Graduate Thesis- Finally an idea!!
Starting this Fall I will start working on my thesis full force! I started dancing when I came to Drexel as something to do to keep active. I ended up really enjoying it and became a part of the Dance Ensemble about 2 years ago. I decided last spring that I wanted to do a thesis that involved dance. I talked with the Dance Program Director (also my dance teacher) about the idea. She was very excited and told me that the piece could be performed at the Spring concert (June 2007)!! This was great- not only would I be able to choreograph the piece, but I would get to see it performed!
Since then I’ve been doing a lot of reading and getting a lot of ideas about what I want my piece to be. It took me awhile to sit down and come up with that “perfect idea”, but I think I’m finally on to something. The piece is going to be about how we relate to technology.
Below are my storyboards for my piece. The beginning of the piece is inspired by “Text Rain”. Next, the dancers will walk through a city absorbed in their technological item (iPod, PDA, etc.) After that, there will be a trio where one of the dancers will be behind a cyc and will have a real time video filter applied to her. The end of the piece will be an animation that will be projected onto the dancers holding large pieces of fabric.
I would like to use front and rear projection. Currently I am networking with the university to see if anyone would be interested in being a part of this. As of right now, I have talked to an Engineering professor (who specifies in nanofabrics) about what types of fabrics are best for projection. I have also spoke to the Mechanical Engineering department about how I can implement something similar to “Text Rain” for the beginning. He suggested that the project be a senior project for engineering students and said that it would involve some type of video tracking. I am also working with John Henry Thompson who created an application called DICE that contains 22 video filters. Last but not least I am in contact with the Music Industry department for sound.
I hope to have the all of the digital media assets completed by the end of the Fall term (December) so that I can test everything in the Winter term (Jan-Mar). The piece will be performed in June. I will keep you updated every step of the way!
