Mind Talking in Dance

Choreographic, Conceptual, Visual

Yilin Li
HGSE 2024
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1 Choreographic, conceptual Trisha Brown dancing Accumulation

Inspired by Trisha Brown, a pioneer dance artist of the 20th century, who blended choreography and visual art. Brown created visual artwork as scores for dancers to interpret in motion. Her creative process brought together crafting movement itself with artistic expression through movement. She challenged tradition concepts of choreography. Rather than creating narratives or expressing emotions through dance, Brown focused on pure movement, often incorporating pedestrian motions and inviting accident and improvisation into her pieces.

This project looks specifically at her work "Accumulation" dances, which built patterns randomly, through gestures dictated by chance procedures and simulate her creation process with design tools Processing.

By experimenting with the dance flow and generative conceptualized drawing in Processing, this project investigates how dance notation is not only documentation, but more of invention. The body remains neutral, as a machine that executes the gestures, achieving a sense of graphic and structural simplicity. The idea of accumulation functions as a production line that serves to discount the artist’s subjectivity in decision-making that the mind shares a kinesthetic intention while the body follows a sense of logic to move. And movement/dance ideate such mind-body connection.

Project video
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2 Conceptualize Accumulation in line
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3 Inspiration from Trisha Brown's drawing for accumulation in dance