So there have been a few changes in my thoughts relating to my first professional Geeksdanz endeavor. I’ve decided that it might be a good idea to change gears and make Odorido the first Geeksdanz concert, primarily because rehearsing a duet with my fiancee is proving much simpler to organize than finding six dancers and a bunch of RP geeks. I’ve been scheming and planning lots of ideas based around both Kobudo and Iaido (Okinawan weapons and Japanese swordsmanship, respectively), and the current plan is to create two one-act pieces, each dealing with one of these ancient arts. The cast could simply be Josh and I, or could potentially include some of his fellow martial artists and one or two additional willing dancers. We rehearsed earlier this week, and we’re both very excited to see what develops.
On another front, I recently received a very exciting offer. Through my fiance’s martial arts classes I’ve met and become friends with Dan Keding, a world-renowned storyteller. A few days ago he expressed his interest in working with me on creating a performance combining storytelling and dance. We tossed several ideas around, including the possibility of performing at the Spurlock Museum in Urbana. I instantly became excited, not only at the honor of working with such an amazing and talented man, but at the fact that the finished product would most likely turn out to be a Geeksdanz! He said he’d plan to lend me some recordings of his performances so that I could listen and choose some favorite stories to work with. This collaboration has the potential to go somewhere REALLY exciting REALLY fast!
Dan has his own professional website, www.dankeding.com. Be sure to check it out!
Just thought I’d take this time to go into a little more detail on this whole “Gaming Past and Present” thing. My concept for this first act of the concert is to create a solo for each dancer in the group work. Each solo takes as its inspiration a piece of music from a different video game. The music inspires me to research the game itself, and therefore to define several aspects of the game that make it unique. How does Mario differ, for example, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Castlevania series? All three are essentially the same game mechanic, yet all are thoroughly unique. I then take those aspects and translate them into the world of movement. Games that are currently on my list to be solo’d, all of which may or may not make it into this concert:
The Castlevania Series
Sonic the Hedgehog
Tetris
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy VII
Portal (yes, I’m sure you know what song I’m talking about
Lost Odyssey
World of Warcraft
TMNT
The Mario Series
If anyone can think of a game they love that I haven’t mentioned here and that might be good for the Geeksdanz treatment, post it in the comments!
So it’s been rather quiet on the Geeksdanz front, but that doesn’t mean it’s been quiet on the geek front, oh no. My friends and I went to Anime Central, a large anime and videogame convention in Chicago, towards the middle of May. We cosplayed (translated: dressed up) as the entire cast of one of our favorite videogames, Chrono Trigger, and paraded around the hotel and convention center all weekend. We were a big hit at the convention, so much so that a small geek website interviewed us each individually for a web video. Well, that video has finally been posted, and I’ll present it to you now, courtesy of YouTube and Henshin Justice Unlimited:
On a (somewhat) more serious note, plans ARE in the works for the first ever Geeksdanz concert! The project is still in the scheming stages, but thanks to a generous graduation gift from my grandparents, it will most definitely be happening at some point. The current frontrunner idea is as follows:
ACT 1: Gaming Past and Present
A series of solos, one for each dancer in the concert, that deal with the gameplay and/or character-related aspects of several popular videogames throughout the years, from Castlevania in 1988 to last year’s wonder child, Portal.
ACT 2: The D&D Dance
The second half of the evening would contain a longer group work for six dancers based around the world of tabletop Role-Playing, specifically Dungeons & Dragons. Current ideas for this dance center around the use of dice rolls to determine the outcome of various situations and the juxtaposition of literal movement versus metaphorical action.
More updates will be forthcoming as this project begins in earnest.
So thanks to my darling older sister getting me a pro flickr account, I was able to upload photos from P.447 sooner than I’d anticipated. Check them out from either the main gallery page or the main entry page for P.447.
Videos are still coming, as soon as I can figure out how to use this thing called technology…
Photos from Crescendo are now online! You can check them out either from the main Crescendo page or the main Gallery page. Also, in other big news, I attended commencement this past Sunday, so I have now officially graduated from college with a BFA in Dance!
Video will be posted as soon as I can figure out how to import it onto my computer.
So High Voltage: Spring went off extremely smoothly last weekend, and I’ve been getting scores of compliments on my group piece, Crescendo. I’m thrilled with how well it turned out; my dancers really rose to the challenge and made the piece their own. I’ll post photos and videos as soon as they’re available, but in the meantime, a photo of my cast (all except Stephen, who was out with a sprained ankle, and his replacement, Matt, who was…somewhere else…)
Alright, here’s the official plug. Come to see High Voltage: Spring, next Friday through Sunday at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Urbana, IL. The concert will be held in the Dance Rehearsal Room on the second level (down one floor from the entrance). There should be signs once you get to level 2. My group piece, Crescendo, and my solo, 8bit Oh Sh–, choreographed by fellow senior Steve May, are both in show A, which runs Friday April 25 at 7pm and Sunday April 27 at 2pm. The full schedule for the concert is as follows:
Hooray! As promised, the in-game footage from Looking For More is now online! It can now be found under the main Looking For More page, though in honor of its addition I’ll post it here as well:
Just a quick update: I am now finally in possession of the video footage from Looking For More: The Warcraft Dance! So as soon as I can figure out how to use iMovie, there will be clips of in-game footage on Looking For More’s page. Keep checking back to see it!
