(upbeat rhythmic music)
- When I rehearse for class, I am in my basement.
- I'm working from my loft here in downtown Las Vegas.
- I have a little, you know, eight feet square.
- I just use my living room.
- I moved everything out.
I was like, I need space to dance.
- Every fall, the Program in Dance
produces Princeton Dance Festival.
It's our premier event, and it usually happens
on the Berlind stage.
This year, because of the restrictions
brought on by the pandemic, we had to scrap all that
and just trust our amazing artists
on our faculty to get creative
and re-imagine what might be.
- [Olivier] I had a plan and I had my set and everything,
and I had this huge thing I wanted to make.
I was over-excited because I knew
exactly what I was going to make.
And then, boom, everything changed and it's online,
so, there's no way I could do that, that plan.
(Olivier laughing) (upbeat music)
- [Silas] I had to completely redesign the whole idea
of what it means to do dancing in this time
since we aren't able to be in the same room
with each other, and so much of dance,
and so much of this work, in particular,
involves a transmission of
bodily knowledge. (mellow music)
- [Peter] We are basically inviting people
into the spaces of these artists' homes.
It's thought-provoking, it's curious, it's playful.
- There are ways to create really exciting imagery
from the most simple blank wall,
or a lamp in your living room.
There's so much that you can do
if you just pay attention.
- [Francesca] When we create art, these moments are actually
moments that are rich for artists to create,
and I thought, well, let's create a little time capsule
so that the dancers remember this moment.
(deep electronic music)
- [Silas] Merce Cunningham has this long and rich history
of collaboration with visual artists,
and I really wanted (light electronic music)
to bring an aspect of that into this project.
Some of it is these animation experiments
done by Tim's students, and some are
the film and video experiments done by my students.
- [Tim] A major focus of my class is the study of motion,
so, I think this project gives students
an opportunity to to really look closely,
and kind of get inspired
by the movement of Silas's students.
- [Olivier] I love creating duets and I love to touch.
I love the contact and we can't even hug anybody today.
So, I'll create different duets.
There won't be touches, but there will be a connection.
(rhythmic exotic music)
- [Julie] I guess I didn't really expect to feel lonely
during this this time or this process.
- [Francesca] I sense that the dancers are struggling now
with being distanced and working on Zoom.
- [Julie] Something I think is different with being alone
in a pandemic in a creative process.
- There's so much we could be exploring together in person
that we just can't through this limitation of zoom.
- [Runako] When you're in a process doing a long project
from your home, it can sometimes feel like
somewhat of a chore if you don't go about it the right way.
- [Francesca] As mentors and creators and educators,
we are very sensitive in trying to take care of them now.
- [Silas] I really wanted it to be a kind of refuge
from many things.
- [Olivier] I start with a check-in.
The check-in is extremely important to us.
So, we have a check-in and then we talk about our day
and what is happening to us,
and we always focus in what is the good news of the day.
- During these times, I have been finding working on Zoom
that it's important to establish a sense of community,
even though it is virtual.
- [Runako] The rehearsal process can in many ways,
feel like you're dancing with other people.
We start each class with a very communal qi gong practice,
which Peter does an excellent job of really making it
feel like we're all in the space together.
- [Peter] We would always do this little improvisation
towards the camera and just doing that together,
and warming up together, just made us feel
like we were actually touching each other
in an actual dance studio.
- [Silas] You know, for a lot of their classes
they're sitting in the chair in front of the computer,
so, we get up, we move our furniture around.
We dance in the class.
- [Olivier] They started becoming musicians
because they needed to respect that,
if this is one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven and eight, one two, three.
Even if this person is a two and this person a four,
you know their counts is there.
(mellow music)
- [Francesca] For me, there's a beautiful side
to having the time to work with a professional filmmaker
and learn another craft.
So, I've also been just very excited
about that process and seeing the dancers
kind of develop that skill for themselves.
- [Julie] What I've been kind of doing is putting my phone
on the tripod and using this little clicker
to have it start recording, and then kind of
dance around this space,
have to check on it, see if everything was in the frame.
There are some shots that are in my kitchen,
on my couch, in my bedroom, yeah.
- [Francesca] That's what's been inspiring as an educator,
especially to see that
we are really forever evolving
and learning and expanding.
- [Peter] This has offered us a platform to think outside
of our boxes and create virtual experiences
to get larger audiences globally.
I mean the arts organizations are visionaries.
We don't create problems, (light rhythmic music)
we create solutions.
And I find that quite inspiring.
- [Silas] The Lewis Center was tremendous in the support
of this work from the very beginning of my conversation,
because they basically were like,
tell us what you need to make this vision happen.
- It seemed like the dance department was trying their best
to offer this new experience for us that would still
be meaningful in the virtual space.
And I think that gave me some hope for this semester.
[Julie] It also shows how much they care about us,
even if we are so far away.
- I think right now everyone is craving community
because we're so distant.
And I have found most of my interactions online
have been so deep.
These conversations that we're having now
are really just human beings coming together
looking for answers and for solace
and for support and for humanity.
- I do miss the stage, I miss the stage so much,
but this is just a time to kind of connect our roots,
and connect our community and just love one another.
- [Olivier] I pushed myself into the moment.
I adapted myself and now I see that there's a possibility
to do some great things.
We still miss that in person sweating
and the happiness and the energy, the personal energy.
But if we have to do it again,
I won't say no, we can do it.
(upbeat rhythmic music)