DANCING FABRIC. Amber Sausen. Master of Architecture final project. University of Minnesota. Spring 2010

Transcription

1 DANCING FABRIC Amber Sausen Master of Architecture final project University of Minnesota Spring 2010

2 DANCING FABRIC Introduction This project combines a love of dance and fabric with temporary architecture in a study of the body in (performance) space. The initial premise at the outset of the project to create a portable, kinetic fabric structure to highlight and augment the body beyond its natural reach in a dance performance presented significant challenges. These challenges fell into several categories: my desire to work at full-scale combined with my novice-level sewing skills resulted in more enthusiasm than technique; my educational background is in wood, concrete, steel rather than in fabric. As the fashion designer Julian Roberts confirms, Fabric is not like wood, concrete or cardboard. Flying Foot Forum To ground the study of dance in this project, it was necessary to choose a choreographer/company with which to form an alliance. Flying Foot Forum is a Minneapolis-based dance company. Having previously studied under the artistic director Joe Chvala and artistic associate Karla Grotting, working with Flying Foot Forum seemed a natural fit for a project looking to intimately study and understand works of dance. Two pieces of Flying Foot Forum choreography, Serif and Flow, formed the basis of study.

3 Pantrograph Mechanics Through full-scale and technical movement models I learned about my own skill level, material properties and construction requirements. My personal sewing skill level was an important thing to gauge and resulted in finding that despite my greatest intentions, my sewing skills are at the novice level. Discoveries about material properties of various fabrics and the role of structure/armature in supporting fabric assemblies were key early investigations. Patterning and draping explorations began to explore the creation of kinetic space. A full-scale mock-up of the Batwing was the culmination of this set of experiments. Scissor lift mechanism

4 IOGraph Analysis IOGraph is a free program that tracks the movement of a cursor on a computer screen. By following the dancers bodies during video playback of Serif and Flow, IOGraph becomes a simple motion capture tool. All analysis uses the point of view of an audience member, combining plan, elevation and perspectival qualities an individual viewpoint. The geometries gathered in through the IOGraph studies were distilled to show the median performance envelope of each performer for each minute of the choreography. By stacking each minute of the dance I was able to model the change of the each dancers performance envelope through the dance. This method of representation allows for the viewing of the dance as a diagram that collapses time as the change between median envelopes is digitally lofted in Rhino. The forms, coincidentally, have qualities of both fabric and Futurist representation of the body in space. Subtractive plexiglass models and 3D prints express the performance in space (context) and as an independent object, respectively. Flying Foot Forum, Serif In Serif, the analysis tracks each dancer s right hand throughout the piece. The lateral organization of the stage positions shifts, beginning at minute 10, to a longitudinal alignment. This creates the appearance of a single, six-armed performer. In Flow, each performer s right hand and foot are tracked throughout the piece to capture their unique movement expression the dancer moving the complete body and a percussionist using primarily the hands. The dancer (green) has a changeable and wide-ranging performance envelope (aka she moves around the stage); the drummer (cyan) has a more tightly defined performance envelope, as his movement is smaller in nature and focused in his hands. Flying Foot Forum, Flow From the IOGraph analysis I was able to generate analytical models that develop volumetric from two dimensional data.

5 Serif Time O Gorman Serif is a percussive dance with three performers. This analysis tracks each dancer s right hand throughout the piece. The movement in this the dance challenges our perception of the body. Each performer s body is augmented through the use of a variety of drum brushes that extend the reach of the arms and their acoustic capabilities. Overall this dance is controlled and symmetrical, with an emphasis on individual body during most of the piece. The lateral organization of the stage positions shifts, beginning at minute 10, to a longitudinal alignment. This creates the appearance of a single, six-armed performer. The creation of this super-body perceptually changes the performance envelope, giving the appearance of filling more space. Chvala Grotting Compiled Distilled All Minute 1

6 fold fold back front back front 3 = = 1-0

7 Subtraction Cutting Subtraction cutting works with the fabric as a singular field to create the garment rather than building up the garment through the aggregation of pieces of fabric. This creates amazing volume as the field of fabric is allowed to billow and flow around the seams and body. The technique was developed by British fashion designer and innovator Julian Roberts. Planes Each minute of distilled geometry from Flow was made into a plane of fabric. The edges of every minute were sewn together, distorting and stretching the fabric. The sewing and gathering of disparately sized edges create volume in the planar fabric, collapses time into a single plane, and informs an attitude toward layering and light transmittance.

8 insert poles opening Mock-up Bringing studies and salient ideas forward/ back to the initial desire/inspiration of constructing a prompt for Flying Foot Forum dancers in an outdoor busking context. From the Planes and Subtraction Cutting studies lessons about material translucency, folding/collapsing/inverting of surfaces, light qualities of material, dance performance considerations, movement path, and the revealing and/ or concealing of the body are brought to a site situation. The northeast garden of Rapson Hall provides a test site a triangular space with one back wall that conceals; a front allows direct viewing and a side viewing area for a voyeuristic look into the construction. The current design proposition is an emergent materialization of movement/dance in time and space as a prompt for Flying Foot Forum to perform at Rapson Hall.

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