Month: September 2015 (Page 7 of 8)

The View From Nowhere, an interdisciplinary program directed by Sara Camnasio, delved into the discussion of the Overview Affect and space tourism in a new and thought provoking way. The performance by Julian B. and Jocelyn T. used a variety of different techniques in order to portray the main themes of the Overview Effect.

With the lights dimmed, the audience felt as if blood was pulsing as the thump of a bass gained power. A mix of sharp and fluid motions throughout the choreography created a sense of chaos, like an internal battle was being fought both in the body and in the mind. The electronic music began to mellow out and the dancers’ movements became more and more calm until a feeling of serenity filled the theatre. The dancers stared with wide eyes like they were experiencing the Overview Effect themselves. From this point, the performance took a wild turn. The dancers began using their voices as instruments making a variety of noises. This period of the dance evoked another sense of battle yet different to the first. As the dancers began walking in a circle they mirrored hand signs as if they were relearning how to connect with others. The theme of support began to arise as the dancers began leaning on each other in the space. The use of the voice as an instrument continued. What started out as indistinguishable sounds, slowly turned to words including harmony and unity. From there countries were named in a back and forth pattern as Julian and Jocelyn orbited around each other in a circular motion. They also used the words who, what, why, when and where, helping to evoke more questions from the audience.

After the intermission, PJ Gorre a philosopher of Science from the New School, spoke about what science research reveals about us as humans as well as what it achieves. He brought up topics including space tourism and how it may change our perceptions of humankind. During the question and answer section at the end of the night Sara spoke about her aspirations to bring science back into the public light through multidisciplinary works. Questions about time as a relative measure were proposed and Jocelyn and Julian explained some of the methods of their fluid choreography style. The View From Nowhere was an interesting and thought provoking event that succeeded in connecting the arts and science under one roof. It was interesting to see ideas and themes portrayed in modern dance and then hear the choreographers speak about what motivated them to create this piece.

The first thing that struck me about the performance was the bare humming and throbbing of the music in the beginning.It almost reminded me of ambient electronic bands like Boards of Canada, but it was much more simple and organic than that. The soundtrack did the most work in expressing the emptiness and vastness of space, but the silent motions of the dancers did as well. It was easy for me to imagine the performers as a pair of first time astronauts fumbling about in zero gravity, hearing only the gentle rhythms of the void, seeing only by the dim light of a distant Sun.

Maybe it’s just because I have never seen modern dance before, but the rest of the performance felt like experiencing a mental breakdown. Screaming and yelling, kicking beach balls around (were the four big balls supposed the represent the four gas giants in our solar system?) and making almost animalistic noises were an interesting way of portraying how Earth politics seems so petty and primitive in the comparison to the cosmos. The way in which the performers represented people putting aside their differences seemed to be rocky, with chases and guns, but ultimately successful. While I’m not exactly interested in watching more modern dance, I think that this performance effectively communicated the overview effect in a somewhat non-verbal way.

A steady and rumbling beat shook the theater and my body. The sound immediately imbued me with a sense of discomfort, almost fear. Soon, one dancer emerged, then another. Discord and chaos seemed to govern their bodies. Their movements were unpredictable and independent, just like man. Our minds cultivate countless, erratic thoughts unique from anyone else, our differences in thought causing conflict and confusion, which was captured by the choreography in this first part of the performance. After this, however, the male dancer began spewing distressed noises from his mouth and then kicked beach balls onto the stage, as if he were sick of being human and had purged the flaws of man from his body. The two then started observing and kicking the beach balls as if examining the ills of humanity from a removed perspective. The dancers then started to revolve around each other, reciting the names of the world’s countries, finally in a state of union. It felt like they had transformed from conflicting humans to outside observers. They were now looking at the planet from above, witnessing the countries pass by. However, they also witnessed humans and their actions, using their guns to settle their small and pointless disagreements, now aware of how futile it is. As the performance came to a close, the dancers faded into the darkness, reciting the words “day” and “night,” the only constants on this planet; no matter what fleeting problems we may have, they will never last longer than the unending cycle of day and night. In the end, we are all the same. Just a species sharing a planet, living under the same star.

While watching this performance, a bunch of words came to mind: genius, beautiful, weird, scary, inspirational, different, fascinating. I haven’t been to too many live performances like this before, but this one was definitely something special. It resonated especially with me because it combined two things that are ridiculously interesting to me: physics and dance. I’ve only had very basic introductions to both of these topics (an algebra-based physics class in high school and eight seasons of MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew), but despite my shallow knowledge, they’ve both managed to captivate me. They’re seemingly opposites; physics is an objective, mathematical science which explains the laws of nature from the subatomic to the astronomical, while dance is an extremely human art form which illustrates the beauty of movement and the human body. Seeing these two concepts come together was moving (no pun intended). Two dancers, two individual human bodies, portraying a concept that is unimaginable for those of us who are bound to Earth: the overview effect.

Everything about this event was striking to me. I was moved by the performance, educated by the lecture, and satisfied by the Insomnia Cookies. Honestly, though, the moment that’s stayed in my mind most was from the Q&A. Someone in the crowd asked (I’m paraphrasing here) if there will come a point, after commercialized spaceflight has become common, when people will no longer experience the overview effect. I was expecting the speakers to say something like “something as grand as seeing the entirety of Earth before your very eyes will always move a human being, even those in the future.” Instead, I was surprised to find that they agreed that there will probably come a point of desensitization, just like after the publication of the first official map of Earth or after the first complete photograph of the Earth was taken. It was just astonishing to me to imagine humanity at that point. A point when everyone has seen and experienced something that is, right now, reserved to only a very select group of people. Thinking of this reminds me that humanity is always moving forward, always asking “what’s next?” I find that both terrifying and wonderful.

You enter into this world with heavy throbbing, like a reverberating drum, or perhaps the deep, deep, thumps of a heartbeat. So begins The View From Nowhere.

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If I could use one word to describe this performance, it would be startling. This performance was not the typical smooth, in-sync, polished performances that we are used to; it was raw, harsh, intriguing and unsettling. There seemed to be two different performances in one–I found myself struggling to pay attention to both of the dancers at once. However, what made the performance most unique was the movement; the emotion visible in both the dancers’ faces and their frantic gestures were strong. There were some parts that genuinely startled me, especially when at some point, both the dancers slowed down, almost to a stop before one of them began screeching unintelligibly and throwing beach balls all across the room. The unpredictability of the performance amazed me; I was surprised that every single part was choreographed, especially since most of it seemed like spur-of-the-moment, passionate improv. It was this element that succeeded in keeping the audience constantly on edge and attentive throughout the lengthy performance.

Since the show was so complex, in both the message and movements, I found it a bit hard to interpret, and even harder to relate to the topic of the show: the overview effect. However, near the end, I did manage to find a connection when both the dancers were going around in circles, naming a number of countries before chanting “harmony.” For me, this part connected most with the overview effect, because it represented the thought process of someone experiencing it, seeing all these different nations as one, united and in harmony. It is amazing how they were able to incorporate a scientific phenomenon into an art form, especially since many of us never associate science with art. This performance truly helped showcase the more human and emotional side of science.

My first thoughts involving having to attend the show were that this could be a hit or miss performance for me. I am the farthest thing possible from being fond of dance, but I can also appreciate passion despite not being able to comprehend what is actually going on with the dancing. Despite these thoughts, the context of the “overview effect” is something that I found very intriguing while reading into the pamphlet and hearing Sara introduce it to us. This was what was going through my mind before the show began, and with no idea of what was to come.

When the performance started, I was expecting a form of dance which might have been more fluid, but the first dancer came out to an eery beat and started to contort her body in ways that were frankly uncomfortable. I realized at this point how abstract the dance was really going to be. I do not think that the dance would have been as powerful to those who did not read the pamphlet before the show, because without context the performance looked essentially spastic. I did not like the beginning of the performance much, but the end really appealed to me. The part where the two dancers were circling each other and naming countries was the moment where I began to piece together the elements of the overview effect. The most profound part was when the dancers slowly changed their tones while saying Germany. A few repetitions later the audience heard the word harmony and I thought that would have served as a nice ending to the performance. While the dancers were rotating, there was also a point where the lights were aimed from a position under them and it created an very impressive display on the white wall on my right. All in all I feel guilty for not being able to fully appreciate the choreography itself but I did enjoy the passion and the story that the dancers gave.