hagalaz & the banister

There is something about childhood in the American suburban neighborhood that magnetizes adolescents into a digital realm. When I went home to Texas to visit my family last year I met my little brother for the first time since he was an infant. Now seven years old he spent most of his time playing minecraft and other video games. Was his decision to play inside the house despite it being a beautiful summer day, and despite having friends in the neighboring house, driven by desire, habit, or the forces of a hypnotic technological landscape? 


In many ways our geometric street patterns and circuit like housing blocks form a type of human scale motherboard. A gateway into cyberspace, that invites every child of the suburbs to travel between two worlds: the physical, and the digital. Cyberspace functions as an explorable fantasy world, not unlike the world through the wardrobe of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia. Causing these children to develop a split life, often with responsibilities and freedoms varying between the two worlds they inhabit. 


What becomes of the body when the mind enters cyberspace?

There are two themes that drive my exploration of this becoming:


1: the unstoppable force of change,

&

2: the power of stoppage to bring about change.

The unstoppable force of change is represented in the title of the piece; “Hagalaz” Which is Norse mythology’s rune of change. In its mythology Hagalaz is representative of the kind of change that is brought about by hail. It is an unstoppable force from the skies that knocks dead branches from the trees to allow space for new growth. In the choreographic world of the piece this is brought about by entropic movement scores that persist in orchestrating a constant escalation of the moving body.

The power of stoppage to enact change is understandable through the metaphor of a staircase banister, which serves as the threshold between an upper level and the path that leads beneath it. It's an obstruction that is not intended to dissuade the traveler, but instead to force a rerouting to a clearer, safer path. Choreographically, this is embodied through movement scores that invite limitation and interruption of movement pathways.


I’m particularly interested in posing these questions of change & becoming to our increasingly technologically reliant society. The key way that this conversation emerges in my choreography is through a prosthetic television head that is adorned by the dancers. The contrast and combination of the structured apparatus and the human body allow for a visualization of the processes taking place within the psyche when one enters cyberspace. It serves as a visual representation for a body that remains fixed while the mind is transported elsewhere.



When the dancer dons the computer helmet it results in an altered transhumanoid figure that is slightly threatening, visually off putting, and calls the audience to reflect on the moments of their lives when they have themselves entered into this relationship. Additionally, the weight of the helmet alters the mover's center of gravity and forces a change in movement quality, which results in a unique structure within which all movement resides.