REINCARNATE: Reimagining Touch, Contact, and Communication In The Context Of Isolation and Distancing

Abstract

REINCARNATE is a performance installation and an experiment that attempts to engage in the study of contact in the age of global fear and stigmatization over the idea of relationship-building and bodily interaction. In this project, I incorporated a system-based performance technique coupled with the concept of contemporary dance, while negotiating the implications of contact improvisation in the age of social distancing. The performance system is based on a semi-closed set of physical movements derived from a combination of pedestrian gestures and dance moves. The performer completes instant composition on stage through the interactions with her past virtual self. By extrapolating and transporting a dancer’s movements into virtual space and having the dancer interact with and improvise to her past movements in real-time, the boundary between our material world and the virtual world becomes more nuanced. The music to which the dancer performs is also a responsive system that is organically developed by the dancer’s raising of arms and kicking of legs. The music is played by an interactive instrument built in Max/Msp platform; the different frequencies of the dancer’s movements become the input that triggers a MIDI keyboard which outputs as MIDI sounds that undergo delays and transposition. At the same time, the music that is composed in the process of the performance also stimulates the dancer’s improvisation. The purpose is to form a conversation between the dancer in the material dimension, her form in the virtual space, and the music. An audience expects to see both the dancer’s live performance and her interaction with her past self in virtual space projected onto a screen. The audience is invited to interpret the dynamics among the physical presence of the dancer, the digital figure embodying her virtual existence, and the resulting composition comprising of both audios and visuals.