Presented by UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS)

Streaming On Demand through May 15, 2022

Drawing on their years of exploration at the intersection of choreography and technology, Bay Area dance companies Smith/Wymore Disappearing Acts (SWDA) and Kinetech Arts collaborated with dancers at UC Berkeley to create two captivating films:

In Search of an Outcome (directed by Sheldon B. Smith and Lisa Wymore of SWDA) investigates the similarities between machine learning and the creative choices used in making dance improvisation. The piece also examines how we form ourselves in relationship to our environment, other people, and the time in which we live. SWDA co-created the piece with eight dynamic dancers who explore computer augmented movement instructions and seek connections between themselves and their environment.

Detour (directed by Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang of Kinetech Arts) is a reflection on two years of uncertainties, fear, and solitude, as well as a continuation of ongoing research on non-deterministic technologies, scientific concepts, and choreography. Kinetech Arts developed the piece in collaboration with seven dancers and four musicians, who brought playfulness and tenderness to the piece. Detour invites the audience into a space that is both familiar and strange.

Learn more and watch the teaser trailer at tdps.berkeley.edu/bdp22

[ID: Freddie G. / In Search of an Outcome, photograph shows a line of three dancers with large clear bubbles on their heads. Dancers are partially submerged in darkness with their backs to the camera.]