With two weeks until show day, all there is to do now is to keep rehearsing, keep practising and just KEEP GOING! I've finalised the structure of my piece, finished the film to go in-between the live sections to mask the battery changes, and all that is left to do is to keep rehearsing. The structure of my piece is now as follows, you'll notice its nothing like the original structure I laid out in a previous blog post!
1. Opening film
The piece opens with the sound of the drone's propellors creeping in and gradually getting louder, so the audience hear the drone before they actually see it. A film then follows, all from the drone's perspective, of the floor as the drone flies low, before getting higher, as if the drone is 'learning' to fly.
2. Section 1
As the first film fades down, a drone onstage takes off and hovers, staring at the audience. It starts to move with jolty, erratic movements, again continuing on with the theme that it is learning to fly. Gradually I enter the stage and try to mimic these movements which also gradually become bigger and more fluid. As the drone gains confidence it starts to fly around the stage, showing off its newfound talent whilst I remain limited to the floor, unable to reach such heights. The drone comes back close to me, encouraging me to move and eventually I do so, attempting to follow it around the space and move the same way it does, remembering that I am limited by gravity and also the white space around me. The pace is quite slow as the drone and I try to figure each other out, remaining 'eye' contact, much like a contact improvisation.
3. Film 2
The second film, is again from the drone's perspective shows my hand appearing underneath it, as if I'm reaching out towards it, unable to quite reach. I slowly crawl towards it, trying not to disturb it hovering, but the drone gradually allows me to get closer.
4. Section 2
Reflecting on what just happens in the film, I begin to move the drone with my body, starting with my hand, and then maybe my leg. This is my turn to try to influence the drone to move after in the previous sections it influenced me. I start to use the rest of my body to encourage the drone to move with me. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. It's a dialogue between the two of us.
5. Film 3
The pace picks back up again as the drone and I have established a relationship, the film shows me confidently moving underneath and around the drone, it sometimes follows me and I sometimes follow it, providing an insight of what is about to happen live on stage.
6. Section 3
The final section of the piece is an accumulation of everything that has just happened. The drone and I both confidently move about the stage, interacting and dancing with one another, sometimes in quite close proximity, and at other times far apart. The movement vocabulary varies, but often demonstrates an animalistic, challenging nature, where the drone and I try to challenge each other by getting in the way of each other's pathways.
Each section has a drone dedicated to it, so during the films, I disconnect the battery from one drone, connect a battery to another, and Andrew behind the scenes can connect to the new drone via WiFi and prepare for the next section. This was the most practical way to ensure there is enough battery for each section.
The beginning section is perhaps the most difficult, as the drone and I have to treat each other like we have never seen each other before, like this is a new experience even though we have been rehearsing and developing a relationship for months. Feedback advised me to start a lot smaller and calmer, saving the energetic moments for the last section, and in doing that there is then a clear development throughout the piece. The second section then has an entirely different quality, which is more intimate.
The film from the drone's perspective allows the audience to peer inside the drone's 'mind' if it were to have one. It shows the audience what wouldn't originally be visible without the film, it allows for the two different perspectives and therefore allow the audience to understand the drone and I both together and as individuals.
Not only have I finalised the structure of my piece, I have also finally decided on a title! The piece will be called Proximal Distance, which could be considered as an oxymoron as proximal defines something that is close to the centre of the body, yet distance implies a certain amount of separation. I believe this summarises my piece perfectly as it relates to the fluctuating distance between the drone and I, not only during the performance, but also to the distance in intelligence, as I am a human capable of thoughts, feelings and emotions, yet the drone is a result of scientific exploration.
With only two weeks to go, I am becoming extremely excited to perform the work and demonstrate my research, I hope my audience enjoy it as much as I have.
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