A Gesture in Time: Sound in motion
A study of embodying sounds through gesture
How can we go deep within ourselves to discover a microcosm of gestures that allow us to move and express ourselves in new ways?
How can we develop empathy and foster meaningful connection with others without the need for words?
How are sound and movement intertwined and what sort of perceptual feedback is
necessary to allow meaning and expression to arise?
As we begin to rely more on the virtual realm, complete worlds are played out online as extensions of our minds. Imagination is used to fill gaps where physical cues are no longer present. Our sense of connection to the body slowly fades to the background as all manners of business and communication are conducted online. A Gesture In Time is part of ongoing research to study embodied movement and immersion to strengthen and reassert the connection between mind and body. In virtual collaboration with dancer Paul Lee, we examine ways in which sound can be linked to physical gestures to develop meaning, expression empathy and communication
Exhibited at New Art City
as part of Gray Area Incubator.
Showcased in
Spring 2020, San Francisco
Max MSP, OSC
This collaboration with Paul Lee stemmed from our mutual interest to understand and assist in the development of self-awareness by slowing down and tuning into the body. There is a universe of potential to expand our perceptual capacity to move with flexibility and ease in our ever evolving environment. The way in which we perceive and act in the world is shaped by habits and the way we carry ourselves in our everyday lives.
Dancers traditionally communicate using the interplay of sound and gesture by shaping physical movement to predetermined music. Musicians on the other hand use a set of highly skilled physical gestures to play music on an instrument. For both, there is a pre-existing framework and a language developed around the art form. These studies empower the dancer to also become the musician and be the creator of their sonic environment, to build a feedback loop in which sound informs action and action informs sound.
These studies take, a series of precomposed music as the framework or language within which the actor is equipped to manifest sound through conscious direction of energy into action. The system of interaction invites the participant to be curious through kinesthetic exploration to first learn the rules. Their conception and interpretation of the rules can then be adapted to communicate something more meaningful and to allow for a system of movements akin to language to organically arise,
CREDITS
Paul Pui Wo Lee is a Feldenkrais® practitioner, dancer, and current choreographic assistant/rehearsal director at Of Curious Nature in Bremen, Germany. Paul is originally from Hong Kong. He graduated from the National Ballet School in Canada and studied contemporary dance at the Rotterdam Dance Academy. Prior to becoming a freelance dancer, Paul had danced with IT Dansa in Barcelona and the GöteborgsOperans Balett in Sweden, performing in the words of Stijn Celis, Duato, Kylián, Ramon Oller, Kenneth Kvarnström, Ek, Ekman, Inger, Tilman O’Donnell. Some career highlights were performed in Stijn Celis’ “Your Passion Is Pure Joy To Me” and Wim Vandekeybus’s “Black Biist” among others.
With Andersson Dance and Scottish Ensemble, he toured Europe, Shanghai, and the Kennedy Center with Goldberg Variations: “Ternary Patterns for Insomnia”. As a freelancer, he has also collaborated with choreographers Örjan Andersson, Kenneth Kvarnström, Ina Christel Johannessen, Virgilio Siena, and Helge Letonja.
In addition to being a Feldenkrais practioner, Paul is also a certified Jeremy Krauss Approach (JKA) practitioner and therapist. He has taught Feldenkrais to Scottish Ensemble, Danish Dance Theatre, Theater Regensburg, Theater am Gärtnerplatz, Skånes Dansteater, Cullberg, as well as in performing arts institutions such as the Danish National School of Performing Arts, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Dansalliansen in Sweden, and the Danish Actors’ Association.