Dancing "Across the Ether"

This past Sunday I participated in a collaboration of four schools (NYU, Bergen CC, Stony Brook, and UCSC) who together using computer technology were able to perform and collaborate 'together' on stage, pushing the boundaries of a typical concert experience, and as is stated in the concert title, "dissolving borders of time and space."

In the Frederick Loewe Theatre at NYU the setting was quite a site to see. Along with the usual set up one might expect from a music concert, there were screens with images of the other three universities' performances being broad casted live throughout the concert. Along with this, all four colleges were able to communicate with each other between performance pieces. In one piece, "Medea Monologue", Bergen CC performed a spoken monologue while NYU acted as the Greek Chorus, performing 'together' on stage even though in reality the universities are miles apart.

My part in the performance was as a dancer, performing guided improvisations during four of NYU's music pieces. It was a great challenge to rise to, never having heard the music before hand, and only being told minutes before going on stage what the "theme" or "direction" of the improvisation was to be.

Performing usually gives me anxiety, but I actually wasn't nervous before this event. I enjoy improvisation; it gives me comfort to know that in improv there really isn't a "right" or "wrong" answer. I also take comfort in knowing that unlike performing a set piece of choreography, I don't have to embody someone else's interpretation of the music. Instead I get to react to it in virtually any way I wish, which is both empowering and exhilarating.

To be involved with such a fresh and innovative concert experience was inspiring for me, and I think to all involved. Sometimes technology can get a bad rep as being one of the culprits responsible for diminishing the need for community in our culture. This concert, however, proved that technology can be used to help build community in a way that serves our increasingly trans-global lives.