THE ELECTRONIC DISTURBANCE (1996)
Premiered: The Kitchen, NYC; The Electronic Café International, CA; The College of Santa Fe, NM
Choreography & Direction: Dawn Stoppiello in collaboration with the performers
Videography, Music & Direction: Mark Coniglio
Lighting Design: Mark Coniglio
Costume Design: Dawn Stoppiello
Performers: Dawn Stoppiello, Rose Marie Hagenbart, Lana Halvorsen, Gail Giovaniello (NYC), Ernie Lafky (Los Angeles), Joan LaBarbara (Santa Fe)
DESCRIPTION
Inspired by the Critical Art Ensembles book of the same name, The Electronic Disturbance puts our two bodies – Corporeal and Electronic – in conflict and harmony with each other in an attempt to synthesize the two into a new, complete, 20th century body. The dancers in the work portray the Corporeal Body, a body that desires to become electronic. In each piece, we see them attempting to take on the characteristics of the electronic body. The Electronic Body is portrayed by the actor and the singer at the remote sites. Using a combination of video techniques and light, their faces are combined into one, creating a dual-gender figure that appears only as a video image.
We were interested in exploring the separation of bodies implied by the use of telecommunications technology. We focused on the inability for the two characters to make physical contact, to have an experience of touch in their relationship. We emphasized this separation through the use of composite-image video techniques developed by our collaborators Kit Galloway and Sheri Rabinowitz. The performers shared a common space (the video frame) where they could nevertheless never touch each other physically.
ADDITIONAL MATERIALS
Excerpt: Six to the End (coming soon)
Excerpt: Monitored (coming soon)
REVIEWS
“There are magical moments when the organic and the electronic components of the performance exist in perfect harmony.” – TANNSI (Finnish Dance Magazine), 1996