I don't think that the use of media (in this case texturized spoken word)
with dance implies that one is in competition with with the powerful forms
of moving imagery provided by movies and television. They are not superior
but merely different. Instead, for me, it implies that I believe that this
particular form of media brings something to the artwork that the dancer
cannot.
It is a bit like chosing a dancer, at least in the following sense: if Dawn
(the choreographer for Troika Ranch) has an audition of dancers, she will
choose the one that is best able to communicate her intention with their
body. All at the audition are dancers, but some are better able to do her
particular movement. Similarly, I choose a medium (video, music, light,
smells) not because it is instrinsically better than a moving body but
because it is best suited to expressing my aeshetic intention from the
available choices.
Also, as I have often said here, the other reason that I make the choice to
include media and computers in our dances is because Dawn and I enjoy
working with them. We like working with dancers too, that's why we're
always putting them in the same room together.
I think that a beautiful solo dance, performed in silence, will prove
either that the human body is far from obsolete or that I am at the mercy
of my own nostalgia. I prefer to believe the former. But. still, I am drawn
to make a different kind of dance that allows the moving human body and
media (video imagery or computer controlled music or whatever) to come
together in their own kind of duet.
Ciao,
Mark
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Mark Coniglio, Artistic Co-Director | troika@panix.com
Troika Ranch | http://www.art.net/~troika
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