The Flesh Machine: experimental dance films

Filmed on location @ the Salton Sea in Southern California. Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and edited in Final Cut Pro 7 and ProTools 8.5.

The theory behind the mathematics and choreography by Summer Jones:
As a dancer, I wanted to validate, mathematically, the notion that motion generates form: that dynamic was no mere bow to the shape of matter. I discovered when light crosses light, acceleration happens orthogonal to the plane defined by light, (amplified by the shortest distance connecting all mass in a system). I question the assumption light is dual. I suspect: small angles between light waves make small acceleration (experienced as photons) which decay “quickly” not having much power to attract or bend nearby light. Pulled along, they look like electricity. I suspect big angles make for big acceleration: if acceleration is sufficient to bend nearby light into orbit, it will. Light in orbit generates rhythm, is indicative of a black hole and looks like an electron. I find matter, not perception, (directed attention), the dependent variable in Einstein’s reason. 

Continuity and acceleration are two mathematical concepts that relate the dancing body to space. This film unpacks the sensation of acceleration embedded in limits taken in the act of determining the continuous nature of movement.

The algorithmic music score for this film is based on the calculus definition for continuity. This mathematical definition is transformed into a computerized acousmatic sound element which is not fixed in the connection to the movement of dance, camera or editing, but rather is form free in its relationship and correlation through sonic expressions.

This film was made by filmmaker/sound composer Adriene Hughes, in collaboration with mathematician/choreographer Summer Jones and sonification artist Joachim Gossman.

Shot on the grounds of the Salk Institute, La Jolla, California, ©2011

Adriene Hughes : adrienehughes.com
Summer Jones : theperfectnumber.org
Joachim Gossmann : qualitativescience.net

A dance film shot at the infamous and haunted Linda Vista Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Edited and Directed by Adriene Hughes, Choreography by Summer Jones and danced by Monica Pelfrey, ©2010.

Technical:
Shot with the Canon 5d Mark II, Audio made in Pro Tools.

“the sound between my breath” : shot on location at the Amtrack train station in San Diego, California. ©2010

Dance and Choreography: Summer Jones.
Direction / Music / Editing:  Adriene Hughes.

Technology: shot with a Canon 5d Mark II and edited in Final Cut Pro, 2010.

“the meaning of {we}” is an experimental dance experiment shot on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. ©2010

Direciton / Music / Editing: Adriene Hughes
Dancers: Summer Jones and Trystan Merrick

Technology: shot with at Canon 5d Mark II and edited in Final Cut Pro.

“blue sky / black water” is an experimental TTV (through the viewfinder) film shot on a stage at San Diego State University theater. ©2010

Choreography by Summer Jones.
Dancers: Summer Jones and Amanda Daly. 
Direction / Music / Editing: Adriene Hughes.

Technical info: made with a canon 5d mark II and a kodak duaflex. 2010.

something about something is an experimental video using TTV (through the viewfinder) technology. Shot on location at San Diego Dance Place, San Diego, California ©2010

Dancers: Summer Jones and Trystan Merrick.
Choreography: Jean Isaacs. 
Direction / Music / Edit: Adriene Hughes.

Technology: shot via TTV Kodak Duaflex camera and a canon 5d mark II. Edited in Final Cut Pro, Audio in Pro Tools.

(third movement) in the shadow is an experimental TTV (through the viewfinder) film. Shot on location in San Diego, California, ©2010

Edit/Music/Direction: Adriene Hughes.
Dance and Choreography: Summer Jones.

Technology: Shot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Kodak Duaflex and edited in Final Cut Pro

Said Alone is an experimental ballet sequence shot with TTV (through the viewfinder) and a canon 5d mark II.

Edit / Sound / Direction by Adriene Hughes.
Choreography and Dance by Summer Jones.
Shot on location in San Diego, California, ©2010.

“The Fourth Wall”

The sonic composition of The Fourth Wall is a deconstruction of Swan Lake, act II, scene 13.  A violist and violinist played four bars, and 5 octaves of trills, from this particular pas de deux.  In the computer I stripped these four bars from the symphonic structure, and reconstructed the narrative.  As a former ballet dancer, the reconstruction is based upon memory during the act of performance.  Dancing is not so much about hearing the music once dances to, rather dancing is much about the counts involved, and where a dancer must be at a particular place and time on stage.  This can cause a certain amount of personal anxiety, and through the means of electronic composing, I wanted to create that sense of pressure one feels on stage and still retain the sense of seduction concerning classical notions of music and dance.

The video aspect is a self-performative motion-image of myself in the act of toe shoe exercises.  The use of video as a way of documenting the self-performative, and subverting the seductive as an apparatus of classical construction, both sound and video act in tandem as dancing partners.  The video becomes a mirror to the other, a pas de deux of technology and choreography.  Through these devices, the use of video and sound support the relationship of the visual and the aural as if experiencing a performance, which has become focused and personal. My goal is to give the viewer an insight to the mechanisms and fetish of ballet through the use of electro-acoustic composition beyond the performative stage, the fourth wall.

Edited using Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools @ The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2001.

“THE FOURTH WALL” is an electro-acoustic deconstruction of Swan Lake, Act II, Scene 13.  The video aspect is a self-performative motion-image of myself in the act of toe shoe exercises.

Video was edited using Media 100.  Audio composed and mixed using Pro Tools, 2001 @ The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“On Becoming a Swan”  revolves around the issue of female dancer as hyper-feminine and iconic. In the context of visual language and meaningful form in dance, I am most intrigued with the role of the ballet dancer and the codes the dancer projects. It is the mimicry of woman as image mixed with qualities of fetishness, sexuality, gender appropriation, and overtly feminine gestures which I find as iconic. To express these concepts I am using the device of video projection and sound. The strategy is to change the authority of the viewership from one of watching, to one of becoming feminized by no longer having the power to gaze freely.  I choose the fetish objects which you are to view, and also creating a sound environment which alters the aural senses of this visual experience via classical references, mixed with sounds made by the body while engaged in dance.  The experience of the traditional ballet is stripped and placed within a different context. The use of video and sound installation support the relationship of the visual and the aural as if experiencing a performance, though there is no separation between audience and performer as one would experience during a ballet in a theatre.  My goal is to give the viewer an insight to the mechanisms of the fetish through the use of an installation space beyond the performative stage.

Edit / Music / Direction : Adriene Hughes

Technology: appropriated footage shot and edited in Media 100 @ The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1999.

NEUROSIS is a single channel video installation which delves into the world of ballet and the environment of the performative. Video is projected on a 7ft. screen of en pointe barre.  The audio was made while attending ballet class at Boston Ballet.

Technology: shot on a HI-8 camera and edited in Media 100 @ The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1999.