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Dance Preview: Digital dance connects computers, composers, choreographers Saturday, February 24, 2001 By Jane Vranish, Post-Gazette Dance Critic
"We've been looking for a way to take interactive arts out of the box, off the screen and onto the stage," North Allegheny art department chairman Jim Reinhard says of his computer multimedia arts class.
They'll do that in spectacular style this weekend in a collaboration with the New York City-based company Troika Ranch, which Reinhard discovered last summer with fellow teacher Robert Tozier on a trip to the Governors' Institute for Arts Educators in Erie.
Composer Mark Coniglio founded the group, along with dancer/choreographer Dawn Stoppiello in 1993. "There is no good reason to perform to a CD or videotape, because they are fixed, unlike the dancer, who is alive," Coniglio explains. "Through our performances, the organic chaos that is the human body flows out of it."
In real terms, that means hooking up the body to sensors and transmitting movement to a computer, which interprets the flexion of the joints. The dancer thus becomes a musician because different movements create different sounds. In addition, there is a video-imaging component, which translates into hieroglyphics on a large screen.
"Connect(Dis)Connect" will use a dozen North Allegheny senior high dance students. Other students in Reinhard's and Tozier's class have been making digital movies for the visual element.
In addition, Pittsburgh composer and former North Allegheny teacher David Berlin has created a musical score for a small chamber ensemble, using both traditional and electronic instruments.
The thematic material will revolve around human contact in the 21st century. "People are often interrupted by things like cell phones and television," says Coniglio. "This will show the ways people can connect."
The other work on tonight's program, "Vera's Body," centers around a 100-year-old woman and traces "moments so profound that you stop thinking."
Stoppiello will also dance with an electronic paper doll that has "Midi-dancer" technology in her chest, so that the audio portion can be manipulated. "It sings, breaths and has a life of its own," says Coniglio. "We don't make a big deal about the technology because it takes the art out of it."
Nevertheless this smart art with a heart has made its own connection. As one student plaintively commented to Coniglio, "I can't believe you guys will be leaving."
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Troika Ranch will perform at North Allegheny High School in Wexford at 7:30 tonight. There will be an open rehearsal from 3-4:30 p.m.