exhibition

I am beginning to sort through all my notes and sketchbooks to decide what I want to exhibit. John has specified that he wants me to show development stages in some way and sketch books seem the best source of evidence.

Reinhard in the end encouraged me to take images of the books to put in the frames. I am happy with the results even though it was extra work when I had little time. I was not clear how this would all look as only two frames were allocated each, but I managed to show a good cross section of work. So far there has been a good response to this. There are stills from the dance which show lighting and sketches of dance.

In the afternoon I work on linking all the sequences together.Anya Mya Zoe and Leila.
In the evening I ask Sandy Annan to rewrite the typed letter I am using ...to fit with the feel of the film.
At night I work on credits and photograph the signature from my letter from Norman.

getting there

Having created one image on photoshop for the web I could not resist looking back at the many I have captured to see if they could be used in any way. Another huge skill for me. Also a lesson not to throw away any material...excellent for a hoarder like me!!! I will not be using this particular sequence with Mya dancing but I love it and maybe it will be part of a future continuation of Norman's letters!As a still image it captures perfectly the Hermes letter

"I do not know how to express the joy I felt"

And by a quirk of fate I read a section of Norman's drawings book and his words about  finding himself unable to say all he wanted to in words so he started using little drawings in letters. It feels to me that I am extending this idea into using dance and images in place of words.

Someone asked if there was going to be any narration...again I could quote Norman and say that words would spoil it!!

So I am getting there

I have a list of to do things each day and just work through it all...well not usually all ..some make it on to more than one days to do list! Mya's dancing has so much energy that I am glad I have two pieces of film of her and in the end I have chosen the other piece, not the one this image comes from. This will be paired with sand animation as a representation of the sea journey across the atlantic that Norman made in October 1939. I will also use Link's animated piece with wings for the sea hawk letter section. I think I need to make it a little more abstract to merge the wings and make them look less 'tacked on'. I could probably try adding some colour too.

I need to work on the swan too...and then draw up a list of credits. Actually I have been doing this as I go along, making sure I make a note of everyone who has been part of this process.

I have a section mixing water with dance and although I was sure this would be used I now have doubts. I can see my problem is what to leave out...not finding enough work to put in. A good problem to have tho...

skills and reflection

Perhaps this a good time to review the skills I am learning and think about how I will use them in the future.

Camera

Two years ago at the outset of my masters course I used my mobile for photos and any film I took stayed as a small disc impossible for me to transfer to any form of general use.
As a choreographer the development of both stills and video camera work is of enormous value.

Stills
My stills have been accepted for exhibition on two occasions and they are incredibly useful as a record of my work. I can see this will be of great value when I am applying for funding in the future and when talking about my work. It provides a fabulous research tool for dance and other areas in my working life and I am already using it to record teaching work in dance.

 I would like to make a good quality photo book either now or after my degree using some of the stills from my work filming dancers. I would like to give one of these to each of the dancers who have assisted me. This will also be  a good record of my journey. If I manage before the degree this is a way I would like to present work. Some of the photographs I have taken will be used hopefully in the final film...which may not be complete till after August.

 I initially used college equipment but have now bought a good stills camera. It has been a very important part of my journey through the masters and helps me to reflect on that journey. I can see many uses for this skill in developing background slides and maybe for printing on costume for performance. I am now involved with a group of women artists ( which would not have happened without the masters I am sure) and I now am able to photograph some of our development sessions and creation...this is new for me. These roots of development will I hope grow in the future.

Video
The video camera work is probably the most dramatic leap for me however.
I chose the masters screendance course originally because I wanted to make dance film.
I have always been frustrated by the transient nature of dance work. A choreography is made and seen in public primarily on stage. The first way to record this was through an elaborate notation system         ( Labanotation and Benesh notation both do this.) Filming is another way to make a record. This in itself is a good reason to learn to do it well. But I was interested in film as an art form in itself and using the film as part of the creative act. Norman McLaren made dance film...ahead of his time as usual...and it inspired me. Pas de Deux has an etherial quality beyond its choreography due to the way he worked with the film. Canon was also a dance film in a way, and Narcissus, his last film, was certainly a dance film.

I have watched many other dance films, in a completely different way. Some are of course merely a record of performance, others use the filming process as a creative tool. This is what I wanted to explore. I feel that my exploration of filming dance and making dance film is really just beginning, and I am excited about this exploration and where it will take me in the future.
My learning so far has brought about many possibilities for this with a variety of equipment and methods.
I can also identify ways of colaborating with film makers. As with all other technical aspects needed for performance work it helps greatly if you as a choreographer can empathise with the technicians.
If there had been more time I would like to have organised a placement with a film maker ...Ian Gardner or Katrina Macpherson or maybe Jessica Langford. Maybe I can do this one day anyhow!

Reading Katrina's book on making video dance has helped me enormously in developing my skills. some of the exercises she sets are perfect for building on learning and for ideas in experimenting with these new skills. Some of the techniques do not work for me however. ( they might come in useful in the future.)

I was especially pleased to find an old 16mm camera which one day I would like to learn to use. Again this highlights how much you learn to focus on the masters journey. the trick is to identify early on which ideas to pursue and which to file away on the shelf for another day!

Lighting
I did have some lighting experience before beginning the course but it was a long time ago and for stage not film. I have learned so much about lighting this semester. Which type of light to use...in daylight or indoors..angles for shooting...and in experimenting with all these options the learning goes further. My choice of lighting in the end has determined how I am working on my animation to add to the film. It has given me some problems however but I eventually found a good solution for this film. My aim is to have my own kit in the future which is lighter to carry but which I can use at any moment. When you are working in the way I have been...coordinating dancers, lights, space and camera you have to be ready to go at an hour's notice.

Photoshop
Having taken stills I am beginning to use photoshop as research, to make animation with those images.
In putting together images for presentation this has also been a skill to brush up on! I have managed to capture stills from my film too which I will need to work on.


Final Cut
This is one of the most difficult technical areas for me. I am not at my happiest in a dark room in front of a computer screen, and I have had to work extremely hard to get to grips with it! I am always reassured by the number of people who also find it hard. In the future I will have to make a decision about which edit software suits me best, purchase it and maybe upgrade my pc in order to accomodate this! I hope I will be able to work by a window looking out to the garden as I am now!!It has not helped that the edit suites in college are freezing cold even in mid summer due to the cold air fans directly above!! To someone prone to stiff neck this is a challenge. I have often found myeslf outdoors at 7 pm in 20 degrees hot sun wearing winter jackets after editing!
However the rewards are great. It has been a joy to see the film footage come together on screen and to play with qualities of time and light...and thus to choose the best film piece to work with. I have to come to grips with this but am aslo aware that in an ideal world I should have a team of people who are experts in the editing field. In the meantime, I am really enjoying using the edit process to create work in very different way from anything I have ever done before.
The final, and hardest challenge is to bring animation into my film in a way that does not seem out of place, but a natural progression of the ideas within the film.I have already had to re size my stills and to change the format of one section of film.
In the beginning I had not realised how hard it would be to log and capture if I had filmed using a variety of cameras.This was a tough lesson and I was so lucky to have expert help around when I needed it. I know I have given myself an almost impossible task in all that I would like in this film and that I will have to cut back on what I expect to achieve for the degree show, but I really excited about the future and working over the next two years to complete a longer version in time for the McLaren 2014 centenary.
En route it has been so tempting to keep exploring all the things final cut can do but I must hang on to those ideas for after the show. ( and to explore with the luxury of my own time and equipment)! For now I really have to make as complete a film as I can and try to convey the ideas I set out to explore!

After Effects
I have realised that although you attend an introduction to any process you will never fully absorb and learn until you need to use it. I look back and wish I had known early on which tools I would need, but also am aware that if I had learned eveything in great detail I would need another year!
After effects have allowed me to test effects I need and then decide how to achieve them. I am again just at th biginning in terms of the amount that might be used but this is a continuing process of learning and discovery.


Drawing
My drawing skills have developed hugely since embarking on the masters course.
My first drawings were quite stiff and heavy and I took quite a long time to make them. I also was quite sore!! In the beginning I was using them as a way of re-learning how to look at the human form, but it soon became obvious that here was a skill uniquely suited to me as a choreographer with a steady hand and keen sense of human form. As someone who observes movement all the time both as a choreographer and movement teacher and in my work as a massage therapist, my experience of drawing the body and movement seems to combine all my skills together. Drawing certainly affords an opportunity to look and see the world differently. When I draw I am looking beneath the surface of the everyday...seeing movement in a new way. I have also noticed that I use my muscle memory not only to remember where my hand has been drawing (a skill McLaren and others suggest is essential to animators) but also to remember the dance moves I have practiced myself in class. Soetimes I actually felt I had joined in the class!!Since I know that not everyone has developed such an intense muscle memory, this discovery has made me think about how I might use this in future. I have formed some ideas about leading movement classes for animators. I also have some plans to work on drawing and movement together within one class, for dancers and artists. It would be a great way to introduce each to the other's art form!

I have spent some time at Scottish Dance Theatre drawing class and rehearsal and will continue with this in future. Some of the dancers have said that they really enjoy having me there. I feel very connected with them while drawing, not least because I now know them better. I want to develop some of these sketches into more finished work, which I may offer to be used by the company in some way. Some of the dancers have expressed an interest in this idea.

Animation
As part of my programme of study  I wanted to introduce animation into my dance film. I was not fully aware in the beginning that I might be able to do this myself, but this is a skill which I have been working on.
Although my animation will be quite simple, I am choosing to work on something which I believe will enhance the emotional quality in my film. Norman McLaren began art school in the interior design department but once he discovered film he said he could not imagine wanting to back to 'still' art. The natural progression was to make moving drawings...for me as a choreographer to try to make animation has been really interesting. This is reminding me of McLarens interview where he said that his language was movement and if he had been a dancer he would still have been creating movement but in a different way. Again I am discovering how much my internal awareness of movement helps me. The technical leap from drawing to animating is challenging, however. But there would be no point if it was easy!

Animators and dancers both make and study movement... and I have so much still to learn!
For example, I had not really thought about the way gravity affects bird flight and the action of the wings. It now seems obvious to me, but when animating in 2D you have to think about timing in frames per second and movement divided into these frames. So slower movememnt requires more frames. ( slow dance movement requires more muscle control too interestingly enough!) This is akin to movement engineering it seems to me!  I am really enjoying the process. In particular the way I can use this skill within a film which deals with movement. It is a real journey of discovery and again I do not want to curtail the journey after August!!

Engineering skills run in the family, tho my father only passed the obvious (car) engineering on to the boys! I did, however inherit an ability to work things out for myself and a curiosity about the world around me. My father, Norman Mclaren's cousin,was an endlessly inventive human being and always keen to use things in unusual ways.And Norman's nephews also display this trait! I think of McLaren trying to work out all these(film) problems and discovering new techniques on his journey. I have learned to trust in myself much more on this masters journey and to try to be honest with my process. I would have liked to discover some new technique but I feel what I am doing is new.

Research
I have always loved reading, and exploring history, and finding out how things work. I have not had to write in such depth about research for a long time ( and certainly not on a computer...now I am showing my age!)
I have learned to be methodical in my research, again not being tempted to stray too much from the point. I know in the early days of my masters my fertile imagination was a a bit too overwhelming, even for me! It was great to be so excited about studying. Ideas come to me all the time, and one of the first things to draw me to Norman Mclaren was the little drawing he made on an xray of his head, illustrating some of the inner workings and thoughts in his brain. I remember thinking...my brain is a lot like that!! we are related so maybe that is true! But many artists have that kind of busy brain. I know it scares me how many ideas and thoughts race through, and when I am reading I have had to be very selective about what is relevant to my project and to find a way to store for the future what is not.

My first task has been to research Norman McLaren and during that process to try find a new story about him. I found this in a letter he wrote home sbout a skating experience he had in New York during a severe winter when the Hudson River froze. I found this fitted really well with my ideas of combining dance and film so set  about writing the script. I feel that as time has gone on I have become better at selecting material from my research which will enhance my story. I found images of his house near the Hudson, realised that like me he loved views of water (and swimming it seems). I also found images of that view by matching up addresses that he had lived at. As part of the research process I feel I am now able to link things together quite quickly and to assimilate that new knowledge and to write about it. In teeling of my story I have discovered that I am good at telling stories and plan to use my research to begin a book about Norman.
I have recently been encouraged by the response from others about my ideas and the discovery that others want to know more about this story. This would be a huge departure for me...but I feel it is something I could tackle with excitement! I would never have dreamed of this as something I could do before this last year.

Norman mcLaren;The creative mind..he rocks my kinetic heart

Norman McLaren's describes his animations as 'movements designed through time'  ( creative process)... and said of his own film work ' .speech would be alien.....most of my films have no speech.'
Andre Martin describes him as an 'inventor of unknown languages whose credit titles are written in half a dozen known ones! ( catalogue exposition 1965, Annecy)
there is no doubt that although, like many animators ,he was able to communicate without the use of speech in his film,  he was eloquent in the use of language when required to be. In fact he seems to have had a great ability to explain his methods. Of McLaren, Alexander Alexeieff said

                                      'He displays a tolerance (of other people) rarely associated with creative spirit. this makes him a n ideal teacher(Catalogue, Annecy, france, exposition of McLaren 1965).

He seems to have been a wonderfully sensitive human being, and like most creative minds, was constantly questing and questioning....When did this begin? How much was this due to his upbringing? His creativity was certainly not squashed. He describes his father as a pillar of the community...but also said that when he voiced an interest in Communism and Russia, his father paid for him to go..hoping he would chamge his mind!! (He did not...tho later says he became Christian not Communist).


In 'McLaren; The Creative Process ' there is a lovely decsription by McLaren himself of his metamorphosis into adulthood........How , being ''adolescently sensitive''he got  up in the morning and right away was  looking at the world through his window ...with a new awareness of light...looking over the Ochil hills which have an amazing light quality...aware of the colour in the garden in a new way...the flowers etc.He was living in a beautiful setting, beside Stirling Castle, looking across the hills.

When you are young I wonder if you imagine everyone sees the world in the same way. I do not think you really pause to consider it...
As a creative individual sometimes you do  realise that the way you see the world differs from those around you....I know that feeling well..... one day you look across to the hills and you see the most amazing horizon...blue sky....rolling hills ...cloud structures...light moving across.and the silhouhette of trees in the distance. ( this view would have been similar but not the same as McLaren's ).
You share that experience with someone else and sometimes find their experience was not the same at all. You realise they only saw the wall in the near distance and the cars passing!!! How differently we view the world.

                 'The films of Norman McLaren pose a problem-They force us to speak of things about which our own knowledge  remains imprecise, but which they themselves define perfectly in a wordless language.'

        
                  (Catalogue of the first exposition of Norman McLaren in France...Annecy 1965)


Another entry in the same journal gives an insight into the importance Canada has played in McLaren's career. At the same time as celebrating McLaren as a Scottish native....He is regarded by many as a Canadian...                    
                                          ' Canada nursed him, pampered him,indulged and protected him;from pressures which, anywhere else in the world would have extinguished  his fireworks before they had been ignited. ' When something new comes out of Scotland it never emerges, it erupts!Whisky, Bagpipes, Norman McLaren!!'
                                         (  Derek Hill, Catalogue for Annecy, France exposition of McLaren films 1965)


presumably the writer had seen McLaren's film, blankity blank where he achieved a firework effect by adding blank  frames to the animation...McLaren said of this film that he was trying to understand the laws of the phenomenon of persistance of vision while making it. He was meticulous and worked fanatically in all his creative projects.There are examples in his letters of his own accounting......lists of outgoings and income worked out to the last penny. His brother, Jack, was an accountant so this was obviously a family trait.
And the film 'Mony A Mickle' refers to this 'thrift'. this is nsupposedly a Scottish trait...branded by Harry Lauder sa meanness!! BUt I think the Scots are just incredibly creative and can make something out of very little resources when needed!! McLaren refers to this thrift as a great spur for craetive thinking. I have to agree. Deadlines and low budget can make your creative brain work overtime...tho I would not suggest we can do without funds altogether!!

Pete Seeger, the musician , said of him' genius...defined as someone with an infinite capacity for taking pains. this fits Norman to a T'

This clip is of blankity blank which was really quite a revolutionary idea when it appeared....and typical of McLaren's trying to get top the root of a problem.............................playing with timing and perception.

'Sometimes he rocks my kinetic heart...'  Len Lye
                                     

Body Space Image

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!!
       

Masterclass Richard Layzell

Last week I joined a fabulous masterclass with Richard Layzell on Performance Art. It was a really mixed group of students from Philosophy, Art, Media Art, Time Based Art,Fine Art and me from Animation and Visualisation masters. We started out with a mix of warm ups which I enjoyed and which were good as starting points for those new to performance, and also for me to remind myself of where I come from! Richard was good at choosing warm up material for such amixed group. It was a pretty hectic week for me so I spent some time deciding whether it was relevant to me at all, but was assured by Pernilla and Mel that it would be a great experience for me. They were right!
As a dancer/ choreographer I have spent many hours putting together performance, but performance art is something I had not fully engaged with, except for a day as a  clown at the launch of a Dundee exhibtion many years ago!! I know I needed to think about a different approach for my Masters project so this was a great way to begin.
What struck me first was Richard's presence. He is very gentle gentleman! He has a wealth of experience which he only touched on in day 3. And he has an air of timelessness...he could be from the 20s 40s rather than present day. One of the films he showed on our final day reminded me of one of the actors Norman McLaren used for Neighbours. It also turned out Richard and I know many of the same people around dance and theatre.
Quite quickly on day one he had us all doing a short sketch about our surroundings. I was amazed at the speed with which Richard facilitated this with non performers- a tribute to his ability as a workshop leader and his individual qualities. I was also really impressed with the fantastic ideas generated by the group.....and so was Richard!! We commented on it later.
Day 2 saw us all out in public making a filmed performance piece. I had decide I would dance...tho the task was risk taking so I had to find a risky setting...I ended up inside and outside the overgate shopping centre and sang as well as danced. In some ways the risks I perceived did not actually exist in the end. A bit like the adrenaline rush before a show.I am used to putting myself into another 'head space' when I perform and I am able to shut out the outside world..but also to interact at the same time. In fact my dance piece became really interesting when an old man stopped to stare then started asking me if I was doing this for charity....do we somehow have permission to do MAD things in public if it is for a good cause?? interesting debate to be had here!!!So I had to both stay 'in the zone' and interact with this guy....
In terms of my own project, McLaren would have been intensely shy about performing, but at the same time I believe, able to be in that zone too. It felt like a very McLaren thing to do somehow....I can't explain why yet but think it will become clear.When the group saw back my film they could not believe what I had done.
It has always amazed me how different personal comfort zones can be and what people find to be 'scary'!
On day 3 we worked indoors to create a third piece based on all our work in the previous two days.
My idea was based around my dance piece...which involved a symbolic throwing off of clothing items....trying to free myself...The group I worked with helped develop this into something the whole 12  or so of us could do as a performance.
I also had wondered what would happen if we all turned to look at the audience and turned them into the show. So we combined these two ideas......and that ran well into the next group's piece.
All in all it was a brilliant experience and as I reflect on it I know it will find a way into my final work net year!

Norman's Skates

 

In the archive in Stirling University there are some of McLaren's letters home. He wrote weekly to his mother back home in Stirling. One of the letters refers to the ice flow moving up and down the Hudson River with the tide. I was in Newburgh (Scotland) the week before I read this letter and the ice flow was in fact doing that exact thing........ There was also a description of Norman skating. It struck me that this was something that would be good to focus in on. I foung these skates of my dads and worked with them.trying to animate them to tell their own story....I need to work on it, but there is the seed of an idea here......                        

Who was Norman?

This is a photograph of Norman McLaren's mother Jane Cross Wilson Smith ( known as Jeannie,centre front) and 6 of  her 7 siblings. My grandfather James Parker Smith is on the right in the back row.The photo was taken in 1901 at Little Earnock, a farm near  Hamilton shortly after the death of her parents Thomas, a tennant farmer, in 1896 and Jeannie Cross Parker, his wife, in 1897. The youngest son Abe was only 9. All eight of them moved to Perthshire in 1902 .(the farm in Hamilton has now gone, giving way to property development and a street called Earnock Way!)

A relative of the Cross family married Elizabeth Burns, a cousin of Robert Burns, our Scottish bard! They lived in Canada.

John McLaren of Hamilton (born 1805) ran a painting and decorating shop in the town which was taken over by his sons, James, David, John and William (Norman's father)
Jeannie must have known William before she moved to Perthshire and although he was in London in 1902 (when she went to Perthshire), somehow they got back together and married in 1905.

I did not know my grandfather, James, as he dies when my father was very young. As a result we did not have close contact with the McLaren family when I was growing up. I feel that women are more likely to keep in touch with their own family than their husbands...tho I am curious to know how the young Mary (my Grandmother) coped with three children alone with her own family so far away in Norfolk.

                                                      The McLaren family
                                             Jeannie Jack Sheena Norman and William

Her sister in law Jeannie McLaren also had three children by now   seen above.

For Mary (nee Cartwright) life must have been hard with three young children on her own.the eldest Ivy was born just three years after Norman,in 1917 but suffered from thyroid problems in her early life which affected her mental development. She was a georgeous child, but must have been difficult. I remember her innate musical ability...she could not read or write anything legible or understandable, but she could play by ear the most difficult tunes. My father was born in 1920 and his brother Aubrey a few years later.Ivy was the only one from memeory who was at all musical
Norman also played piano...and my own son Finn has learned piano mostly by ear...although he has now developed his music theory to a high level.

The Smith family

Tom Mary Robert John

Abe Jessie James Jeannie

It seems from gathered descriptions that William, Norman's father was an intelligent man... I do not know much about Jeannie except that there are many comments about her dress and she certainly she was very pretty when she was young. Her sister Jessie a spinster , came to live with them and by all accounts was a bit of a tyrant,selfish and not very helpful. In this photo she is in the front row second from.left...she certainly looks quite formidable! the sixth  sibling Tom is also in this photo.

"Thought of You"

Possibly the best animated dance piece I have seen so far. Having also looked at the blog on how this was made, I love it even more.The quality of movement Ryan achieves is really moving...in all senses of the word!!! I think the fact that he worked very closely with the choreographer of this piece is key to how he manages to transmit the emotion of the work.
The music is also really lovely...there has been an instant reaction from everyone I have shown it to....and I gather the same experience has been had by many others!! The choreography follows the music in a great way...catching the meanings behind the words beautifully. The potential of animation to add another level to the work is clear here. Somehow the extensions of leg, arm etc just seem to last a tiny bit longer....holding on to the best qualities of the dance and increasing them......
The overall length of the piece is also just right..tho I can see this developed into a suite of dance pieces following a story...maybe two solos..a group piece.
It certainly grabbed me and I was left thinking......  I WISH I COULD DO THAT !!

erica russell Triangle

I was about to look at Erica Russell's 'Feet of Song ' again this morning and discovered 'Triangle' which is another piece of work by Russell.
Erica's capturing of dance, line, quality and rhythm is particularily moving.
it is obvious that she has also had some dance training and reassures me that for a dancer to work with animation is a very logical progression in the creative process I am engaging with.

animated dance Erica Russell 'Feet of Song'

Feet of Song
A Film by Erica Russell

Russell addresses African rhythm and dance in this film in an almost cubist style.
This film was introduced to me by my photographer friend Marysia and I particularily like the tones of colour used in it. I studied Afro Caribbean dance technique during my years in Jamaica in the 70's and this film reminds me of that time. Studying the dance style helped me to understand the roots of many of the people there ( although the indiginous people of Jamaica were in fact the Arawak indians and they were wiped out by invaders and disease! Indians, Africans, Chinese, Libyans, Europeans and other nationalities were introduced to Jamaica over the centuries through the slave trade, Sugar industry etc).




I learned recently that Robert Burns was due to emigrate to Jamaica to work in the sugar industry along with many other Scots, but got his customs and excise work instead! I wish I had known that all those years ago!I did of course do a Burns supper while I was there...tho trying to explain 'Pusie Nancy' was interesting!

Norman McLaren, the creative mind

Norman McLaren's place in the history of animation is that of a pioneer of technique. Transcripts of interviews with him later in life bring the reader in touch with a shy sensitive, multi sensory man who saw the world in a very unique way. He was deeply affected by the world around him and his films respond to that world . My interest is in examining the man behind the films.

Just as the architect's work has no meaning if you do not look at the space it encloses, we as humans would not be alive if not for the spaces between our heartbeats or our breathing in and out. As a choreographer I am interested in the spaces between things also. the interim between one pose and another is filled with movement and the choreographer's task is to find a unique way to make that transition. This seems akin to the animator's art. What lies in the mind of the creative artist between idea and realisation also holds great fascination for me.(As does the space between the performance and the audience interpretation and reaction).

McLaren also discussed the space between. In his own words;

Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art
of movements that are drawn.What happens between each
frame is more important than what exists on each frame.
Animation is therefore the art of manipulating the
invisible interstices that lie between the frames
( Collins 1976)

As a dancer the appearance of stillness is difficult to to achieve without extreme discipline. It is intersting that McLaren subjected himself to sucha test of discipline (in his field) in making 'lines vertical' and 'lines horizontal' (Furniss 2007).

McLaren's sensitivity and acute awareness of movement, stillness, dance and music makes his work unique. Maynard Collins' book on Norman McLaren does give great insight into McLaren the man(1976). Maureen Furniss examines the context in which McLaren's work now sits in 'Art in Motion, Animation Aesthetics (2007).

A dancer can never achieve total stillness.Every muscle will be twitching to keep balance, your heart and lungs still performing their essential movements.Animators recognise this and manage to achieve that constant
'flicker'in the shift from one frame to the next.

Stanislavsky suggested stillness is the ultimate movement skill.

(to be continued!)

Norman as choreographer?

These are short clips from a film made by Norman McLaren. Pas de deux being one of a number using dancers.It is clear McLaren had a great interest in movement and dance.My recent research has evealed, in fact that he loved dancing. His film made at art college, 'Camera Makes Whoopee' ,has a large section of dance in it and I already see in this the accute spatial awareness that I think made him unique.It is interesting to note that one of the reasons he engaged in dance film was as a teaching aid for ballet dancers. Ballet Adagio was expressly for this purpose. He always seems to have been ready and willing to share his ideas and although he was a shy man in many ways, he was nevertheless a good communicator.


Norman McLaren was a pioneer of technique. He was an animator but also a director, musician, artist and keen observer of humanity.A multi faceted individual who had so many great ideas . It probably goes without saying that he was also an incredibly hard worker! He threw himself heart and soul into his projects, and that shows in his films. It is interesting to note how many of his films still seem relevant today. The film techniques may in some cases seem quite dated but often the subject matter overrides this, I feel ,and  films like 'Neighbours' have as much power to move emotions as they must have done in 1950.

He had a great sympathy for oppressed people of the world.I wonder if his mother encouraging him to go to visit the 'slums' near his home increased his awareness of those less fortunate than him.I have recently wondered if those 'slums' were in fact 'The Raploch' which is at present undergoing an amazing regeneration.

So what was it that was so special about him as a person? How did he generate ideas?
He once said that if he had been a dancer he would have created movemnt in a very different way, but movement was nevertheless his main language as an animator.His was constantly trying to bring some sense of motion to his paintings as a student, and film presented the solution.

So how would a Norman McLaren choreography look?
This is one of the questions I hope to explore in my masters degree.

music and film

I am always amazed that Norman was doing this by 1950..no paper...straight on to the film!!
The ultimate marriage of image and sound.....showed this to my son `finn who is a musician and we had a great conversation about it. He felt he would like to try the technique!!
This must also be amazing for him since now when you play a cd on your pc you have a visual automatically to accompany it!!