How can I duplicate myself,
so I can have a dance companion?
Daydreaming
Dance Film. 2021. premiere
By incorporating movement with film and technology, the work allows Ye to uncover and visualize the relationship between her art and psyche. A single entity of herself splits, merges, and multiplies as she tries to find a way out. Unbeknownst to herself, her surroundings have become a labyrinth with dead ends and spirals.
L.A. DANCE CHRONICLE
At first the incongruous perspective of legs dangling from the ceiling of a cream colored room, with the character struggling, perhaps hanging, perhaps crawling down the wall to a door that seemed to be the only way out. Even though there appeared to be a way to the outside world, the traps were many, with a ghostly alter ego challenging our main character both daring and chiding her and sometimes soothing the trapped disoriented Ye. Eventually, both Ego and Alter Ego, in a fascinating duet, opens the door and leads to steps to nowhere. Ye’s “Daydreaming” creates a series of surreal moments, and an imaginative rendering of what appears to be the deadly fires of 2020. Then it ends with curious roguery by making a pithy point to end of the piece. The filmmaking and movement is a fascinating and fun work which reflects the metaphor of the curious and unnerving months of the last year. A remarkable and interesting work.
— Joanne DiVito
Watch the work ↓
Rourou’s work sits at the intersection of movement, technology, film, and visual art. A true product of our time, I am fascinated by the ways in which this work is always in the present tense, exactly where she is at while navigating the precariousness of time, place, and purpose. She is not choreographing so much as she’s assembling – objects, scenarios, bodies, realities – and probing the what, why, and where of it all. Like choreography, her work is design-oriented, but it is far more vested in uncertainty, as is fitting for making art in these times.
Melanie George
Associate Curator, Jacob’s Pillow
THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTES:
I was craving interpersonal interaction through movement, and I was fascinated by the power of projection in my previous work Dis/placed, which led to curious thoughts:
What would happen and what would it look like if I was able to face myself inside of the projection? Too normal? What about an upside-down version of myself? What if it was NOT a pre-recorded video, but a live-feed projection that’s upside down? How will “they” react to each other? What will be interesting conceptually and visually through this presentation? What story will this unfold?
I started to dance with myself.
Choreography/Performance/Filming/Editing by Rourou Ye
Text/Voice/Sound/Lighting by Rourou Ye
Piano Composition/Performance by Sophia Shen
During the beginning of the process, I spent a lot of time just “being” with myself, looking at myself from another person’s perspective. I felt like I knew this person really well, but it was also kind of strange. I was unsure which one of us was doing the active looking and thinking…
This exploration created some familiar yet bizarre feelings and perceptions I have toward myself, and I had a fun time discovering various ways to interact with myself physically through manipulations of perspective and the camera angles.
Most of my ideas started from the prototypes ↑
It was extremely exciting to work on all these images with the little knowledge I have of video editing and projection. “Will I be able to actualize what’s possible in my mind and on paper?” I kept reminding myself to make this work as organic as possible, meaning not to use too many technical manipulations nor massive post video editing. It was more intriguing for me to have the work possess a magical effect using the simplest possible method.
Yet to actualize my ideas was not easy at all.
It’s not only a matter of choreography but also set design, lighting design, and projection design.
How can I transform my living room into a dreamlike place to match the tone of the film?
What colors match that tone? I play around with various lights, tape down the entire floor, and adjust the color settings in both the projector and camera over and over again to find the sweet spot.
I need the right projector that can work with and won’t distort other bright light sources.
And the list goes on and on….
It still isn’t perfect...
The final version of Daydreaming uses a portion of an earlier iteration that was performed live online and mixed that with pre-recorded content to create a more sophisticated work.
An earlier iteration of live online performance↑
PROJECT
HISTORY
DANCE CAMERA WEST
2220 Arts & Archives, Los Angeles
March 26, 2022
SHIFT/WEST RESIDENCY
Brockus Project Dance/LA Dance Festival, Los Angeles
April-May 2021
DANCING FUTURES RESIDENCY 2021
Pepatián: Bronx Arts ColLABorative in partnership with BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, New York
March 2020 - July 2021
DANCE MAGAZINE
Friday Film Break
February 17 - 13, 2022
FINISHING FUND GRANT
Dance Camera West, Los Angeles
August-December 2021
BIRDS OF A FEATHER-BAAD!ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL 2021
Curated by Rourou Ye
Bronx Academy of Dance and Art , New York
26 May 2021, Virtually worldwide