13 Apr Dance Films Association and Earthdance Creative Living Project announce the inaugural IMAGINE Artists-in-Residence

Exploring Film, Technology, and the Body in Action

For Immediate Release

New York, NY – April 13, 2017  – Dance Films Association (DFA) and Earthdance Creative Living Project (Earthdance) announce the Spring and Fall Artists-in-Residence for the inaugural IMAGINE Festival: Film, Technology, and the Body in Action. From a wealth of applicants, four projects were selected for their innovations in the creation and presentation of new media, and for their use of technology and the body to interact and engage with individuals, communities, and the natural environment.

Over the course of the week-long residencies, these artists will develop their projects in dance studios, work spaces, and throughout the 100 acres that make up the Earthdance campus, culminating in the the inaugural IMAGINE Festival, September 29- October 1, 2017. They will receive creative support from DFA and Earthdance, as well as dormitory-style lodging and communal meals during the residencies and festival. DFA’s Programs Director Brighid Greene says, “I am thrilled to announce the launch of the IMAGINE Festival’s Artists-in-Residence program, which kicks off this May, and proud to support four projects by women working in new media. These projects were selected for their investigative methodologies using techniques that invigorate the practice of dance filmmaking by integrating somatics and technology within the production process. In addition, I’d like to thank our new collaborators, Earthdance. Together, we look forward to convening both audiences and artists throughout the residencies and at the IMAGINE Festival this fall.” The 2017 IMAGINE Artists-in-Residence are: Before We Flew Like Birds, We Flew Like Clouds by KT Niehoff  Before We Flew Like Birds, We Flew Like Clouds is an audience-activated installation illuminating the experiences of four humans with extraordinary relationships to their bodies – an astronaut, a professional athlete, a survivor of a near death experience and a differently abled person – using virtual reality technology, and prerecorded and live music staged inside a floating, immersive set of star-like objects. In an interactive planetarium-like environment, viewers sit in swivel chairs travel amidst floating, star-like sculptures, helium balloons enclosed in triangular frames. Live dance, vocals, and musical strings contribute to the immersive atmosphere and add a performative element to the work. This project is commissioned by Velocity Dance Center’s Made In Seattle Program. Read More Artist Biography Dance Like No One is Whale Watching by Emily Beattie and Cari Ann Shim Sham*  Dance Like No One is Whale Watching is a communal space for dreamers, explorers, and whales. Before entering the installation, each audience member will record their dreams, which are converted into whale songs and played inside a billowy inflatable. Transformations of the space include: a viewing lounge to absorb immersive visuals sourced from brilliant underwater footage, playtime with a soundscape composed of interwoven wild dreams confided by audiences, an alchemic dance solo that integrates sensual wonder and fear with whale-based movement, and a participatory group dive in which audiences will swim together using orca whale pod behavior as a guide. Part installation and part dance performance, Dance Like No One is Whale Watching fully depends on the collective to create the radical dreamspace we so desperately need.  Read More Artist Biographies Escape by Ellen Chenoweth  Bring your body and your phone to this embodied exploration of the Earthdance grounds. Escape is designed for anyone who has ever wanted to hurl their phone as far away as possible, anyone who checks their phone before going to the bathroom in the morning, and anyone who has been annoyed by the presence of a phone at a live performance. Can the cell phone, this instrument of compulsion and anxiety, be used as a device to pull us into slowness or tranquility? Can we be more present with our bodies and with each other, as a result of our phones? Could your phone be… whimsical?  Read More Artist Biography Selfie Dance Duet (working title) by Daphna Mero  The starting point for this experimental video work – Selfie Dance Duet (working title) is the relatively new term Selfie. The work will question the current use of Selfie, challenge it, break it, and recreate it, suggesting a new instruction manual. While the Selfie is usually a still, frontal picture of a face, which is meticulously chosen, the Selfie in this work will be shot on video mode while the movement is improvised, thus adding to the Selfie: time, sound, and movement. The resulting image, free from conventional aesthetics, will portray a multidimensional self accompanied by site-specific and body-specific music.  Read More Artist Biography