First Rehearsal - 1st October 1999

Participating in the first rehearsal

We began the rehearsal using a listing with a password for entry, which could only be found on the Hands-On Dance Project Web site.  However, we decided not to use the password after a few minutes because we did not want to exclude people from the project.  Over the next hour and a half we had several visitors, although only one came via the Web site and he joined us much later on in the rehearsal.  Many people watched for a few minutes and then left, offering little or nothing in the way of comments.

However, two people joined us very near the beginning and stayed with us throughout the time.  Neither of them were very experienced in watching or taking part in dance, but by the end of the session they were:

At the beginning there was a great deal of chat, but as the rehearsal continued there were periods of silence while the two participants watched the dance.  They both took down the URL for the Web site at the end of the session, and the one who had joked more during the rehearsal made a submission within an hour of the end of it.

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Examples of Text Chat from the Rehearsal

Below are some sections from the text chat during the rehearsal.  Participants A and B are the two people who had not visited the Hands-On Dance Project Web site prior to the rehearsal.  Participant C joined us later through the instructions on the Web site.

Fairly early in the rehearsal, after the dancers showed a short section:
Participant A: that was pretty good
dreamers: Thank you Participant A-
Participant A: even better with such pretty women
dreamers: It's very slow today - we're having to manage on a modem
dreamers: we were hoping to get ethernet
Participant A: this works, you just have to move slowly

Participant A has already made the suggestion that the dancers move nearer to the camera to be clearer:
Participant A: i have another suggestion
dreamers: Go ahead
Participant A: woman with the short hair has a shirt that is too dark
dreamers: She's just going to change
dreamers: Is that better
Participant A: one sec
Participant A: yes it is
Participant A: have her roll her sleeves up so i can see her arms though
Participant B: spin til you puke
Participant B: spin til you puke
dreamers: good - we'll sort out better colour to work in for next week
Participant B: dang they acutaly are great dancers
dreamers: thanks Participant B - that's great

Soon after this:
dreamers: we can't hear what your saying Participant B
Participant B: oh!   i said hold that pose
Participant B: but too late
dreamers: oh, sorry
dreamers: can you describe it
Participant B: yeah girl in grey was on knees and girl in blue was archin her back
dreamers: they are just trying to remember it
dreamers: is that right
Participant B: yeah almost
Participant B: it was framed perfect though    youll never duplicate the beau
Participant B: hehehe

We had a lot of problems with the framerate, as we were often working on around 0.5 frames per second:
Participant C: are her movements angular, and sharp, or carving?  I'm seeing a series of poses, which comes across as a very sharp dance...is that what she's trying to convey?
[other text]
dreamers: No, it is very smooth in fact, and it is a framerate problem
[other text]
Participant B: here is usa we like t shake it up when we dance... you know get freaky with it
[other text]
dreamers: We can't get freaky because the framerate is too low
[other text]
Participant B: I see,  this is awsome given your space and frame rate limitations

The session finished with the following greetings:
Participant B: mabye all the dancers could wave goodbye before you leave
dreamers: The dancers are saying goodbye - we have to go
Participant B: you wave too typer
dreamers: Thank you all for joining us
dreamers:
Participant A: that would include you sita
dreamers: oK I'm going to wave
Participant B: peace out englands finest
[other text]
dreamers: see you all again - go to the web site
Participant A: (private) give the url again
dreamers: http://goehr.leeds.ac.uk/sita/hands-on/project1.htm
Participant B: best dancers right there
Participant C: Will do--Nice job, Danni.  Wish I could've seen the rest of you.
dreamers: looking forward to seeing you again
Participant B: they the best
dreamers: Thanks
Participant B: peace
dreamers: bye

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Some thoughts from one of the dancers

I have had email for quite some time now, and have also used the Net to research for college assignments.  I was surprised by how amazing the Net was, with such an immense range of information available that seemed to hold the possibility of changing the way many people work and live.  This rehearsal, however, seemed to top everything!  You can't begin to believe how special it felt to be dancing in a studio in England, and yet have a number of people all around the world watching, commenting and suggesting movement material for you.  One guy sang for us to dance to, another played us music.  If felt like I was giving pleasure to others at the same time as thoroughly enjoying the process.

The pauses (i.e. from typing delays) are exciting - will the person return comment?  Both parties were collaborating with real integrity, participating at will.  It was for me a true collaboration.  Pariticipants weren't directed in any way and ideas unfold for both parties simultaneously.  It was inspiring.  I felt that because the "surfers" were anonymous that they were more willing to participate and felt at less risk of "failure".

Technically this first session highlighted problems of:

This was useful to us to discover in order to improve the link for future, more complex rehearsals.  All in all it was cutting edge, enthralling, inspiring.  I really felt as if I had been somewhere else in the world during those two hours.

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Other rehearsals

We have now had three more rehearsals since the first one, described above.  They have all proved to be exciting in their own ways.  At the second rehearsal we were joined by someone who got up and danced with our dancers!  This was thrilling, and quite unexpected.  We have also been visited by people who have made submissions to the Web site.  They could see the dances made around their inspirations and give us further instructions, or discuss in more detail how the dance was made.  We  have also had suggestions and experimented with how to put some of the dance phrases together.

However, we have decided that at this stage in the project it would be better to rehearse with people who wish to be involved, rather than with open rehearsals where we have many people dropping in all the time.  So now we are asking you to contact us to arrange rehearsal times.  We can meet just for a few minutes or for an hour and a half, and we don't mind if you just want to watch us, or if you want to take an active part in the rehearsal.  Please get in touch if you want to set up a time with us.

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The rehearsals are a lot of fun, as well as giving us more material for the dance.
You can join us for videoconference rehearsals - click here for more details.


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