Project Rational:
Though it may go unseen, creating a dance performance is an intricate task that requires one to synthesize all physical research found inside a creative process. Aware of the labor that goes into producing a dance performance, generations of dance researchers have worked to make the creative process as seamless as possible by creating objective generative methodologies that assist in the dance making process. However, in an attempt to quickly ease the labor of dance making, the need to devise culturally sensitive tools and methodologies was overlooked. Therefore, my MFA thesis research seeks to answer the question, “Does the use of a culturally sensitive yet objective tool with a predetermined rules system improve decisiveness and innovate experimentation within the dance making process?”
Project Description:
Inspired by dance practitioner Merce Cunningham, who utilized dice to help devise and organize his dance performances, I will formulate a technical system of pictorial playing cards accompanied by an instructional guide. Through the unpredictable nature of shuffling and pulling cards from a deck, this playing card system will objectively facilitate fictional character development, prompt verbal script development, influence dance spatial arrangements, guide improvisation, and inform movement generation for specific parts of the body and their use of weight, time and space.
I have chosen to utilize the familiar pre-existing architecture of playing cards to ensure a user-friendly functionality while encouraging agency amongst the performers through its approach to guided dance experimentation. This new method to dance creation will test my hypothesis, address the cultural gaps in preexisting dance movement research techniques, and serve as a mechanism for devising my culminating thesis dance performance.
Methodology:
An indispensable part of this particular creative research approach is to encompass, within the playing card faces, the Black American experience by utilizing copyright free public domain digital archival images of Black people in the American South. A digital collage is a work of art created by piecing and layering together a variety of virtual images and textures from different sources.
Though it may go unseen, creating a dance performance is an intricate task that requires one to synthesize all physical research found inside a creative process. Aware of the labor that goes into producing a dance performance, generations of dance researchers have worked to make the creative process as seamless as possible by creating objective generative methodologies that assist in the dance making process. However, in an attempt to quickly ease the labor of dance making, the need to devise culturally sensitive tools and methodologies was overlooked. Therefore, my MFA thesis research seeks to answer the question, “Does the use of a culturally sensitive yet objective tool with a predetermined rules system improve decisiveness and innovate experimentation within the dance making process?”
Project Description:
Inspired by dance practitioner Merce Cunningham, who utilized dice to help devise and organize his dance performances, I will formulate a technical system of pictorial playing cards accompanied by an instructional guide. Through the unpredictable nature of shuffling and pulling cards from a deck, this playing card system will objectively facilitate fictional character development, prompt verbal script development, influence dance spatial arrangements, guide improvisation, and inform movement generation for specific parts of the body and their use of weight, time and space.
I have chosen to utilize the familiar pre-existing architecture of playing cards to ensure a user-friendly functionality while encouraging agency amongst the performers through its approach to guided dance experimentation. This new method to dance creation will test my hypothesis, address the cultural gaps in preexisting dance movement research techniques, and serve as a mechanism for devising my culminating thesis dance performance.
Methodology:
An indispensable part of this particular creative research approach is to encompass, within the playing card faces, the Black American experience by utilizing copyright free public domain digital archival images of Black people in the American South. A digital collage is a work of art created by piecing and layering together a variety of virtual images and textures from different sources.
How the cards will influence movement/dancing for participants?:
My research is interested in privileging the Black American experience and finding ways to use various forms of art to inspire movements that wouldn’t otherwise be produced without its presence. Therefore, my methodologies for facilitating the production of dance movements include consulting/referencing photography and poetry that call up the Black American experience.
Photography when used inside my creative process aids in ushering dancers to consider how narrative is showing up in the phrase work being created. It also acts as a tool for memory recalling so that the dancers are given the opportunity to physically respond to their own life experiences through dance movement. When utilized more literally photography can be used to create movement tableaus that act as a way of embodying the image itself as a tool for creating performance.
Poetry within my creative process is utilized as a tool for building verbal language that is to be staged within the performance. Additionally, poetry also has the ability to inform dance movement as well. For example the sketch of the card (found below) called “Lil’bit” says, “Mama Told me if i sit still everythang gone be alright. Have you been still?” This poetic language in African American Vernacular English has the potential to inform dancers to take pauses or moments of stillness within the dance phrase it is in conversation with. It also could quite literally require a dancer to start in a seated position.
There are also other elements such as color that can inform the emotional tone a dancer chooses as well as a weighted sensibility (heavy vs light). For example the color red can be sensual, or reference frustration. Red can also correlate to the element of fire also calling upon the concept of friction. While all interpretations of the cards pulled will be informed by the rules system supplied they will also leave room for the personal choices of each dancer.
My research is interested in privileging the Black American experience and finding ways to use various forms of art to inspire movements that wouldn’t otherwise be produced without its presence. Therefore, my methodologies for facilitating the production of dance movements include consulting/referencing photography and poetry that call up the Black American experience.
Photography when used inside my creative process aids in ushering dancers to consider how narrative is showing up in the phrase work being created. It also acts as a tool for memory recalling so that the dancers are given the opportunity to physically respond to their own life experiences through dance movement. When utilized more literally photography can be used to create movement tableaus that act as a way of embodying the image itself as a tool for creating performance.
Poetry within my creative process is utilized as a tool for building verbal language that is to be staged within the performance. Additionally, poetry also has the ability to inform dance movement as well. For example the sketch of the card (found below) called “Lil’bit” says, “Mama Told me if i sit still everythang gone be alright. Have you been still?” This poetic language in African American Vernacular English has the potential to inform dancers to take pauses or moments of stillness within the dance phrase it is in conversation with. It also could quite literally require a dancer to start in a seated position.
There are also other elements such as color that can inform the emotional tone a dancer chooses as well as a weighted sensibility (heavy vs light). For example the color red can be sensual, or reference frustration. Red can also correlate to the element of fire also calling upon the concept of friction. While all interpretations of the cards pulled will be informed by the rules system supplied they will also leave room for the personal choices of each dancer.
Previous Card face prototypes:
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Current Card Front Face Prototypes:
Ace Front
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Ace Back
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2 Front
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2 Back
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3 Front
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3 Back
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4 Front
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4 Back
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5 Front
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5 Back
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6 Front
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6 Back
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7 Front
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7 Back
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8 Front
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8 Back
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9 Front
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9 Back
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Queen Front
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Queen Back
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Card Suits:
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Nyame Dua
Literal Translation: God's tree. Meaning: Nyame refers to God, who is the Almighty and the Supreme Being. Dua also refers to tree and this signifies the altar or the place of worship of God.
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Mmere Dane
Literal Translation: Time changes. It represents the temporariness of any particular state of affairs and the transient nature of luck or fortune. The symbol reflects the transitory nature of all things, and implores that one be humble at all times.
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Nyame Nti
Literal Translation: By God’s grace or because of God. The symbol represents faith and trust in God. This phrase is found in an African saying, ‘Nyame Nti minnwe wura,’ which translates to "By God’s grace, I will not eat leaves to survive."
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Gye Nyame
Literal translation: Except for God. It symbolizes God's omnipotence through the knowledge that people should not fear anything except for God.
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Ese Ne Tekrema
(possible bonus suit) 
Literal Meaning: The teeth and the tongue. It is the Adinkra symbol of interdependence, friendship and cooperation. The Akan people say that the teeth and the tongue play interdependent roles in the mouth. They may come into conflict but they need to work together.
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Project Timeline:
3.21.22-3.25.22: 1 Week Creative Incubator Residency supported by Vital Signs Grant Diversity & Inclusion Grant
- Create the "Nyame Dua" card suits front and back (10 cards)
4.23.22-6.6.22:
- Finish the "Nyame Dua" card suits seen above (3 cards)
- Create the "Mmere Dane" and "Nyame Nti" card suits front and back (26 cards)
6.13.22-6.27.22:
- Create the "Gye Nyame" card suits front and back (13 cards)
7.4.22 -7.18.22:
- Possibly create the "Ese Ne Tekrema" card suits front and back. These will be bonus cards if the projected timeline is accurate. (13 cards)
7.18.22-7.22.22
-Comb through every card and make any edits for overall designs or spelling errors.
7.22.22
- Ship off card designs to Make Playing Cards
8.8.22
- Receive deck of printed cards
8.9.22-8.21.22: 3 week creative residency with Hambidge in Rabun Gap, GA.
- In this residency I will create the card rules system, and test them within my dance creative process. I will be using the studio spaces provided by the Hambidge residency to test out the rules system created.
- Create the "Nyame Dua" card suits front and back (10 cards)
4.23.22-6.6.22:
- Finish the "Nyame Dua" card suits seen above (3 cards)
- Create the "Mmere Dane" and "Nyame Nti" card suits front and back (26 cards)
6.13.22-6.27.22:
- Create the "Gye Nyame" card suits front and back (13 cards)
7.4.22 -7.18.22:
- Possibly create the "Ese Ne Tekrema" card suits front and back. These will be bonus cards if the projected timeline is accurate. (13 cards)
7.18.22-7.22.22
-Comb through every card and make any edits for overall designs or spelling errors.
7.22.22
- Ship off card designs to Make Playing Cards
8.8.22
- Receive deck of printed cards
8.9.22-8.21.22: 3 week creative residency with Hambidge in Rabun Gap, GA.
- In this residency I will create the card rules system, and test them within my dance creative process. I will be using the studio spaces provided by the Hambidge residency to test out the rules system created.