Date of Submission
Fall 2016
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Dance
Project Advisor 1
Peggy Florin
Abstract/Artist's Statement
Live performance is an inimitable opportunity for a transfer of energy between viewer and performer. Through movement, I attempt to provide a foundation for this transfer. At the heart of my practice is a deep curiosity about movement as it relates to energy, a truly indestructible force. Moreover, systems need energy in order to function. When I think of a dance as a system, or a collection of dancers on stage as a system, the energy that feeds them is the energy that makes a composition .There is kinetic and potential energy within physical practice, incandescent energy from the lights, the energy between the audience members and the dancers, the energy of the dancers themselves and even with each other.
As a performer and choreographer with an avid interest in the sciences, I seek to employ the research-based techniques utilized by laboratory scientists to make work, using human bodies as my primary medium. Employing this type of investigative practice, I approach making work as an experiment in space, time, emotion, and energy. Beginning with a movement hypothesis – a quality or a gesture in which I am interested- I improvise freely, tracking my movement by sketching or annotating. Ultimately, my goal lies in using the human form as a vessel of change and possibility, simultaneously encouraging others to view their physical bodies as powerful tools of communication and expression. Thus, I seek to collaborate with humans of various disciplines with similar interests, such as studio artists, videographers, writers, and movement enthusiasts of all levels of experience, encouraging divergent interpretations of physical language, and ultimately reflecting the limitless potential for makers of all ethnicity, gender identity, formal training, and physical ability to have a profound impact on society through creative expression and performance art.
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Gordon, Naja N., "On Elegance, Form, and Function: Exploring the Nexus Between Scientific Research and Movement Research" (2016). Senior Projects Fall 2016. 18.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_f2016/18
This work is protected by a Creative Commons license. Any use not permitted under that license is prohibited.