Dance for the socially isolated︎︎︎
This one came out at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. All of us were isolated in our homes, so this score is meant for inside your home.
You can walk, in any direction, or you can stand. If a stable, lightweight chair is available, you can sit or stand on it. You can stand on the bed or walk across it, without breaking stride. The same goes for the couch, table and overstuffed pieces of furniture.
You might jostle a piece of furniture. You might wrap your body around that furniture or pick up and put down objects or, say, wash your hands—never too often now—all while maintaining a steady walking rhythm, which is the mainstay of the whole enterprise.
Once you stand still, it’s over.
SOUND: Although the score, like much postmodern dance, doesn’t require any musical accompaniment, you can respond to noises in your environment. You can decide on several verbal cues from the radio or TV to put yourself into motion again, like virus or pandemic. The high frequency of such cues should prevent extended stalling.
You can walk, in any direction, or you can stand. If a stable, lightweight chair is available, you can sit or stand on it. You can stand on the bed or walk across it, without breaking stride. The same goes for the couch, table and overstuffed pieces of furniture.
You might jostle a piece of furniture. You might wrap your body around that furniture or pick up and put down objects or, say, wash your hands—never too often now—all while maintaining a steady walking rhythm, which is the mainstay of the whole enterprise.
Once you stand still, it’s over.
SOUND: Although the score, like much postmodern dance, doesn’t require any musical accompaniment, you can respond to noises in your environment. You can decide on several verbal cues from the radio or TV to put yourself into motion again, like virus or pandemic. The high frequency of such cues should prevent extended stalling.
Welcome to mapping collaboration, a toolbox for workshopping and creating across disciplines...
In spite of a long history of interdisciplinary creation, from our earliest recorded arts to our present moment, artistic pedagogy has created divisions between disciplines. This has left artists in a "post-Babel" condition where we don't share the same language and definitions. It’s also encouraged artists to develop practices for devising, creating and composing work that are distinct to their disciplines.
In spite of a long history of interdisciplinary creation, from our earliest recorded arts to our present moment, artistic pedagogy has created divisions between disciplines. This has left artists in a "post-Babel" condition where we don't share the same language and definitions. It’s also encouraged artists to develop practices for devising, creating and composing work that are distinct to their disciplines.
The inspiration for this project came from faculty and students at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts where BFA, MFA and PhD programs in Dance, Theatre Production and Design, Visual Art, Film, and Music and Sound all work together in studio settings and playfully experiment with processes of art-making.
We wanted to create a database of projects, assignments and theory that we collect inside the studio and from research happening in other places. We are curious about how we collaborate and how structures reoccur, translate and deviate from one discipline to another.
Composition is central to these processes and offers a base for our approaches and experiments. We are excited about what our students are doing and inspired by the new languages in contemporary art and performance we continue to see develop.
︎︎︎select a category above to build assignments, learn more about how artists process ideas across disciplines and to create a collaborative process of your own
︎︎︎these tools are collected and used in workshops and classes; some are resources from artists; some are quotes about art-making and how bodies think and listen; others are ideas to expand and disrupt your own training and processes.
︎︎︎Each idea is intentially short- and not meant to be executed as written, but to be adapted to your own practice and specific project/context. Some may be taken in parts or combined with others to spark new ways of training and making together.
︎︎︎submit your own ideas and tools so we can keep building this site!
︎︎︎select a category above to build assignments, learn more about how artists process ideas across disciplines and to create a collaborative process of your own
︎︎︎these tools are collected and used in workshops and classes; some are resources from artists; some are quotes about art-making and how bodies think and listen; others are ideas to expand and disrupt your own training and processes.
︎︎︎Each idea is intentially short- and not meant to be executed as written, but to be adapted to your own practice and specific project/context. Some may be taken in parts or combined with others to spark new ways of training and making together.
︎︎︎submit your own ideas and tools so we can keep building this site!
