Over the first semester I have been exploring the connections between dance and animation.This is the main theme of my project. In order to do this I have had to look at a variety of animation techniques and to try them.... drawing , life drawing, sand animation, live action, pixilation, charcoal, 3D.....also to learn about film, camera techniques, photo shop, after effects, film styles...........directing, production,location......it's a long list!!
As well as this, I have constantly been reviewing my own dance practice and choreography. While reading The Animation Survival Kit (Richard Williams) I realise how much inner knowledge I have from my dance training. This is hard to describe sometimes, and it is only through discussion with other animators and through reading materials on animation that I fully understand the unique perspective I have as a dancer.
What has been interesting to note in the pursuit of animation technique, especially the charcoal work, is that I 'perform' the moves in my mind as I am drawing them. Because I then draw the movement as an animation , in a curious way I become both performer and audience at the same time. This is a new experience for me...to capture this movement I feel ,in a drawing that also moves....this is really new!
I feel I have always been aware of my body and it's relationship to the space around it.....I found a description of something akin to this sense....
Yvonne Rainer 'The Mind Is A Muscle' ( Catherine Wood..Afterall books)
'as a child when I was alone I would 'perform'....with the thought in mind that I was
being watched. Now this reaction is becoming more and more unconscious, having
been transmitted to my actions, speech, writings and my thought.... (p 32)
Of great benefit to me as a dancer with training and anatomical knowledge, is my ability to understand the mechanics of the movement as I go. I no longer stop to analyse these mechanical principles when I dance for myself, but when I teach I will often explain them to others. Now in exploring animation I find this knowledge is extremely valuable....if not essential.
I also have studied the science of anatomy and physiology, as a remedial massage graduate, and so this knowledge is quite instinctive now.
I noticed that as I work with animating in charcoal I have to translate movement as I go....I will feel it in my body and then draw....I will know that to have the figure move this way or that I need to alter the hips, the shoulder...a certain move requires a certain shift in gravity...alignment..... I realise the process is very different for an animator NOT trained in movement, and can not imagine attempting the drawing without that training!!
Since I also have worked with massage and treating back pain, injuries etc, I can often look at someone walking and think....he has a hip problem....or she is going to have back problems in future...I can see alignment abnormality....can notice a curved spine, a dropped hip etc.....my training allows me to note these things and now to use them when creating animated figures.
As a choreographer, I translate my inner sense of line and form to other dancers...this is similar I feel to the act of animating. I have an inner semse of what I want from the dancer...worked out...I work with them to prepare we work on the moves and where they may lead..and I always encourage individual interpretation.
This seems to me to have so much in common with animation!
''There are only three things in animation
1. anticipation
2. action
3. reaction
and these imply the rest. Learn to do things well and you can animate well.''
( Bill Tytla....from the aniamtion survival kit...Richard Williams..p 273)
In conclusion, my dance training and experience is a good basis from which to begin animation.
In addition the Laban work I have done over the years.....space, time, flow, effort......is an essential knowledge to have as an animator..........Now I have to work to bring all these skills together!!
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