The Valley of Astonishment & Bewilderment
June 22nd, 2009
Static is both everything and nothing. It has a chaotic attraction.
The Valley of Independence
June 9th, 2009
Ideas inspired mostly by the mathematical references in some of the verses…………from a fish to the moon.
The Valley of Unity
May 25th, 2009
A visual idea based on coloured wax being mixed together.
The Valley of the Quest
May 25th, 2009
Grains of millet idea
The Valley of Understanding
May 10th, 2009
Somes ideas based on a fingerprint pattern but could also be a maze. Ignore the audio thats just for me, it gives me a structure to work within.
The Valley of Love
May 3rd, 2009
A short example of a visual idea for this valley
Notes
For a long time now I have regularly used this visual to represent love and passion, so this seems like a good place to start. It is actually the output of an maths equation in the form of a Cellular Automata algorithm.
This example is fairly low resolution so there is scope to improve the quality.
The nature of the maths formula is such that the pattern is slightly different each time it runs, also, the shape will slowly mutate over time, this means I can create a unique variation lasting for the 3 minutes you require.
The speed, or rate of change , of the animation is very important and can be controlled to suit the required tempo, some idea of the music you propose to use and how you are going to choreograph each section would be most useful, I could let you see it at different speeds to see which you feel would integrate best with the dancers and the music. From years of playing live visuals I prefer organic to mechanistic synchronisation and have found that I can usually find a rate of change of the animation to produce a visually pleasing effect that works well with a particular piece of music. The introduction of a new motion element , your dancers, really interests me. The challenge then, I feel, is to harmonise the rhythms of all three elements, dance, music and visuals. Note that I can also vary rate of change throughout a piece.
Still images from the video.
“A man must himself be fire. The face of the lover must be enflamed, burning and impetuous as fire. True love knows no after-thoughts; with love good and evil cease to exist.”
C S Nott prose rendering, Pir Press, 1998 edition.
-/-
Conference of the Birds Project – Renadance
May 3rd, 2009
Project Brief
I will have about 6 to 8 dancers on the stage and mostly as a chorus they will dance the crossing of 7 valleys (7 paths of Sufi way). They will have costumes (mostly handpainted white silk, we are working on them), so movement would be great.
I am planning each valley for about 3 min and thought it would be nice to express it with colores and movement, I can give you so far images and colors, which runs thru my mind:
1. Quest: starts in the dark, stars tremble, the husk of light dies out over the bruised brow of enamelled earth.
….when you begin the Valley of the Quest, misfortunes will deprive you of all rest, new trouble terrifies etc. – this is taken from the book (I like the Penguin classic translation – do you have it?)
2. Love: red, orange – fire
3. Understanding (Insight into Mystery) : purple, many different ways, a maze? everybody finds their own way to reach the goal
4. Detachment: seeing the Earth from a distance, the planets – all are just a spark in your eye. everything freezes, a hundred thousands souls is like one drop of the ocean. If earth and heaven were to pass away, one grain of gravel would have gone astray…..heaven and hell is reduced, nothing here has value – old or new, the hours fall backwards, lies are born as true. The only way is to sustain your labor, which is unknown to you. If the world is gone, the fear dissapears as well.
5. Unity: everything melts together here, as if the whole world is made of a wax> it is like a toy – a coloured palm tree given to a boy, but made of wax – now knead it in your fist,…. the lovely forms and colours are undone…. all things are one. it is a graceful and very pleasant feeling.
6. Bewilderment/Astonishment: chaos, depression, a place of pain, longing for a death. You are so blinded by grief that you cant even recognize a day from night. Blood drips from every hair, in ice you fry, in fire you freeze. the way is lost with you indecisive steps. you burn with love, but dont know who is the beloved. You doubt your doubt. Your heart is empty, you dont know anymore who you are, but you are filled with love.
7. Poverty/Nothingness/Annihilation: white. here you are lame and deaf, the mind has gone. shadows dissapear. nothing is all and all is nothing. If you recognize, that you are nothing, you will feel great in this ocean and remain your beauty. It is the moth flying into the flames.