Choreographer
Doug Van Nort – Sound Designer
Raven Kwok (Me) – Visual Designer
Allen Hahn – Set & Lighting Designer
Amy Nielson – Costume Designer
Marco Donnarumma – Xth Sense Innovator
MJ Caselden – Network Engineer
Krystal Persaud – Industrial Designer

Jennifer Mellor, Ellen Smith Ahern, Hanna Satterlee, Avi Waring, Willow Wonder – Dancers

The following intro is cited from project’s kickstarter page.

“Through responsive dance, [radical] signs of life externalizes the mind’s non-hierarchical distribution of thought. Music is generated from the dancers‘ muscles and blood flow via biophysical sensors that capture sound waves from the performers’ bodies. This data triggers complex neural patterns to be projected onto multiple screens as 3D imagery. As the audience interacts with the images produced, they enter into a dialogue with the dancers.

The choreography for the hour-long performance is composed in real-time by five dancers from a shared movement database in accordance with pre-determined rules. Outfitted with two wireless sensors each, the dancers–Jennifer Mellor, Ellen Smith Ahern, Hanna Satterlee, Avi Waring and Willow Wonder–create patterns that dissolve from autonomous polyrhythms to intersecting lines as they slip through generative video and light. Van Nort also improvises original multi-channel electroacoustic music live with new interactive sound instruments based on the XS technology to sculpt a dense web of complex texture and emotion around the audience.

[radical] signs of life premiered at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in May 2013 through generous support from the Arts Department at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute along with iEAR Studios. Rehearsal Space has been granted through an Artist Residency at the Contemporary Dance & Fitness Center in Montpelier, VT.”

Photo by Marco Donnarumma

Photo by Marco Donnarumma

Photo by Marco Donnarumma