We once again went a bit further away from the prompt for this art assignment, but we did accomplish what the assignment said to do in the process! The assignment was to place two white objects so that they overlapped each other, and try to describe the actual color of each white, then change the lighting and repeat the process.
We found ourselves naturally thinking about costuming and stage lighting, since a lot of modern dance choreographers like to use white costumes and extremely-saturated lighting to turn the dancers different colors. We didn’t have immediate access to a full-on light lab, but we could mimic some of those aspects in the studio, so that’s what we did. We each brought as much white clothing to rehearsal as we could today, and then spread them all out and compared the color temperatures of the whites. You can see the picture we took of the collection at the end of the video.
Then we each selected a costume to start with, thinking about layering different whites over top of each other. We did a long, half-hour improvisation using several different inspirations from the assignment:
1. Taking the liberty of switching out costume pieces whenever the mood struck us,
2. changing the lighting frequently, from overhead flourescents to daylight through the windows to backlit from the atrium outside and back again, and
3. Making a list, both before and during the improv itself, of words that we tend to associate with the idea of ‘white’.
From Ellen:
“Connotations and symbolism are really important for a dancer or choreographer to consider when deciding on costumes, since no matter how little the choreographer cares about it, the audience most certainly will draw implications from the choice of costume. In particular, watching this piece back I couldn’t help but think of the strong connotation of things like purity, youth, and innocence that the color white conveys. And the flowy skirt carries its own connotations, which are poignant and fluid. I noticed them particularly strongly when held up in front of my rapidly-growing pregnant belly, and when worn by our male dancer, Lamar. Something about a man in a dress always screams "MODERN DANCE!” to me…and seems odd even when I’m expecting it…“
What connotations does this dance’s white outfits give you?
Music: selections from 'Songs for a New World’
Dancers: Ellen Deutsch, Patty Petronello, Lamar Williams
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