Zack Duer, Eric Handman, and Scotty Hardwig, "Daedelus Dreams"
From Steve Luber
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Daedalus Dreams is a performance for a solo movement artist and two drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), with stereo audio. The piece will premiere in October 2022 at Virginia Tech. The first media link provided is a process video that shows footage of the residency during which we created the initial draft of the work. The second media link shows rehearsal footage of the first two sections of the piece. In order to perform the piece in 15 minutes, we propose performing the first two movements (which includes the “feather” section and “flashlight” section) of the work. There is also a third movement, which we are still developing, that involves magic water paper which allows the drones to “paint” the floor with water that vanishes over the ending section of the work. In total, all three movements are 30 minutes in length.
Drones are a technology loaded with cultural implications and readings. They are small, mobile, modern machines of surveillance in an age where human behaviors have become a commodity to be measured and sold. They are the bi-product of a techno-capitalist society that demands constant innovation. In this performance, we’ve treated them as aesthetic, performative, sensuous, and queer material objects. The physical materiality of the drone itself is a dramatic presence on the stage that produces apprehension and demands attention. The propellers that allow it to fly and float effortlessly in the air, create a roar of sound and a wash of wind. The lights carried aboard the machine illuminate the space and the performer. The software and hardware mechanics of the navigation system allow it to either be piloted remotely, or to be pushed and pulled by the performer.
The drones’ physicality has the potential to make marks in space. And the choreographic structure arises out of the changes the drone effects on the space and the performer. The wind of the drone displaces a mound of feathers covering the performer. It creates turbulence in the performer’s clothing. The sound clearly marks both the drone’s position, as well as its movement, changing pitch and timbre as it changes directions. An affixed light creates a spotlight around which the performer dodges and counters the drone.
During times of crisis like pandemics or economic downturns, the proscenium theater as the prime performance location is thrown into deep question. The drone contributes an essential aspect to this lightweight, modular, mobile theatrical system. The traditional technical elements, which are fixed and highly specialized within the proscenium context, are reframed and integrated with the drone and the performer, creating new and agile possibilities for mobile performance that do not require the technology and apparatus of a modern proscenium theater.
Eric Handman is a choreographer and an Associate Professor at the University of Utah’s School of Dance. Prior to receiving his MFA from the University of Utah in 2003, he earned a BA in English from Skidmore College in 1991. He was a member of New York Theatre Ballet and then a professional dancer in various New York–based contemporary dance companies such as Doug Varone and Dancers, Nicholas Leichter Dance and Joy Kellman and Company.
Scotty Hardwig is a dance and digital media artist, choreographer, improviser and teacher originally from southwest Virginia. His research practice stems from the confluence of digital technology, cyberculture and the moving body. He is currently an Assistant Professor in Movement, Performance and Integrated Media at Virginia Tech, where he is creating and producing work at the intersection of technology and the body.
Zach Duer is an educator and artist. He is an Assistant Professor teaching in the Creative Technologies Program in the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. His work lies at a series of intersections: sound and visualization; careful composition and improvised performance; intuitive musical spontaneity and structured digital systems.
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