Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance

1Final Symposium for the artistic research project Sense & Dance by Ingrid kristensen & Co

Final Symposium for the artistic research project

Sense & Dance

Ingrid Kristensen & Co

Discover The MovementsAdded Value Through Dance

2 Ingrid Kristensen & Co . Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance

Discover The MovementsAdded Value Trough Dance

Published at the final symposium for the artistic research project

Sense & Dance

EditorIngrid Kristensen

Design and photosAnders Vejen Andersen

Translator and personal assistant to Ingrid Kristensen:

Lisa Ashley McCulloch

Thank youAll great projects are made possible by the help of many. Sense & Dance is no exception, so here’s a very big thank you to the board of directors and the board of innovation, who have discussed intensely and given qualified advice throughout the entire project. To Pia Buchardt and Christian Have who have challenged us again and again. To Have Backstage. To all of the funds which have supported the project. To all of the artists, researchers and scientists, who have shared their knowledge so generously. To all of those we might forget now, but who have been indispensable. And to everyone who felt inspired by the project and who became ambassadors for it… And especially the company, which faithfully keeps exploring dance – from a slightly different angle each time.

Ingrid Kristensen & CoLangelinie 58

5230 Odense MDenmark

[email protected]

www.ingrid-kristensen.dk

Avatar Lab.Headlines of the Avatar Lab. executed in three rounds by Mark Schram Christensen, Ingrid

Kristensen & selected dancers from the company in the time period of March to August 2012:

Be in a dancer’s body.Explore movement through another.What happens when the body won’t

do as I want?How do you get the brain to let go?What does it mean to let go and to

control in the way we experience the body’s movements and the world?

Alderman Steen Møller trying to experience a dancer’s body

by Avatar Lab with Mark Scram Christensen during

Sensing days at Funen Art Museum


Mark Schram ChristensenMSc, PhD, Post doc

Copenhagen Neural Control of MovementCognitive Motor Control Research Group

CoordinatorDep. of Neuroscience and Pharmacology

Dep. of Nutrition, Exercise and SportsDanish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance

University of Copenhagen


Content:

4 Valentijn Visch, Alessia Cadamuro If the audience want to dance,

why don’t they?

8 Have Backstage Technology opens up the

elusiveness of dance

10 Siri Frederiksen To express a feeling of dancing exclusively

through technology

14 Elisabeth Heimdal Optical fibres used in costumes

16 Karsten Schackinger-Solaas Staged - smells in dance and space.

18 Michael Bom Frøst, Ingrid Kristensen The inclusive art

20 Jonas Cassøe Bernhardt When food and dancing

comes together.

22 Lis Engel, Ingrid Kristensen Dance in all cracks.

24 Sarah Kettley How do costumes engage

dancers and audience?

28 Inger Kjeldsen What is it Sense & Dance is capable of in

relation to the children’s’ development.

30 Fuzzy About the meaning of senses.

31 Christel Stjernebjerg When using all of Your senses makes sense

as a performer.

32 Jette Flinch Nyrop The experiences I’ve gained through dance

in the urban space have given my town an extra dimension.

34 Niels Tradsfeldt Interview - Johannes Rauff Greisen about

Concrete Dancing Feelings

36 Anna Marie Fisker A letter about W A T E R and

Sensing & Dancing.

40 Christian Have Growth strategies through

culture and art

42 Sense & Dance in facts

To sense yourself in the worldThree years ago Ingrid Kristensen & Co. began an intense journey into the world of senses in interaction with dance.

The visions for the three-year artistic research project were to make dance more accessible, democratize the artistic experience, research and explore the elusiveness of dance by experimenting with dance in other formats than the usual and – perhaps most importantly – create the most sublime artistic expression, this time in interaction with the senses.

This was all done with inspiration and knowledge gained from across aes-thetic expressions and professional boarders. We’ve visited, research and spoken with about one hundred experts, artists and institutions. On our journey we’ve been met be a generosity and will to share knowledge that we never knew existed. Sense & Dance has helped build bridge and show new ways to create artistic pieces with added value to the artistic environment, but just as much for the society as a general. Acclaimed international artists, great scientists, cultural and artistic capacities, architects, engineers, librar-ians, chefs and cleaning ladies have been involved in our journey.

Hundreds of questionnaires have been filled out and dozens of interviews and dialogues have been held for each work, lab, test, performance and in-stallation that has seen the light of day.

To day, three years later, we’re left with lots of knowledge, experience and a number of new and untraditional collaboration partners. But other than the concrete knowledge that the project has given us, the possibility to speak of the works, the genesis of dance and the importance it has to us, the world and our society has possibly been one of the most important ‘gifts’ of the project.

The catalogue you’re holding now is very characteristic for the shaping of the entire Sense & Dance. There has been a set of very clear visions and questions that were to be looked into, but the methods have varied according to the context. Sense & Dance has focused on inclusion – and not limitation. The inclusion of the audience through the use of sense stimulus, the inclusion of other equal collaboration partners, the inclusion of different research meth-ods. We haven’t strived for a specific, defining result, but we’ve tried creating new areas for the dance to grow, enrich and inspire the world.

So when you read through this catalogue you’ll meet just many highly scien-tific consideration side-by-side human reports on their meeting with dance and senses, practitioners’ assessment of the values of Sense & Dance. As a whole it’s a patchwork of impressions across professions and aesthetics. In-cluding reflections that’ll hopefully inspire you. And if by reading the final page you’re left with a feeling that dance is an important artistic expression that can benefit society as a whole… then the project has succeeded.

Ingrid Kristensen December 2012



If the audience want to dance,why don’t they?



Art offers experiences. Often this artistic experience in-volves emotions. For instance,

watching the Guernica may upset you, Rothko’s chapel may calm you, or the Mona Lisa can make you feel socially at-tached. However, these paint-ings do not only elicit an emo-tion but makes you think as well. For instance about love, being or war. Artistic experi-ences thus contain emotions as well as thoughts. The fol-lowing paper will investigate the po-tential of bodily experiences to the art experience by motivating a dance per-formance audience to participate in a performance.

A necessary feature enhancingthe art experience is the art context

such as a museum, a theatre or a cin-ema. An art context makes you like to experience emotions you don’t like to experience in reality - such as disgust

at the human race in Lars von Trier’s film Dogville. Moreover, the art con-text makes you think about the works. People think might think more about the meaning of Mona Lisa’s smile than about the meaning of their neighbours’ smile.

The context of art provides the art

consumer with the determination of a product as being art, and thus po-tentially interesting for thoughts, and the context provides the art consumer

with a safe fictive environ-ment for a wide range of emo-tional experiences.

Dance offers experiences just like other artmedia do. When going to a ballet, the audience might experience emotion and thoughts. In contrast to other artmedia,

the medium dance is not only ‘con-sumed’ as art but practised as well by the majority of people. Almost every-body dances once in a while and likes this.

I don’t think the overlap between art practice and art consumption is that high in any other art medium. Per-

Dr. Valentijn VischDesign Aesthetics, fac. of Industrial Design Engineering,

Technical University Delft, the Netherlands.

Alessia Cadamuro Design Academy Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Figure 2. Audience participation

during Tango dancing at the beginning of “Sensing”.



haps the medium singing comes close. But painting, sculpturing, or acting are art media that most of the people have practised once in their lives, but not throughout their lives like dance. Dance is even performed throughout the ages and cultures as well – for in-stance, cave drawings of dance dating from around 7000 BC are found in the Indian Bhimbetka rock shelter paint-ings (see Fig. 1).

The historical causes for dance behaviour are difficult to obtain and they might change like religions or dance styles. From a psychological perspective, the motivation to dance can be understood when applying the psychological need theory of Deci and Ryan (1991) to it. They presented, based on behavioural research experi-ments, three basic psychological needs. Fulfilment of these needs motivates people and non-fulfilment of the needs demotivates people.

The first need is the need for au-tonomy: people want to make their own choices and don’t want to be con-trolled. In relation to dance practice, autonomy can be found in choosing your own individual movements dur-ing a dance. The second need is the need for competence. People like it when they are challenged, when they can learn something, and when they can apply their skills. During dance, people enhance and train their dance

skills. The last need is the need for so-cial relatedness. People like to form social relationships and social interac-tion. Naturally, dance is practised as a social activity as well.

So, the experience of watchingdance as an art consists of emotions and thought and the experience of dancing is intrinsically motivating since it consists of psychological need fulfilment. These two modes of dance experience, watching and performing, are however not as sharply separated as they might seem at first sight. When watching a dance show, the audience might feel the urge to dance as well. As is shown from a previous dance by Ingrid Kristensen “A study of the Visual Sense”, the audience told that the “the sensuality [of the show] appeal to [their] body”, that they “wanted to move” and “wanted to play”.

This activation of dance desire when watching dance can be explained by the process of embodied cognition (see Barsalou (2008)). This theory holds that all cognition is grounded in, and linked to our experiences. Bodily ex-periences not only generate thoughts, but thoughts can also generate bodily experiences. When you think of a car crash you just survived, all the experi-ences linked to the thoughts become active to (little) extent: you (re-)experi-ence the car crash as well as the accom-panied fear and bodily movements

that you made. When we see a car crash in the cin-ema this e f -

fect might even be stronger by

making you duck in your cinema chair. Perception not only remains

in the mind but also effects your body. Upon seeing a smile, we might feel the urge to smile ourselves in order to understand what we see (see Niedenthal (2007) for an overview). When seeing a dance performance as an audience, the audience members might, in order to understand the dance, make some small movements themselves.

Making these small move-ments, which might only consist of some muscle tensions mimicking the dancers’ movements and emotions, can on their turn remind the audience of the joy of their own dance experi-ence and enhance their motivation to dance. The motivation of the audience to dance inspired Ingrid Kristensen to insert two small audience participation parts in her “Sensing” performance. In the beginning of the performance, the audience entered the performance hall and were asked by tango dancers to dance (see Figure 2). At the end of the


performance the audi-ence could participate by rising from their chairs and swing slowly to the music. During the performance the majority, but not the full audience participated in both moments.

A central question on audienceparticipation is if the audience likes to participate. As shown above each member of the audience may like to dance, but she/ he might not like to dance at each opportunity. When I asked the audience after the performance if they danced and if they liked this, they scored higher on dancing than on liking. It thus seems that the audience felt a bit forced to participate.

There seems to be some lim-iting factors at work inhibiting the audience to realize their dance motivation. I think that there are three factors inhibit-ing the audience to dance. The first factor is the social context. Although the audience may like to be socially connected to each other as an audience, they might not like to be evaluated by each other on their dance skills. That the social im-pact of the context can be very strong in inhibiting intrinsic motivation is shown by stage fear.

Secondly, the audience might not

be mentally prepared to dance. When they came to the show they expected to passively sit and watch. Changing this expectation might result in a negative motivation - the audience might expe-rience a feeling of losing control over their situation which might conflict with their need for autonomy. Thirdly, the audience might not be physically prepared to participate. When en-

tering a dance performance in their formal evening clothes, it might take some effort to perform and enjoy their own physical bodily movement.

In order limit the dance inhibiting factors, we organised a short collective and playful warm up with

the audience just before the perfor-mance started. During this warm up the audience was asked to a) walk the stairs in a playful way, b) imitate some simple and funny physical movements of a dancer – such as lifting a leg; c) im-agining and express an emotion.

We hoped that this warm up would 1) motivate the audience to participate because of its playful and safe nature,

2) decrease the fear for social evaluation among the audience, 3) prepare the audience for par-ticipation cognitively, and 4) prepare the audience for partic-ipation physically. It turned out, that the warm up enhance the participation quantity (more audience members danced) as well as its the quality (the lik-ing of the participation was in-creased).

We concluded that a playful warm up can motivate the audi-ence to participate in dance and increase the dance experience positively. Moreover, we showed that the traditional art experi-ence consisting of emotions and

thoughts can be successfully enriched by a bodily participation component. Future research has to show the exact additive value of audience participa-tion on the art experience as well as the specific motivational effects of the warm up components on audience participation. •

Figure 1. Indian Bhimbetka cave drawing showing people dancing in a row.

Photo from a lecture to The Association of Danish Podiatrists on Sense & Dance where the

audience are dancing trolls with Ingrid Kristensen.

The event and the image is not mentioned in the article below.


Technology opens up to great new ways of expressing art. That’s the opinion of

choreographer and stage artist Ingrid Kris-tensen, who has choreographed and staged solos, ensembles, operas, performances, theatre and much more. Here Ingrid Kris-tensen gives concrete examples of how she herself implements the digital element in her performances.

What does the digital aspect mean for the audience as well as the artists experience of dance?

Our latest installation El Eco del Carlito is a highly digital piece, which is rooted in in-novation. It’s a dance installation, which is created around a technological interpreta-tion of light and shadow. Another exam-ple could be our Aura-dresses, which have been created solely by light. From a centrally positioned lamp you can control colour, light pulse and rhythm. The dresses give a

completely different dimension, and they enforce a new way of exploring dance. The dancer is dancing on the premise of light.

In your projects you’ve got a particular focus on the senses. The sense of sight is a dominating sense, which is used in a num-ber of projections. How does technology affect and stimulate the senses of the au-dience?

Technology gives more options. We work a lot with music, physical stimulus and very

By HAVE Backstage

Technology opens up the elusiveness of dance

Excerpts of interview with Ingrid Kristensen



advanced technical stimulus. It gives the au-dience and opportunity to feel him- or her-self in this highly technological time. Our use of technology causes a reaction with both the piece, but also with the audiences’ per-ception and their subsequent reaction.

To what extent should art and culture be thought into a digital perspective in relation to reaching your audience?I think it’s very important to relate to the digital element as a part of today. As an artist you have to reflect at be inspired by the time

you’re living in. In a very subtle way we have to use newer technology so the tendencies of the time help strengthen the artistic ex-perience.

Which opportunities does the internet hold as a virtual space?

It has many opportunities, as you can reach a lot of people quite fast. But some senses will naturally be deprioritized. That’s why the digital element isn’t either/or for me, but both-and. it’s about keeping a good balance

in relation to the physical and the digital. Be-cause the completely intimate, physical per-formance, where you can smell the dance and see the sweat on the dancers is equally important to the technological opportuni-ties. But it’s necessary to keep exploring the physical element, so you don’t sterilize art and loose resonance.

•9Final Symposium for the artistic research project Sense & Dance by Ingrid kristensen & Co

The village Sølund is a home for people with severe physical and mental disabilities.

In 2011 they bought El Eco del Carlito because the installations dance scenes about the playful, sensuality, longing, fear and cosmos did the work with the residents feelings more accessible.


T oday’s society is characterized by a market where interdisciplinarity is paramount. Crossing boundaries and creating new

expressions through the combination of materi-als, directions and professions have emerged to a whole new trend that challenges the creative mans potential.

The installation El Eco del Carlito, combines stationary concrete, with slides, vivid music and dancing, it has largely been created across borders. The stationary mannequin come to life through 3-dimensional light projections, which both create life, feeling, and not least the illusion of dancing.

The background of the installation Is it possible to create sense of dance through the light, using only technology and without the dancers physical bodies? The audiovisual media have long been able to do this through dance movies and artistic performances among oth-ers, but are there other ways to present dance through a different use of sight and in unfamiliar spaces? This exploration of sight has been the starting point for the dance installation El Eco del Carlito.

The installation is created by Ingrid Kris-tensen & Co. and is part of the three-year project Sense & Dance. This is an artistic research project

that has existed since the beginning of 2010, which examines the interaction between dance and sensory stimuli. Choreographer and Master. Mag. Culture and Communication Ingrid Kris-tensen is leading the project and sees it as her main goal to put the sensual dance on the global cultural agenda. The project develops a series of prototypes and dance experiences in alternative formats such as interactive performances and installations. Ingrid Kristensen also seek to come in contact with unfamiliar audiences, people which does not normally engage in dance expe-riences. Sense & Dance is supported by the State Arts Council, Odense Municipality and Region of Southern Denmark among other, which has supported the development of new knowledge, artistic experience and the creation of a new platform for the sensual arts.

The form, content and intentions of the dance installationThe project wants to send the audience onto an inner journey of adventure and let the human’s five senses create new styles of dance. Through dance, installations and other artistic activities the project seeks to make the sense of touch - smell - and taste obtain the same attention as the visual and auditory senses have already achieved in artistic and mediated contexts. The dance installation El Eco del Carlito is a study of

sight which focuses on exploring the visual possibilities through 3-dimen-sional and interactive dance projections. Through a projector’s lights a moving and dancing layer is painted on a lifeless mannequin which gives the standing figure life, breath and pulse. The installa-tion’s narrative is based on the five basic states of mind, playfulness, fear, sensual-ity, longing and the comic.

The installation has been developed in collaboration with CAVI, Centre for Ad-vanced Visualization and Interaction at Aarhus University, with Morten Lervig and Jonas Petersen in the lead. The installa-tion is accompanied with the sound of new music composed by the musician Fuzzy, whom has worked with Ingrid Kristensen since 2001. El Eco del Carlito represents their eighth collaboration.

The challenge of this study has been to produce feelings and explore the excitation of the urge to dance, without the use of live dancers. This is why the experienced dancer Anna Kinoshita only appears in movie format as a dancing shadow, which helps to express the five states of mind. “It is essential to find a relationship between the senses and the movements. Thereby we can come closer to an understanding of the being of movements “.

Siri Frederiksen

El Eco del CarlitoTo express a feeling of dancing exclusively through technology



The projectors lighting creates an optical illusion that challenges the audience’s sense of vision and their understanding and interpreta-tion of the work. “At first glance, few people probably associate the installation with dance, because it is increasingly marked by art tech-nology. But when you experience it, the dance dimension will suddenly appear. “One of the reasons why Ingrid Kristensen and the team behind the installation has chosen to use a mannequin instead of a real dancer, is to ex-plore the dance volatility. “In this format, we can introduce the dance without the volatil-ity constraint. Usually live dance is stopped by the body’s physical limit, but this is a continu-ous form that can continue forever. It provides opportunities for several new explorations. “

Dance to the unaccustomed eyeIngrid Kristensen emphasizes the importance of capturing the attention of audiences who are not normally interested in the dance, and through the sensuous elements and differ-ent formats to awaken the desire to dance with this new audience. The mannequin is designed to frame the broad audience by preparing the ground for identification and reflection of its audience, by the virtue of the human form and the universal minds


El Eco del Carlito in the danish showcase at IETM international network for

contemporary performing arts.Photo from the fear part.


that is presented. “No matter whether you are fully trained or disabled, you will see yourself reflected in others, and thereby focus more on body than the head.” Subsequent interviews and surveys with the audience, have shown that the installation produced both volatile memories as strong emotional reactions. It was also proven that the experience awoke dance desires in more than half of the respondents.

Ingrid Kristensen wants to find a way into all the cracks of dancing, and hopes that it can reach out and awaken a future interest in dance and movement. Therefore, the experiment is to move away from the artistic institutions and in-stead build art in unconventional locations. The Sense & Dance project also examines whether the installation generates different reactions and perceptions in specific target groups, there-fore there have been made about. 400 qualita-tive and quantitative audience interviews and a series of dialogic sessions.

Inspiration from the childhoodThe inspiration for the aesthetic installation comes from distant childhood memories. Ingrid Kristensen was born and raised in Argentina, in the big city of Buenos Aires. “... Now and then we went on weekend promenade by the city’s main pedestrian street, where all sorts of vendors pre-sented the most subtle things. Carlito Baila Baila,

was one of them - a little man cut from rubber, which all by itself magically jumped and danced in the air. And that enchanted me - the big leap and the pirouets that the little man tirelessly made... “.

Carlito was controlled by a talented street vendor, through a transparent fishing line, which made the little rubber man dance. From the eyes of a child, this seemed as a fleeting magical mo-ment and it is the echo of that experience Ingrid Kristensen is trying to create through the dance installation el eco del Carlito. Magical moments manifested through dance.

The challenges of the Interdisciplinary workThe development of the installation El Eco del Carlito reflect the interdisciplinarity that is in-corporated in the entire project. Sense & Dance constantly try to be innovative in relation to the materials, stories, emotions and space, that they can use to attract the unfamiliar audience. In the installation El Eco del Carlito it is not just a raw material such as concrete or plastic that gets defeated, but also the notion of the materials possibilities and the sight ability and deception.

The multidisciplinary dimension imparts however significant challenges in relation to co-operation between the various professions. The dance installation created major technical chal-

lenges of the partnership which offered a number of trials. Morten Constantin Lervig from CAVI says: “The artistic am-bition has been to ‘vitalise’ the installa-tion - adding layers of experiences that brings the viewer on a journey through the five states of mind. This course offers a number of challenges. In the language field, there has been a task to understand each other. When Ingrid says that an ex-perience should be light and sensitive, what does this mean for millisecond, the RGB values and the dynamic changes of the graphic material? “

Ingrid Kristensen sees these chal-lenges as incredibly rewarding and believe that they are helping to strengthen the interdisciplinary platform where art, sci-ence, technology, and more weave together and lift each other. She considers her busi-ness partners and their own passion for the project as a crucial momentum component in the development of collaborations across the usual borders. “Many times when you have such a high level of ambition as we, and I have, to put the sensual dance on the global agenda, so it arouses some of our partners .. I guess we all have bigger dreams, but it’s not always that we can put words on them, express them or have the courage to implement them.



But among many of the artists, researchers and stakeholders, we have relationships with, I have seen that when our grand visions match, so it comes alive ... the passion. “

Future projectsThe installation El Eco del Carlito is selected for inclusion in the international IETM meeting in Copenhagen in March, producing an impres-sion of Danish contemporary performing arts. The installation has also fostered inspiration for another future project, Sensing, which will be launched in August. Sensing includes both a dance performance, and a dance installation as well as a laboratory for audience surveys. The audience will be confronted with an ar-tistic experience based on all the knowledge and awareness that has been achieved in the two years of intensive work. The goal with Sensing is to create a innovative and engag-ing experience that is experienced with all senses. The project will focus on the sentient body and create a new space for the cultiva-tion of a higher sensibility of dance move-ments and body. •


El Eco del Carlito in the danish showcase at IETM international network for

contemporary performing arts.Photo from the longing part.


T he principle of optical fibres was discovered by John Tyndall in 1854 as he was watch-ing water flowing out of a barrel, and un-

derstood that the transparent water was able to carry light. Optical fibres’ main application is telecommunication, where they are used for fast data transmission, but they also have exciting applications in design, architecture and now also in costume design and performance!

Optical fibres transport light – from a light source (for example an LED – a light emitting diode) placed at one of their extremities to their other extremity.

Optical fibres can also be de-signed so that the fibre itself becomes light emitting. This can be done by scratching their surface or by using light-scattering materi-als in the core of the fibre. They have a special sleek handle, are thin and flexible, and are usu-ally used in bundles of many fibres. Their thick-ness can be varied.

Because they are light transporting and light emitting, optical fibres appeal to our sight. Light is a combination of radiation and our re-sponse to it. Light is what makes it possible for us to see! But sight is not the only sense optical fibres appeal to. As we see them, we also want to touch them. We may think they are warm, be-cause they emit light, but they are not. This may

surprise us. As spectator on the Sensing perfor-mance, I wanted to touch the optical fibres cos-tumes, (and I did!) and I think this was the case for other spectators as well! But how is to wear this fibres, as a dancer?

In Magic Move and Sensing, the optical fi-

bres used in costumes enhance the movement of the dancer, both by expanding this movement in space, and by leaving traces of this through the light it produces.

The fibres are bendable, and as the dancer moves an undulating movement is created. They change our perception of the dance. The dancers also seem to be dancing together with the fibre

costumes, as though the costume in-spire new ways of moving.

In the Shadow, the costumes are the only light source, and replace tra-ditional stage lighting – light is not just something that is projected onto the dancer, but something that comes from the dancer. Instead of the dancer

moving to follow the projected light, the dancer becomes the light source.

We see how the different parts of his body move and we want to engage in dance ourselves.

•

Optical fibres used in costumes

More information about optical fibres can be found here: http://bada.hb.se/bitstream/2320/4382/1/PetersonAmbience08.pdf

Elisabeth HeimdalPhD student at DTU Management,

section for Innovation & Sustainability. Project title: Integrated Innovation with Textile Materials.


15Final Symposium for the artistic research project Sense & Dance by Ingrid kristensen & Co 15Final Symposium for the artistic research project Sense & Dance by Ingrid kristensen & Co

Danni Sell and Lars Christian Feit Andersen are

playing with the audience during Sensing at The Funen Art Museum.

16 Ingrid Kristensen & Co . Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance16 Ingrid Kristensen & Co . Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance

Sissel Tolaas, the world’s leading expert in smell, in her Berlin lab.

Also her work involves commerce, art and science. We are working to raise money for a joint project on dance

and fragrance.

17Final Symposium for the artistic research project Sense & Dance by Ingrid kristensen & Co 17Final Symposium for the artistic research project Sense & Dance by Ingrid kristensen & Co

StagedSmells in dance and spaceThe sense of smell is our first sense – our immediate impressions and in Sense & Dance it’s used for momentary staging.

As the only one of our senses, which without further interpretation affects the limbic system of the brain – our center for feelings and recollection – the sense of smell has the ability to prepare the audi-ence to step into an experience.

However smells can’t stand alone. Thea-tre and dance can stand alone. But when smells matches our visual and auditory impressions we experience an authentic-ity in the expression – the result of com-pliance with all of our senses.

When people are in anechoic rooms we experience reactions of fear: goose bumps, palpitations. A sense is ‘missing’. When we experience compliance be-tween our senses we feel safe.

Safe people are ready to experience new things. Our audience is ready for the sto-ry.

Scanscent works with smell in many en-vironments. In retail and hotel environ-ments the same things apply: we want to set a frame for the story.

The collaboration with Ingrid Kristensen gives us constant challenges and an op-portunity for innovative thinking in a great, inspireing and warm presence.

When we use smell we can choose smells that create peace, zeal, happiness and much more. But that’s another, interest-ing story... •

Karsten Schackinger-SolaasCOO, Partner - LMD Media ApS / FaceAd,

And owner - Scanscent / urbanXperience ApS


The inclusive art

The use of senses in dance, new and untraditional collaboration partners and

a systematic collection of experiences turn into a relevant, moving

artistic expression of great character and

availability.

Excerpts from the chronicle by

Michael Bom Frøst Associate professor and Director, respectively at University of Copenhagen and Nordic Food Lab

Sensory Science - Scientific approach to Gastronomy

Ingrid KristensenDancer, choreographer and MA.



T he combination of smell- and taste experi-ences and scenic dance could be one of the recipes to revitalize and renew the stage

art generally and dance specifically. In Sense & Dance we’ve allied ourselves with experts within food, design, architecture, textiles and science. The concrete results of this interdisciplinary are already visible.

To meet across professions; with artists from other areas, researchers from different parts of the world, experts from the health sections with a love for art and also communicating with the audience is a thing that could help bring artists and dance a new place – and also help bring dance outside of the typical stage.

An artistic exploration – Sense & DanceIn Sense & Dance we’ve started an artistic jour-ney of exploring the senses of taste, touch and smell combined with the artistic expression.

We’ve handed out milder and more ex-treme taste samples during performances, sent out smells of chocolate, touched the audience,

whispered in their ears and played with different impressions of sight than the regular.

The audience became actively engaged in the dance through tasting a lollipop with ants. The ants make the audience feel uneasy or fear-ful. The dancer expresses the same fear at that moment.

To work consequently and intensely with sensuous stimulus can be compared to break-ing down boundaries; the audiences’ physical boundaries, the mental boundaries and the usu-al conventions of what a typical dance perfor-mance consists of and the way it’s experienced.

But why insist so stubbornly on concuring the private space of the audience to create a space for the sensuous art?

It’s our conviction that dance, body and movement combined with the other senses such as the sense of taste or smell can communicate and inspire – across the intellectual, cultural and lingual boundaries.

For instance during Magic Move we experi-enced a lot of people stopping their otherwise busy process and stayed in the pouring rain se-

duced by the smells and taste. After the show the audience described the show as being unex-pected, inspiring and intense to experience.

Mesmerize the audienceWe’ve experienced that by using taste, smell and touch the audience has become more immersed in the works than they normally would in stage art. It creates a greater experience, that is more memorable, gives more to reflect on – and a longer reverberation. The use of more senses creates a more whole message from the work to the viewer. When done the right places dance can reach totally new types of audience – those who normally aren’t interested in high culture.

Both dance and sense experiences gives the audience a chance to develop as sensing subjects through experiences and reflection. By actively sensing the audiences’ frame of reference will continue to expand as they’re met be new ex-periences. It paves the way for new reflections of beauty, movement, taste and the self in the world.

•

A mixed audience of blind and seeing attends Magic Move in Experimentarium, Copenhagen.

After the show the blind part participated in a focus group. Several expressed that it was one of their life’s greatest experiences.



Jonas Cassøe BernhardtChef

UCF Kitchen and canteenEducation Centre Fredericia



When food and dancing comes together.

It has been a great experience working with food and dancing, and how the two things can comple-ment each other.

The process has been very instructive, for my team as well as me. It has not always been easy, but due to the positive energy Ingrid has put into the project, we al-ways seemed to push forward and create new things, and in the end it was a very good opportunity for us to step into unknown land, and just be creative.

It was very important for us that the food not only tast-ed good, but also had a challenging edge to it, so that the audience was more provoked, and curious about what went on in the show. We tried to implement the different feelings/state of minds in the food, so that the audience could see the point of the whole show.

We started the process with a classic “brain storm” where all the creative ideas came out. At this point the dancers were not a part of the process, because we thought that it was very important that it were our own ideas without any other interruptions. Then later on we presented our concept to the dancers so that they could implement it into their show.

The reaction from the dancers was great, and they could relate to the concept almost right away, and not too many changes had to be made. After one rehearsal dinner, we were ready.

This were only our own thoughts about the five senses, and it is important to say that it wouldn’t have made as much sense without the dancers, who did an amazing job, implementing it all into the show.The process has been very instructive, and we have all enjoyed the creative space, which was necessary for us for accepting the concept, and to allow new ideas.

To be in a process where there are many different ac-tors and where there are no rules, is risky, but it has also led us to see that food can be a part of many dif-ferent things, and that it can make sense in many dif-ferent ways.

From my own point of view I can say that it has made me see my profession from another perspective, and if Ingrid ever should have an idea like this again, you can count on me. •

Here is the menu we made for the 5 states of mind:The playing state of mind:Spaghetti Bolognese

with spaghetti made of white chocolate served with

strawberry-and-cake-crumble sauce.The horrible state of mind:

Fresh eyes of codfish put on barbed wire (not to be eaten)

served with quail eggs painted like eyes The sensual state of mind:

Puffs with mango creamThe longing state of mind:

Crispy chicken skin with umami

(puree of onion and tomato)Cosmos – a piece of heaven:

a chocolate coated meringue on top of candy floss



D espite the dance versatility and develop-ment, the focus of this is still quite small the world, for many people the dance

seems to be reserved for dance elite. But per-haps it is time that we seriously begin to develop and exploit the great potential of dance by pro-viding dance diverse expression in all crevices - to the delight of both the perpetrator, children, men and women?

The dance - a diverse expressionThe dance includes a diverse expression and takes in the same way as music place in many different places and with an infinite variety and diversity of expression. Dance can be of social character and social medias like Youtube exhibit the manifold expressions that are continuously being explored.

Dancing takes place at many different scenes - both theatrical scenes and in public spaces, but the dance can also be virtual and be expressed and experienced through animations, movies or video dance. It can unfold t h r o u g h

dance installations, where it quickly becomes a hybrid between a metaphorical expression in the interaction with the dance volatility.

Last but not least, the dance can also be used in a therapeutic purpose. An area which is almost non-existent in the world, despite its infinite potential and and last but not least as social interaction, as we experience it in many contexts.

The soul of the danceAlthough dance can function in so many dif-ferent

aspects, it doesn t take up so much room in the world. O f

Interactive dance performances, more formats than the usual.

Dance in all cracks.



course it is a

s h a m e - not just

to dance in the world as

an institution, but also because

the dance has meanings that go

into all dimensions of human life. Life is

movement - and the dance is the place where

movement is explored, challenged, experimented

a n d a p -

pears as a kind of

l a b o r a t o r y of human ex-

perience and exploration of life

and reality. The many di-

mensions of the dance and possibilities

are, first and foremost, connected with the dy-

namic interaction between our living body and experi-

ences and experiences of the world. We communicate not

only through language and for in-formational purposes, but through

bodily conditions that every moment becomes co-creative and connects us

to the present. It’s about the body and movement as co-creator of voting rights,

feelings, rhythms and musical beauty. It is this close interweaving between

body, mind and world, that is the dance me-dium - and pointing to the movement as a dy-

namic co-creative core element of human life and ways of being in the world. It is clear that this point into the dance, in ways that go into an experience where life and art are no longer separated, but are always mutually co-creators of the pos-sible.

The ordinary and mundane can be transformed and connected with the unique and amaz-ing. The dance - as sensitive laboratory for the movement’s poetics - a dynamic co-creator of every minute rhythms, thus realizing the relationship between body-mind-world.

A dance experience may be meeting with the sublime beauty. The experience of a virtuoso dance performance,

can help to change our perception of our own body and of the world. We can literally connect us bodily with a dance experience because our own bodies, through our empathy “swings” in similar patterns as the dance performance. Ex-periencing dance can therefore open up new di-mensions of experience - even if you do not even master the physical construction.

The body knows and recognizes intuitive dancers’ movement, which all comes from our joint movement well. Through familiarization, we can feel it - and open to the dimension of art that is about to open up new possibilities and thus for consciousness transformation.

The dance is also the body as a living picture in our understanding of life. The dance has all kinds of bodily experience from the mundane to the ecstatic - and dancing can also open the experience of completely altered states of con-sciousness. Dance experiences with and for chil-dren can help to develop and expand their bodily and verbal language, imagination and sensitiv-ity to themselves and their surroundings. The list of spaces of dance can go on and there are many good arguments to let more dance into your life.

Learn to understand the danceSeeing and experiencing dance is something we in many ways have to learn, as we must learn to listen to music or understand mathematical or visual language. Our feeling for the dance has to be cultivated in the same way as we cultivate

love for the taste ex-perience, by creating spaces to experience it with sensitiv-ity and openly pres-ence.

We know our-selves and the world through movement where we see, hear,

taste, touch and feel the world. Life is such a constant movement and dance can be the port, which by its attention on exploration of move-ment can be open to a more nuanced and sensi-tive experience of lifes opportunities.

So get your shoes and give yourself permis-sion to dance every moment!

•

Chronicle of Lis Engel

artist, dance scholar and phenomenologist, MA. Scient, PhD

Ingrid KristensenDancer, choreographer and MA.


Anna Kinoshita as The match Girl in Memorial Hall, Guangzhou, China.


IntroductionIn 2012, I became involved in providing costumes for Sensing Dance, and led a small team of textile and pattern cutting spe-cialists in the development of conceptual ideas concern-ing the body and emotion for the final stages of the project. This short con-tribution to Discover the Movements presents the theoretical concerns that underpin my work as a researcher in wearable technology, and describes how our collaboration with the Ingrid Kristensen Dance Group offers new opportunities for design and reflection.

Wearable Computing, Computational wearables, and wearable systemsI make wearable systems. This is a deliberately open statement; it has evolved as the filed has progressed, and as my own position has crystal-

lised. Once I would have said ‘wear-able computing’, sometimes I revert to ‘smart textiles’, and often I use ‘wear-able technology’. The word ‘wearables’ is the most useful, encompassing my experience as a contemporary jeweler, and just broad enough to include more experimental forms, but none of these terms is ever free from disciplinary

assumptions, and they have tended to evolve alongside the changing practices that make up the field. “Wearable systems’, at the moment, takes into

account the fact that what I do is about interac-

tion, whether it makes use of

comutation or not; it also r e f e r e n c e s personal and social systems of expression

and identity. This section gives

a short overview of the evolution of wearables, and

explains the under-lying philosophies at play.

Wearable Com-puting originally

inherited the instrumental ideals of the systems engineering community, seeking in Weiser’s words, to become seamless (1991). They were understood to be a component part of the phe-nomenologically transparent windows

paradigm, concealed beneath business suits or hidden in plain view like a pair of glass-es. They were tools to be acted through, all the better for their wearers to maintain status through the accomplishment of tasks. Although the early developers of wearable

computing, and indeed, ubiquitous computing, knew their technology to be radical, they continued to take a conservative approach to the expressive potential of technology on the body. These were still tools, with their values firmly embedded in the instrumental. Scenarios of use had a distinctly ‘80s flavour, depend-ant on a modernist dichotomy of work (the university campus or office) and leisure (the gym or the nightclub).

Only when developers from other creative disciplines became involved, renaming what they did ‘Compu-tational Wearables’, were these values questioned. In fact these (often female) pro-ponents have arguably done the work crucial to wearable comput-ing approaching the mainstream, or at least the red carpet and the music industry stage, in de-veloping soft computing and textile c o m p o -n e n t s (cf Ber-zowska 2 01 2 ,

Dr. Sarah KettleySenior Lecturer

College of Art & Design and Built Environment, School of Architecture Design and the Built Environment

Nottingham Trent University

How do costumes engage dancers and audience?


Orth 2001, CuteCircuit 2012, Buech-ley 2010), in providing theoretical cri-tiques grounded in craft and cultural theory (Cranny-Francis 2008, Wallace 2004, Harris 2012), and in exploring through fashion and textile design potential expressive alternatives to the cyborg (Seymour 2010).

Wearables and human interactionWearables are an important arena for playing out questions regarding hu-man communication. They can’t help but highlight the noisy, expressive and very bodily nature of how we interact each other, no matter how ‘smart’ or computational they are. In their en-tanglements with the clothed body, they at once challenge the ‘body one’ (physical, sensual, intimate) and ‘body two’ (cultural systems of expression and communication) (Ihde 2002, En-twistle 2000). They become implicated in our dynamic kinaesthetic experi-

ence of the world (Candy 2007, Barrass 2008) at the same time

as they become a part of our communicative palette in

giving and g iv-

ing off information (Goffmann 1959). In looking to understand what a

group of female friends made of a se-ries of wirelessly networked pendants in my doctoral research, I found my-self removing computational func-tions rather than adding them. Each piece of jewellery was embedded with a small prototype computer ‘node’; a network of these could self-organise, allocating resources such as sensing and memory, and maintaining a dy-namic representation of the whole network, a form of computational pro-prioception. These nodes were being designed to be extremely flexible and powerful – it was counterintuitive not to make use of their full potential, not least for their developers.

So why do it? Because my question was concerned with that small phrase – ‘make of’ – a creative act on the part of the wearer. If I designed the func-tions of the work, the women would be less free to make their own minds up about these new things in their midst.

When the normative model of communication in any system is one of noiseless reception of intend-ed meaning, and perfectly matched understanding, there is no longer any need for further communication. This

is as true for designed artefacts as for spoken language, and if

our aim is to encourage engage-

ment, then we have to be aware of our tendency to revert to this model, and challenge it when we can. As Wolfgang Iser said (after RD Laing): “it is the very lack of ascertainability and defined in-tention that brings about the…inter-action…it is this very interderminacy that increases the variety of communi-cation possible” (1980 pp180-181).

Memes in wearable computing: gaps, seams and engagementI have always been interested in the gaps that create a need for commu-nication – Searle’s speech acts in HCI (Crampton-Smith & Tabor 2001), White’s undecideability (2004), Gav-er’s ambiguity (2003), and Chalmers’ seamfulness (2003), all of which have drawn more or less on hermeneutics and reader (or reception) theory. These, wearables’ materiality, and common patterns of animal and human interac-tion have resulted in such recognizable memes in wearables as flocking, hug-ging, and camouflage and display.

Design more generally is also interested in the creativity of the user (Sanders 2006), but has at its heart an issue with non-directivity, being defined as the process of find-ing solutions, common ground and closure, rather than investing energy in opening new ques-

Lars Christian Feit Andersen, Tore Asbjerg and Merete Smedegaard

using the costumes designed at Nottingham Trent University in Sensing at Funen Art Museum.


tions (Critical Design excepted). The ontology of gaps and seams is at odds with the hegemony embedded in the designer-as-expert model, which is dif-ficult to shake off. The ways in which design has configured the people who benefit from its practices, that is, how it has represented users, tells the story of this changing relationship: consum-ers became users with the advent of personal computing, giving us User-Centred Design (UCD).

More recently, there has been a noticeable trend to describe design as ‘human-centred’, driven by new tech-nology, sustainability, and the expan-sion of design’s ‘matters of concern’ (Latour 2008). The question I want to pose is: What if that human is recon-figured as a person? What if the quest to understand and know the human in Human-Centred Design fully recog-nized RD Laing’s assertion that we are invisible to one another and fully em-braced the inderterminacy that is actu-

ally at the heart of human interaction? What would Person-Centred Design look like? My guess is that the artefacts we produce would be more open, more like things than objects.

Wearables, and in this case, costumes, offer us a fascinating oppor-tunity to explore such non-directivity through their materiality and the ac-ceptance of seamfulness as a valuable way of working with human engage-ment.

Much of my work has been con-cerned with this question, but it is only now with the chance to collaborate with Ingrid and her dance company that I have been able to start explor-ing movement and the performance of bodily interaction with wearable con-cepts.

The costumesThe wearable concepts were developed in collaborative studio work with tex-

tile designers (Martha Glazzard – knit; and Tessa Acti – embroidery), another jeweler working in mixed media and textiles (Fiona Hamblin), and a pattern cutter (Karen Harrigan). Following discussions with Ingrid and Anders, we worked on two emotions, anger and longing, in relation to areas of the body.

We were most interested in cos-tumes that were neither ethnic expres-sions nor representative of a character in a given narrative, but as forms that might morph between garment, shel-ter and shared space. We worked on the idea that emotions are changeable and developed ideas around openings and stretch. Finally, six knitted gar-ments and a selection of long knitted loops were delivered to the dancers. Each garment could be worn in many ways, incorporating drawstrings, wire hoops and multiple openings for head and limbs; wrapping, looping and ty-ing would define fit.

Tore Asbjerg and Merete Smedegaard using the costumes designed at Nottingham Trent University in Sensing at the opening of

Odense Film Festival and Funen Art Museum.


The exception to this was a garment for two people, joined by a long skein of fibres; this could be worn with bod-ies at right angles, or side-by-side, with the garments fitting each body tightly. None of these wearables included com-putation, but we considered them to be interactive in their indeterminacy. As part of Sensing Dance, they build on the team’s earlier work with stretch sensors on the body, which explored aesthetics (Kettley et al 2011).

In devising these costumes, we assumed that the goal was for in-creased audience engagement. None of us had experience in working for dance, and certainly I had preconcep-tions about the choreographic process. It was only once we began to receive feedback from Ingrid and the danc-ers that I began to realize that the cos-tumes were playing a significant role in the development of the performance, and that the engagement of the per-

former with their materials (direction, choreography, narrative, scenography, costume) might be as important an outcome as that of the audience. Im-ages of the group trying on the pieces for the first time show packaging lying discarded around the studio floor as if on Christmas morning – there is a pal-pable air of excitement.

Feedback from the dancers af-ter the sensing Dance performances spoke of their unusual chance to devel-op story and character in response to the garments, and the way this sense of agency carried into performance to be reciprocated by the audience. Instead of ‘smart’ textiles and computational wearables engaging audiences through technology, it seemed that the non-di-rectivity of the costumes had a power-ful and complex effect on the relation-ship between performer and audience.

In conclusionWhere does engagement happen? Very often we focus on the relationship be-tween two parties only: two individu-als, an individual and their machine (or smart pendant), or between viewer and object. But the more interesting questions for us today would be con-cerned with the reciprocity and em-pathic nature of experience when the creative engagement of the performer is deeply felt and reflected back by the audience. If it’s true that ‘when you smile the whole world smiles with you’, then what we have here is a promising way of designing for wellbeing.

References at:http://ingrid-kristensen.dk/publica-tions/kettley_references.html •


Inger KjeldsenSenior librarian for children, Varde Library. Coordinator at ’Vardes Cultural Backbone’

that ensures that the children of the city meet different parts of culture each year

from when they are 5 to 15.

We experienced that the children had a larger fo-cus and concentration in the class. Even though we’re now in 2012 the children’s’ teachers still refer to the experience, method and effect – and more institutions continue to work from Ingrid’s instructions.

That’s why the institutions of Varde wilfully and excited agreed to participate in the project Sense & Dance in 2011. There had been added more methods: Movement/dance, theatre, light, sound/music, story and decoration was now supplemented with senseous stimulus such as smell, taste and touch. All combined with spectacular ef-fects such as a light dress. Once again several children’s teachers had prepared the children

C hildren have many types of learning. Many children remember a lot through smell or taste. For other children music is an im-

portant factor of the experience, depending on their backgrounds and experiences. That’s why a dance experience combined with many senses is a fantastic experience, where the children not only open up to the dance, but they’re also af-fected by it. Their minds open up, empathy and knowledge is developed, when the children follow the movements of the dancers and ac-tors’ ”stories” – the emotional effect changes according to the message of the dance: Happy, surprised, sad, scared.

It’s a whole experience that, when it meets in a child, leaves very great marks – develops the child and stimulates the sense of body language

as well as strengthens the concentration, and the approach to dance is lightened in the future.

Children’s meeting with the sensuous stageThe Sense & Dance project. Children’s meeting with the sensuous stage art has been a great ex-perience for both the children of Varde and their adults.

The library and kindergartens in Varde has previously had a visit from Ingrid Kristensen. For instance in 2001 Ingrid combined dance with rhymes as well as the children’s interest in the alphabet. At that time Varde experienced that when a professional dancer stimulates the chil-dren’s joy of moving and creativity, it creates a particular intense and qualitative experience.


Lars Christian Feit Andersen gives scented feathers to the audience during Magic Move for children.


What is it Sense & Dance is capable of in relation to the

children’s’ development.

”That smell is like the cinnamon buns at granny’s”.

taste experiences as well as sound and visual ex-periences. I especially found the children’s com-ments in connection with smell interesting – the smell helped create contact to previous experi-ences and feelings or moods.

Thank you for the experience! I hope that the experiences from the project will affect the future of dance and theatre, and I will use this knowledge when the controlling group of Vardes Cultural Backbone is to put together the programme in the future.

•

for what they were to experience, just as the children’s teachers talked about the experience when they got back to the kindergarten.

The result was overwhelming: The many methods had meant that the children where totally captivated through the perfor-mance. The many invitations for interaction in the performance had meant that they interacted filled with trust and dedication – and that their feelings changed as the performance changed.

During the dance workshop there was a lot of focus and joy of dancing. In spite of the chil-dren’s limitations in communicating which asso-ciations the many stimulus gave them, the sub-sequent interviews shows that their experiences are connected to the movements, smell- and



When I was young and interested the French philosopher and

writer Jean Paul Satre, I was very inter-ested in the fact that he, as I remember it, saw the human being as being with no substance, and that the individual persons’ personality was formed by the impressions he or she would receive or was capable of receiving.

I won’t get into the discussion here on whether or not it’s the whole truth, but it’s certain that we, through our senses, gain impressions and experi-ences, that are completely real, but can’t be explained through words.

If you’re excited about a piece of music, a ballet or a painting you’ll of-ten find that words aren’t sufficient to share the experience.

The sense of smell is also connect-

ed to our memory. I remember when I, as a child, attended dance classes at Hotel Prindsen in Roskilde (known as the post office in Matador); there was a very particular smell in the wardrobe, which I didn’t like. As fate would have it I held my 60th birthday at Prind-

sen, a lot had been changed and refur-bished, but the smell in the wardrobe was exactly as I remembered it, and immediately brought a bunch of mem-ories back from the time and place.

You experience music through the

ear. The sense of hearing also leads to memories, and I’ve met musicians that just have to hear something once to be able to reproduce it flawlessly. Other factors are probably also relevant here, but without the sense of hearing it wouldn’t be possible.

When we experience a piece of art it’s done more through the senses than the brain in my opinion. The senses make us capable of experiencing what the brain can’t comprehend. They’re the most important sensors to navigate through art and life. That’s why it’s still so important to keep them stimulated - through music, dance, paintings and theatre. If we don’t remember this, the senses will slowly deterioate, and we don’t want that, do we? •

About the meaning of senses.

FuzzyComposer of El eco del Carlito,

The Little Mermaid and many other works of Ingrid Kristensen


Ingrid Kristensen & Co. danced on the danish day in World Expo Shanghai. Here Christel Stjernebjerg interacts with the audience.

The tour brought valuable studies on the difference in how the European and Chinese audiences perceive the use of the senses in a performance.


When using all of Your senses makes sense as a performer.

Being a performer in Ingrid Kris-tensen’s ‘Magic Move’ creation was a very interesting and giving

experience. A unique project that chal-lenges my artistic abilities: The focus is most definitely not just on the sense of eyesight / the visual product, but it requires use of all senses, for the audi-ence as well as the artists.

It is impossible to conduct the piece by putting on the automatic pilot since we are improvising and in-teracting with the audience - depend-ing on how they response - and there-fore it challenges the ability to be fully aware/present as you’re performing. By implementing different smells, sounds and tastes alongside telling different stories with our bodies, emphasis is put on every mood & intention. Therefore our artistic movements have to be sup-porting what we smell, taste, hear, see and touch as much as those are sup-porting our movements.

Movement is not just movement, it needs to be taken to another level, to be felt and reflected upon in a particu-lar context and it needs to have a story to tell. Touching the audience is not just on a metaphorical level: By breaking the fourth wall, we are literally touch-ing them (i.e. with brushes), facing them, looking them straight into the eyes and interacting with them. This can be an intimidating move, both for the audience as well as for the perform-ers. The private sphere between the two parts is removed and as a performer I need to ‘risk’ something of myself in order to receive response from the au-dience and for them to go along with the experiment.

Being an acrobat like myself, a process like this is challenging. It re-quires patience, openmindedness and a high level of contemplative reflection. Coming from a more product oriented background, I sometimes tend to be slightly impatient in an artistic process - wanting concrete and set choreogra-phies filled with advanced tricks that I can rehearse over and over again until I reach a sense of perfection.

But Ingrid is not looking for perfection, she is looking for those twisted, small cracks and flaws in human beings from where beauty suddenly arises. I cannot just do a quick back handspring into splits to fulfill her visions, I need to open up all of my senses for new ways of thinking, to experiment with differ-ent intentions that I am not always sure where will end up.

I need to see the beauty in the process, not the product and to truly feel my movements in order for the audience to feel them. And I need to be fully aware of my surroundings as I’m per-forming. This is part of the reason to

why I love work-ing with Ingrid: Her visions and ambitions inspire me, challenge me and develop

me, not only as a performer, but as a person. She is pushing me out of my comfort zone, twisting and turning my usual way of thinking upside down and expanding my imagination. And she takes me to places where using all of my senses make sense. I can honest-ly say that I have become a better and more diverse artist through her and projects like these. •

Christel StjernebjergAkrobat and dancer



The experiences I’ve gained through dance in the urban space

have given my town an extra dimension.

A s I’m walking across Gråbrødre Plads I see the shadow of H.C. Andersen at the old post office. Green and blue light surrounds

it. Music fits it perfectly, but I’m not able to de-fine how. When I reach Farvergården at Kultur-maskinen I think of a night with wild cares, crazy dresses with light and a wonderful dancing Fer-rari (at least that’s what is was in my interpreta-tion). When I walk through the wet grass at the water in Kings Garden I feel the pouring rain and see light that’s carefully aligned with the twi-light. The leaves fall down on the dancers and further onto the wet grass.

And when I walk pass the Art Museum of Fyn in my lunch break I smile as I remember the little, crazy chickens that were dancing among the au-dience and passers-by.

In the years I’ve followed Sense & Dance – and other dance performances, -companies and –projects – I’ve learnt that I don’t have to under-stand the plot in a modern dance performance. In the beginning I tried to keep up, figure out the story, understand and interpret – and mostly with no luck and without quite knowing what to make of what I saw. That was until I stopped try-ing, and let my thoughts fly. I put my own story into the performance. It doesn’t always work, and the experience isn’t equally strong every time of course.

Jette Flinch NyropArchitect MAA

Odense MunicipalityCity & Planning



But it’s certain that every time the performance begins with a oddly smelling feather, lures the audience into a tango or is concluded with a piece of chocolate with a special taste, the per-formance sticks with me.

As an architect I’m used to working with the ur-ban space, looking at buildings and noticing ma-terials, surfaces and details. But the experiences I’ve gained with dance in the urban ’scene’ have given my town an extra dimension. A more sen-suous dimension. A dimension that isn’t always visible, but in certain situations can create a re-verberation at the place, that I can recall every time I pass by.

When the linking and integration of the city’s physical space and culture and dance is success-ful the experience of the town or city is much greater and relevant. The urban space is a meet-ing spot for more and other people than the daily users and passers-by. It’s more than a combina-tion of beautiful concrete, smart benches and the right trees. And definitely more than a single profession can create alone. Thank you for that!. •



Can you explain what an architect can contribute with in the project

Dancing Concrete Feelings?The architect can bind the techni-cal world with the artistic world.It’s interesting, and fun to see that the artistic also gains from the collaboration. At the Danish Tech-nological Institute we also gain from it, since the things we learn from the creative processes we can transfer to more traditional projects. Not because we have to be artists, but because art, creativity and innovation is linked.

Can you describe the process from when you receive a dance until you have something finished?Yes, the dancer is photographed; the photography is transferred to a CAD-tool, which is a three-dimensional

modelling tool. This is

subsequent-ly transferred

to a milling pro-gram where you produce the mill-ing. These mill- ings are milled in the polystyrenes. The polyes-ters form the mold. This is then cast in concrete. The concrete is then pulled out from the mold, and that’s the fin-ished product. So there’s a long way to go, but it’s a series of coherent opera-tions.

Can you describe which thoughts are running a your head when you do such a thing? Which considerations do you have?Among other things I consider what qualitatives we loose in the process, which we can re-establish in the pro-cess… And which we can add in the process. So the finished concrete pro-ject will be like the original vision,

however it’s a question of interpreta-tion.

Can you give a specific example?A specific example is – in this pro-ject – it is based on a dancer, who’s a three-dimensional figure. This has been reduced to a two-dimensional photography. Of course information is lost here and another thing is that the dancer moves – photography doesn’t. We have to try and re-establish that in the picture, for instance you can pull an arm or push a head or change the angels, so we’re moving it into a three-dimensional universe. In the three-dimensional universe we have certain tools. These tools can be used to express what the dancer actu-ally wants to express, so if the dancer wants to express fear – it’s an example form the piece – we can make a ‘fear-ful’ concrete surface. A surface that you of course can’t put on the dancer in the real world of dance. •

Niels Tradsfeldt

Interview with architect Johannes Rauff Greisen about

Concrete Dancing Feelings.A concrete sculpture that explores the tactility and the volatility of dance.

Photo left: Anders Vejen Andersen . Photo Rigth: Johannes Rauff Greisen


Robot milling of casting molds for Concrete Dancing Feeliongs at the

Danish Technological Institute


36 Ingrid Kristensen & Co . Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance36 Ingrid Kristensen & Co . Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance


Venice, Italy, December 7, 2012.

To Ingrid Kristensen’s Dance Theater. – A letter about W A T E R and Sensing & Dancing.

These lines are written far away from Denmark. For the time being I am working in Venice, this wonderful place - the City of Water - the Queen of the Adriatic. Venice, here the feeling of being in strange, yet – at the same time familiarly surroundings, is a feeling that is also present in the performance at Ingrid Kristensen’s Dance theater.



At the performances one can never be sure what to expect – except being shaken and filled

with new experiences. In Sensing & Dancing it is ex-periences that go way beyond the classical dance, experi-ences which explore not only dance but also the place and the viewer.

For some time I have had the hope and wish to cooper-ate with Ingrid Kristensen, to meet her strong experiences in the area of Sensing & Dancing in an architectural context. In my point of view, and I know Ingrid agrees, the physical element for a project together could be water.

Water, being one of the four known basic elements which represent the substance of the world. Its physical form is needed to live, as one must drink or absorb in a way some form of it, as life - be it plant, animal, human or sentient life – we all seem to depend to a large degree on this element in order to survive. Water is often associated with emotions, art, and especially time, sensing and philosophy. Water has the depth of a philosopher‘s soul and is the inspiration for many artists. But that makes them depended on its unpre-dictable nature. Water gives much, but – as experienced in the Northern ar-eas of Denmark, were a large number of residents are occupied with fishing – we still repeatedly see how the water can claim back everything with ease.

But let me start another place; let me introduce the Palazzo Fortu-ny here in Venice, where the ex-

hibition “Fortuny and Wagner -Wag-nerism in the visual arts in Italy” mark the bicentennial of Richard Wagner’s

birth in 2013. No doubt that the Ger-man composer had a great influence on several arts. And at an iconograph-

ic and aesthetic level the “Wagnerism” phenomenon was an inspiration for visual arts, not just in Italy, but in all Europe from the end of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century. It’s an overwhelm-ing experience to be in this newly opened exhibition which displays the work of two pioneers.

Let me move to the pioneer work that Ingrid Kristensen is doing. Her work with developing the involvement of the senses into the room of dance, not only the physical but also at the mental level, is exemplary – and also overwhelming. Her work is so eminent that we can be sure it will not only be of great inspiration to others; it will un-doubtedly have a big impact on danc-ing.

The Wagnerism was a true cul-tural fashion, which in its diverse ex-pressions – in literature, music and painting – enjoyed widespread and profound diffusion. Attending the ex-hibition at Fortuny and researching on the Wagnerism, I cannot help thinking that there are some parallels to Ingrid Kristensen’s Dance Theater.

Often Wagnerism is seen as the musical theory and practice of Richard Wagner, characterized by coordina-

tion of all musical and dramatic com-ponents, use of the leitmotif, and de-parture from the conventions of earlier

Italian opera. The characters and vicissitudes of Wagner’s musical dramas, Valkyries, Nibelungs, Parsival, Sieg-frieds, and of course Tristan and Isolde - lately performed here in Venice at La Fenice - occur repeatedly in the paint-ings, sculptures, drawings, prints, illustrations and post-cards during that period in

both Italy and the rest of Europe.In this field of growing something

unknown, exciting and adventurous, Mariano Fortuny played a key role, as he, besides making scenography for Wagner settings, was the author of a “Wagnerian Cycle” with 46 paintings and also numerous engravings; I have to mention this, because the entire cy-cle is on display here in Venice for the very first time. The Fortuny Museum is the perfect place for an exhibition like this: Spanish by birth but Venetian by adoption, Mariano Fortuny was great-ly influenced by Richard Wagner in his theatrical settings, who, in turn, had a very intense relationship with the city, and spent long periods of his life there.

I have been wandering about in this exhibition today. An exhibition that includes over 150 works: paintings,

engravings, drawings and sculptures, as well as a documentary section with books, magazines, illustrations and postcards, all set up in the most mar-vellous settings – the home and studio of Fortuny. Among these fantastic and exclusive art pieces, we find Isolde’s Ascension”. The piece of art which is part of American artist Bill Viola’s ma-jor “Tristan Project” inspired by Rich-

Anna Marie FiskerAssociate Professor

Department of Civil EngineeringDivision of Food + Design

Center for Food Science, Design and ExperienceAalborg University


Previeus page - Anna Kinoshita in Metamorfose.


ard Wagner’s opera Tristan and Isolde. In it, Viola does not offer a narra-

tive interpretation of the opera’s plot but creates an autonomous visual world that is parallel to what takes place on stage. Viola’s film literally sub-merges the viewer into a body of water through which a light ray penetrates, gradually becoming ever more intense. At one moment, its movement raises Isolde’s body draped in shining clothes from the depths, lifting it up high. The ray of light then dims just as slowly as it appeared, leaving the screen in total darkness.

As Bill Viola says himself, “Rich-ard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde is the story of a love so intense and profound that it cannot be contained in the ma-terial bodies of the lovers. In order to fully realize their love, Tristan and Isolde must ultimately transcend life itself.”

Viola nearly drowned in his child-hood, and this extreme experience led to water becoming a recurrent theme in his work. For Viola, water, like the other forces of nature, are equivalents of powerful human feelings. This as-pect may have attracted Viola to Wag-ner, for whom, according to Viola, “..musical instruments were the em-bodiments of the forces of nature - the non- human world in which passion is raw, surging, seething and uncon-trolled - whether it’s the sea, a storm or a feeling you have inside you.” Viola makes these primary world forces vis-ible. His slow video, accompanied by three-dimensional sound or thunder-ing silence, brings the viewer into the space of all-encompassing contempla-tion.

Should Ingrid Kristensen and I move further on working with water as the element in a project, I want to draw

attention to how important it is to un-derstand that water also is a source of impetus for many choreographers as well as scenographers.

I think, being here in Venice, in a city built on water, one cannot help to realize that water manifests itself in many ways on this planet. Lakes, streams, rivers, geysers and oceans can all be catalysts for a piece of choreog-raphy. The dancers can glean emotions from water. Water can be tranquil like a still cirque lake or wild like a hur-ricane brewing in the Atlantic and pounding the west coast of Jutland. Visually the sundown or sunrise over water can be arresting and can give one a whole color scheme for costumes or lighting.

Ingrid Kristensen is already now an internationally renowned artist that has contributed to the emer-

gence of Sensing in Dance. She and her team have been studying the horizons of sensory perception, considering it to be, I think, a means of self-cognition. Ingrid Kristensen’s work with Sens-ing and Dancing focuses on universal human experience – birth, death, but much central the life of consciousness – and refers to a large body of responsi-bility, concern.

As an architect I have studied the history of the innovation of scenog-raphy, and in my opinion it teaches us that as new markets open, artists will draw on developing technology to feed the consumer’s need for spectacle and continual variety and novelty. Fatal is our understanding of how we can con-sider the impact of the scenographic practice on theatrical compositions. Ingrid Kristensen’s Dance Theater is both an experimental Theater, but also a Theater that tries to understand theo-

ries from outside its discipline. In this manner new models for embracing multi-sensory experiences in the theat-er practice can be developed. What do these practices mean to society and how can they show us how theatre as a medium may function in the future?

To respond on these questions, I have been inspired by studying artists as Wagner and Fortuny. Firstly be-cause their artistic expressions depend upon the pioneers work, they worked dedicated developing new ideas to a perfect form of art. Secondly they made art that set new standards for ex-periencing.

Many artist develops a maniera of his or her own and creates works that appear, first, as art objects; second, as products of a particular artist, and last (if at all) as representations of some-thing. The unique art can by time be-come a part of the environment and have great influence, like Wagner and Fortuny.

How can we understand the ways in which these environ-ments can be harnessed for use

within live theatrical entertainments? By supporting works as those In-

grid Kristensen do! So, here I am in Venice, remem-

bering the effect full performance of Ingrid Kristensen’s Dance Theater, close by, if not - on the Water, think-ing about future projects with W A T E R as a subject for cooperation. Let us challenge Water and find out whether Water can be a friend or foe to dance with. •

Anna Marie Fisker



We need a creative and cultural growth strategy as an engine for the development

in society – a development that’s driven by in-novation and creativity.

In this connection Sense & Dance is a great ex-ample of how to establish creative business part-ners outside of your own comfort zone, and how you can establish new results and recognitions – in your artistic expression and manifestation of it, but also in the partnerships.

Sense & Dance shows how you can leave your mark on other industries and other platforms. In Sense & Dance there’s also an understanding of

how to open for creativity and innovation, which is so sought after today. When art begins to col-laborate more with research, science and knowl-edge, and when it begins moving away from the comfort zone, then all of a sudden interesting synergies and possibilities which are described as real innovation– and which can also produce a significant change in the way people think.

Thereby you not only gain physical changes, but it also changes the way you think. And the latter is an absolute necessity if you want to get any-where and the good intentions are to be settled.

•

Growth strategies through culture and art

Christian HaveCreative Director of Have Kommunikation

Board member in The Royal Theatre of Copenhagen, Wonderful Copenhagen,

The Music Corps’ Concert Fund of the aof Festivals and Events in Denmark, media

publication EKKO and Ballerup Superarena.



Ingrid Kristensen & Co was performing “A journey through The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Match Girl”

at the gala evening in Guangdong International Week on Cooperation and Exchanges.



The project has run from Feb-ruary 2010 until January 2013. The project is funded by the

Arts Council of Denmark, The Region of Southern Denmark and The Munic-ipality of Odense as well a number of smaller sponsorships.

The project has consisted of a number of ‘research-performances’, audience studies, installations, videos, films and a sculpture.

From the beginning of the project it has been supported by an innovation board consisting of 24 people with some of the highest expertise within the areas.

We’ve visited and collected informa-tion and knowledge from a number of national and international art- and cultural institutions.

We’ve held meetings with a great range of capacities within sense research and dance. We’ve read, studied and dis-cussed literature on the subject – pri-marily recommended by the innova-tion board. •

Sense & Dance briefly.

Christel Stjernebjerg, Tore Asbjerg and Anna Kinoshita in The Danish Pavillon at World Expo Shanghai.



Performances:Shanghai & Beijing TourMagic Move and subsequent tour in Denmark.Magic Move for Children and subse-quent tour in Denmark.Sensing at Funen Museum of ArtA Journey through The Little Mer-maid, The Ugly Duckling and The Match Girl in Guangzhou, China

Test Projects:Presentation of Sense & Dance as well as the audience talks in Beijing and Shanghai in cooperation with the Danish Cultural Institute in Beijing.Test Performances - The effect of sen-sory exposure in dance scenes tested on groups of men, women, children and blind people.

Performances with sensory stimuli and audience interviews.Ballet Brunch, Fredericia.The Children’s Meeting with the Sen-suous Art, Varde, Kolding and Mid-delfart.

A total of approximately 400 audience interviews.The study of audience interaction in Sensing by Valentijn VischThe costume study in sensing by Sarah Kettley

Installations and sculpture:El eco del Carlito – premiere on Re-search Day and the international Day of Dance, subsequent tour to Skander-borg, Copenhagen, Art Museum of Fyn and Augustiana. Aura Dresses, Premiere at Art Museum of Fyn.A Taste of Dance, Premiere at Ikea.Sensing at Art Museum of Fyn.Installations from Sensing, Augustiana, Sønderborg.Concrete Dansing Feelings.

Events4 Innovation CouncilsFinal symposium for Sense & Dance.

Publication of:92 newsletters and newscasts.28 short films about the project.920 images.2 booklets.1 report on the children’s meeting with the sensuous dance.a series of feature articles.a variety of input to Danish and inter-national sector websites. Television sta-tions and newspapers.

Meetings, collaborations and talks to:8 Universities and numerous muse-ums, galleries, companies and inspir-ing people and experts.

Selected highlights, events and works.



Final Symposium for the artistic research project

Sense & Dance

w w w. ingrid - k ristensen.dk

Ingrid Kristensen & Co

Discover The MovementsAdded Value Through Dance

Documents

Discover The Movements - Added Value Through Dance