How did you go about working together to build this dance hybrid installation?
A new type of collaboration.
A massive part of the whole project is just to start to have a conversation, what interests us, what kind of things might stimulate further conversation or dialogues.
….. to give us a baseline in terms of rhythm to work on top of ….
Music is very physical too. Should it be following the dance and the set? Music touches you. It could hit you, or stroke your neck.
I don’t see art as an object. I see it as a relationship, a relationship between dancers, between dancers and the stage, between dancerss and the audiences…
Karl Wilhelm Alexander Ekman (born 1984) is a Swedish ballet dancer and choreographer.
Ekman created ‘PLAY’ together with Karlsson which creates a unique bond between dance and music. Play was created for the Paris Opera Ballet. It is a dance music theatre piece that recalls the age of childhood. It is written and directed by Ekman himself.
As a mathematical and natural phenomenon, the Golden Ratio has links with the Fibonacci sequence, the Stradivarius Violin, and the Vitruvian Man. The golden ratio has been widely used throughout the visual art, architecture, and music fields, by Mozart and Le Corbusier, among others, however it is rarely utilized within the field of dance.
The relationship of the highly subjective field of dance and the pragmatic field of mathematics has not yet fully been explored.
The mean and extreme ratio, later named the Golden Ratio, was first clearly defined mathematically circa 300 BCE by Euclid of Alexandria.
In Book VI of his Elements, Euclid describes the ratio:
A straight line is said to have been cut in extreme and mean ratio when, as the whole line is to the greater segment, so is the greater to the less.
In the beginning of the 20th Century, Mark Barr termed the Golden Ratio, phi, after the Greek architect responsible for the many Parthenon sculptures such as “Athena Parthenos”, Phidias 2 6. Use of phi, or the Greek letters, Φ and φ, is now commonly used as a reference point when discussing the properties of the Golden Ratio.
There have been connections forming between dance and mathematics education as well as mathematics and dance definition which have furthered both fields.
Why the Golden Ratio? The Golden Ratio is considered to be the “mathematical concept which is at the centre of … discussion,” by many mathematicians and math historians alike.
The Golden Ratio, while being a relatively simple mathematical concept, can be linked to numerous natural phenomena and artistic expressions throughout history: from the number and arrangement of petals on flowers to the beautiful works of music composed by Mozart; from the structures of the galaxies to the evolution of deep sea creatures; from the design of the soccer ball to the architecture of the Taj Mahal. Golden Ratio can be seen in a wide variety of natural and artistic mediums internationally and throughout history.
The Golden Ratio as a Series of Numbers
The sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, . . . , in which each term (starting with the third) is equal to the sum of two preceding terms, was appropriately dubbed the Fibonacci sequence in the nineteenth century, by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas (1842-1891).
Golden Ratio in Music
Mozart, one of the most timeless and well-known composers in history, was known to show very high interest in mathematics. There are even math equations jotted down in the margins of many of his compositions.
The Golden Ratio can be mathematically defined as a number, a ratio, a series of numbers, and many other forms. Often related to nature and works of art, the Golden Ratio will also be defined by these occurrences. The arrangement of flower petals’ growth and the design of the pentagram are a few of the natural and artistic expressions of the Golden Ratio.
The process of relating the mathematical, natural, and artistic expressions of the Golden Ratio is comprised of three phases:
Utilizing the four main components of the Laban Movement Analysis – Body, Space, Effort, and Shape – the mathematical expressions can be related to movement constraints.
Relating the natural expressions of the Golden Ratio into choreographic structure.
By relating the existing artistic expressions of the Golden Ratio to choreographic methods to create choreographic ideas.
Moulton is best known for his work “Precision Ball Passing,” which has been heralded as a landmark in the development of post-modern dance. Originally created for three performers in 1979, additional versions have been made for nine, 18, 25, 48, 60 and 72 performers. Precision Ball Passing has been performed around the world on a wide variety of dance companies, schools.
Dance and Mathematics, while displaying many degrees of separation today, were both founded as ways of explaining and creating dialogue with the natural world.
Mathematics is present in dance.
If mathematics is a study of pattern, then dance choreography can be described using mathematics.
Geometry is perhaps the most apparent subfield of mathematics present in dance. Each dance has its own characteristic way of applying mathematical concepts.
Mathematics originated from the desire to use concrete relationships to better describe and explain the natural world. Modern clock time originated from the mathematical investigations into the relationship between the Earth and the Sun while the modern Gregorian calendar was derived from the relationship between the Earth and the Moon.
The relationship of the highly subjective field of dance and the pragmatic field of mathematics has not yet fully been explored.
Geometry’s inherent connection to the moving body has also been studied by several dance and design scholars. Most important among them are two German artists: Oskar Schlemmer, a Bauhaus influenced choreographer, artist, architect and costume designer, and Rudolph von Laban, founder of the most widely used notation system in dance: Laban Movement Analysis – a system of documenting a dance with symbols or descriptions based on the dance’s effort, time and space. Schlemmer and Laban both kept geometric ideas, and Platonic solids in particular, at the core of their movement and design philosophies.
What is the role of conceptualization in the artistic practice?
This session is an attempt to reflect on the relation between theory and practice, philosophy and art, and the role of conceptualization in dance and choreography.
How to practice theory? In which way is art a form of theory?
What is main driving forces motivating our journey? Have we ever observed how our obsessions or needs become the detonator of our artistic research.
How do we translate a concept, an idea, a problem into a series of exercises, which will allow us to experience each others´ practices from tangible physical/performative situations?
Light is key for Berlin-based Japanese scenographer and multimedia artist Yoko Seyama. Her latest installation “Saiyah – Light and Color composition #2” is a kinetic light sculpture, featuring a GiantMirror by ShowTex.
The light of a light source as white as daylight is split into two colours by projection on a spectral window which only lets through a specific colour wavelength while the remaining wavelengths are reflected. With this simple mechanism, the colours are remixed over and over again to create new layers, patterns and colours of the spectrum. In total four motorised spectroscopic windows and a full mirror by ShowTex were used to create a unique interaction of moving colours.
Schaubuehne am Lehniner Platz, ‘OPHELIAS ZIMMER’. Mit Texten von Alice Birch. Regie: Katie Mitchell, Buehne und Kostueme: Chloe Lamford, Sounddesign: Max Pappenheim. Mit Iris Becher, Ulrich Hoppe, Jenny Koenig, Renato Schuch.
Time out of Time: 