LASERS!

I wrote about this in great detail in my journal, but essentially I continued playing with this idea of a permeable membrane, cutting holes into the Lycra to allow actual visible penetration. This also gave the dancers an authentic physical task: use your upper body to push through this fabric. (In the second video, they were to use their lower bodies.) While this process may seem tangentially related to my initial thesis proposal, to me it is very much along the same lines. It provides a very tangible way to visualize tension. It also visualizes the idea of the permeable membrane, where some pieces of ourselves are allowed through, while others are not … an idea that easily translates to more abstract ideas, such as that of personal identity. It also creates a universal form between the dancers, where they no longer have human-like characteristics that are easily identifiable or categorized. They become amorphous blobs, formless, faceless and without ethnicity.

Rehearsal 11.17.10 from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.

Rehearsal 11.17.10 from Sarah Dahnke on Vimeo.