PROJECT BRIEF

TITLE :  "JUST DANCE!"

DETAILS : This is a project about the 3 different types of dances in Malaysia,namely Joget, Inang and Zapin. From information gathered the dances will be projected on a 2 metre cloth. This is so to show the smoothness, soft and graceful gestures in the dances. The user will have an interactive choice of selecting 3 buttons whereby when pressed each display a different dance. The dances will have effects applied to them to make them look more attractive to the user.

AIMS/MISSION 

: To attract the youth to culture by focusing on the dance aspect of it.

 : To present traditional dances of Malaysia in a more colorful way

 : To focus on the graceful and calm gestures within the dances.

 : To show the playfulness and fun contained in the dances to the youth

 : To broaden knowledge on Malay dance culture to foreigners from a foreigners  perspective.                                          

Songs to use during performances : Inang Gerimis kesian dia
                                                      Joget Kelantan
                                                      Zapin telok belangah


*PROCESSING EFFECTS

-Pixellate

- Posterize (to add extra colors later)

-Ink bleed effect

For my final idea I decided to use Adobe After Effects to give the performance more vibrance . I plan to shoot the dancers in a green screen room while performing with their props, then transform and add effects to those videos.

-Silhoutte effect Click here

Samples of effects and patterns to use

DRAFT OUTLINE 

CONTRACT

This includes a detailed outline of floor plan, flowchart, storyboard, gantt chart and budget for my final idea.

RESEARCH AND PRECEDENCE STUDIES

JUST DANCE

For my idea on "Preservation of Dance in Malaysia" I had to do a lot of deep research into the dance steps. This was a challenge since I am from Botswana,so the whole experience is new.  I meet up with the malay dance society of Multimedia University during their practicing hours. The group is called Sakti.
I got to see live performances of Joget,Inang and Zapin. Also I got to interview their dance instructor Nur Azalan who was very helpful.

From the interview I learnet that the Zapin dance is a more of a form of "play dance." This means the performance is done in a narrative way telling a story. This dance is done in pairs of male and female. A unique thing about this dance is the elegance and the swaying of hands. There is no physical contact of the men and women but that doesnt ditort the message at all,in fact it makes the dance even more enduring.
Joget is more of a courship dance of the male inticing the female. The steps are in a 8 and 16 step of the feet. As Mr Azalan explained the movement is in a swaying way. The hands,made into a fist, move up and down on the side at chest level. The introduction starts with an 8-count motion of the legs. The dance steps the left leg,then the right leg,extending to the side.

This motion is repeated 3 times. From here the dancer combines the swaying of the hands and the 8-count step of the feet moving forward. In this step the dancer moves forward and backwards as in a circle,repeating the motion.

The following step the dance starts if off with the back of their foot on the ground and the toes lifted up. They move forward doing the 8-16 count step and at this step they lift their foot as they move forward. 

   

REFERENCES

For my idea I want to focus more on the artistic movements of Inang, Joget and Zapin dance. I want these motions to be the highlight of my project. For the audience to appreciate with creative beautiful observation. The 1st idea I liked is Shadow Projection.

Why Shadow? From observation I have noticed when most dancers practice they tend to look at themselves a lot in mirrors( dance studios are usually filled with mirrors). Shadow is a reflection of an object made by light,more like an abstract reflection. It's not always a "what-you-see-is what-you-get" type of observation. Shadows are different according to time of day and light direction. Likewise in dance movements vary according to the music/rhythm. When looking at any dance most  movements are fast and flash right before your eyes. You don't get to grasp the message or what's happening in front of you long enough to capture the beauty of the dance/gestures.

Therefore I plan to do a Shadow installation art piece in order to "capture" or "freeze" the moment of the elegance and gracefulness of the combined Malaysian dances. The process would include pieces of mannequins,paper,wire or cables arranged  in such a way that they portray a step by step dance routine of Joget,Inang and Zapin dances. These will be portrayed in shadows. It would be like a tutorial of the dance movements using shadows,hence teaching the public about the dances in the frozen movements. I plan to bring LIGHT into dance movements that we tend to overlook and miss out on.

In dance a story is interpreted through the movements. One has to FEEL the music in order to bring out the creative moves and with shadows you have to LIGHT the object to reveal that shadow therefore I want to manipulate this theory into my installation.

During my research I came across some awesome works of how artists played creatively with shadows. For example:

 

Artist Larry Kagan uses wire : Shadow from wires

Shadow sculptures

Artist Olafur Eliasson : Shadow with Color

Shadow Sculpture

In a nutshell : SHADOW + LIGHT + DANCE + MUSIC = EMOTION!!

PRESERVATION OF DANCE IN MALAYSIAN CULTURE

My final choosen idea for my Final Year Project is "Dance Culture In Malaysia."

POSTER

During my research I came across the MMU dance society which specialize in Malay,Indian and Chinese dances. For my project the focus is on Malay race. 

PRECEDENCE STUDIES

ABOUT

Generally, Malay dances are divided into two main categories which are the “original” Malay dances and “adopted” Malay dances. The “original” Malay dances are indigenous to the Malay region, encompassing Sumatra, the Malay Peninsular, Singapore, the Riau Archipelago and Borneo, and its origins can be traced back to the early Malay civilizations. The “adopted” Malay dances are influenced by foreign cultures due to political and historical events. The various forms or styles of Malay dance are further categorized by its beats (rentak) and rhythm (irama).

JOGET: The Joget dance (also called the Ronggeng) was introduced to the Malays in Malacca during the early 16th century. Its origins may be traced back to two popular Portuguese folk dances and Middle East. It is  performed at cultural festivals, wedding celebrations and many other social functions.Joget is also known as the Rentak Lagu Dua which describes the interaction between couples in portraying a song with liveliness and cheerfulness.  It has 12 stages of dance steps depicting the love story of a couple from courtship till their wedding.

How its done? Joget follows the rythm of the music instruments. It is a 1 & 2 step by step dance. There is transference of weight to the 1 & 2 beats.

ZAPIN :  Zapin dance on Malay culture and arts started alongside the spread of the Islamic religion in the 15th century.The word “Zapin” itself means “feet movement." This dance and its music was introduced by Arab traders form Yemen. Zapin performances were popular among the royalty. The music for Zapin comes from traditional instruments, which includes the lute gambus), gypsy type bongos (marwas), small single-frame hand drums (rafa’i), accordion and violin.

How its done?  Zapin is a 8-16 count step dance with a sway of hand movements.The first part is called the taqsim or introduction. This is where the gambus is played in a solo manner as an opening of the performance. Simultaneously, the dancers enter the stage and perform the sembah or act of respect to the audience. As the performance progress, the dancers perform various steps and legwork movements. The second part is at the end of every quatrain or pantun, where the music and beating of the drums is played in a rapid beat manner known as tingkah or kopak while the dancers move in a jumping manner called the minta tahto. The third part is the end of the performance, which is known as the tahtim, whereby the dancers will perform the wainab movements to close the performance.

LEARN HERE

INANG: This dance moves at fast tempo set by the rebana, biola and gendang.

The Mak Inang song and dance originated during the period of the Malacca Sultanate. The song is said to have been composed by the order of Sultan Mahmud Shah possibly as a lullaby to help him go to sleep. 

The dance is very graceful and has all the qualities of a palace performance. This dance is also called Tarian Si Kembang Cina as it has a strong Chinese flavour in the music. Sometimes the dancers hold long scarves during the performance. 

How its done? 

PRESERVATION OF BODY MOVEMENTS USING HAND GESTURES

IDEATION

With so many vast languages in the world communication is vital for humans. However to explore other ways of communication there is non-verbal and this can be seen through a variety of ways. Our body movements can do a lot of communication without using words. However when this is connected to culture its becoming less and less appreciated and explored. I intend to preserve body movements by hand gestures in relation to culture. The purpose of this is to incorporate Performance art into Media arts by interaction focusing on hand gesture movements. Body language is:the conscious and unconscious movements and postures by which attitudes and feelings are communicated,for example, putting your hands on your waist can be a sign of anger or tiredness. 

MOTIVATION

• Non-verbal communication as performance art.
• Modernization is erasing cultural dances 
• Hand gestures have different meanings and interpretations.
• The thrill of the drama and mystery behind hand gestures.

OBJECTIVES/PURPOSE

• To explore the relationship between body movements as an art and the cultural influence.
• To link interaction with body movements
• To create a fun experience for audience to learn and experience the mystery of communication non-verbally.
• To preserve the culture of body movement.
• To revive a dying tradition.

JUSTIFICATION

READ MORE HERE

For my research I will be focusing on Malay culture, Indian dance,Thai dance,ballerina dance and mostly Botswana culture. From observation most of the cultural dances tell a story about one thing or the other. Dance is expressive and from it different interpretations can be absorbed. In most cultural dances of expressive hand gestures nature is the key element,for example animals(animism),weather,plants/flowers,places.

Types of Dances using hand gestures

BOTSWANA:
Botswana culture the bushmen have their traditional dance and most of the time in their storytelling it involves imitating animals.They can also be a communicative way of showing how they heal the sick,this is because the Bushmen are well known for their love and dependence on using nature in all aspects of their lives. Their dances are narrative and mystical.Imitating animals ,Storytelling/body movement dance. Bushmen are hunters and gatheres and this is protrayed in their dances of hunting prey for food.Hunting upclose.

MALAYSIA:
The Malaysian tradition of dances with body movents includes Tarian Lilin. This is a special type of dance using candles.Candle dance. Another type of dance is Zapin dance. This is an ancient folk dance that was introduced to Malaysia by the Arabs who traded with them. Apart from the Malaysia's state where the zapin is danced by its people like Johor, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Sarawak and Sabah, zapin is also danced by the people in its neighboring country like Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei.

Other dances:

INDIA:

A lot of Indian dancing has hand gestures. Most of the time each represents a meaning either of a flower or an object.

Indian Moonwalk

Bollywood style

BALLERINA:
This dance performance falls under modern culture. It incorporates body movement paying high attention to hand and feet gestures. Ballerina-Queen. Its complex and requires a lot of flexibility.

SKETCHES & MINDMAP

PROPOSALS

PROPOSAL 1

IDEATION: Preservation of Movement.

Movement is actions or activities a person, object or animal makes.  It can also be the change in position of an object. Motion/movement has a many branches and I chose to focus on the physical part of motion in human beings. I want to challenge the preservation of body motion by bringing to the spotlight the abilities and strengths humans have to communication with the world without using words. This is a skill we posses but not many put it to good use. This form of motion can fall under the category of Expressionism art and a few examples include the late Charlie Chaplin and Mr. Bean. In our current times the youth are becoming lazy, our physical wellbeing is suffering while we put too much emphasize only on our mental state of mind. The body is like a shield of our souls, a sluggish body can in the long run mean a weak and idle soul. Through this preservation I want to make an impact to the public to awaken and explore motion.

MIND MAP

POSSIBLE MEDIA OUTCOMES:

Webcam Motion Detection

Paper stop motion

• ·       To produce a stop motion animation. This can be using paper or in a form of claymation. I would tell a story that has no speech but making the audience aware of its message. This stop motion would be viewed on LCD monitors. In order to incorporate motion and interactivity the audience would have to trigger a zone which will cause the video to play due to their motion being detected by kinect or zone trigger software.

• ·       To build a spider cobweb using strings. The aim is to let the audience find their way through the cobweb, to use their physical ability to cross through the outside. This will enable joint movement, muscles movement and overall body movement/motion. The strings will be attached with bells so whenever a bell rings the audience would have to start again; this indicates that they have touched the string which is not how to get through it. After the escape goodies await them at the end.

• ·       An installation art piece using digital photography to explore sign language and hand gestures. I intend to visit the deaf community, interact with them and document their day to day dealings. I will build an exhibition booth displaying the digital images of different words in sign language. These words will be combined to make sentences that the audience will be exposed to. From the audience perspective the deaf will be communicating with them to link both parties through communication of movement by hand gestures. Included in the installation will be LED lights of different colors to express the mood of the sentence that the audience will be exposed to at the time, for example “DON’T TALK ABOUT ME BECAUSE IAM DEAF-I READ LIPS TOO.” At this juncture the color code would be red and the images on display would be of different lip movements translating the message.

SKETCHES

PROPOSAL 2

IDEATION: Preservation of Memories

We make memories everyday throughout our daily lives. We share stories, we connect and we grow together through memories. I want to preserve memories through remembrance. We only use 10% of our brains. Our brains have over a hundred million neutrons and each time we try remembering something we trigger them altering the brain physically and the memory. Therefore because of this I want to challenge the limits of the human mind. I want to encourage preservation of memories through intellectual methods to get the public thinking as an exercise for the mind. Just like the body our minds need to be trained occasionally. This can help you improve with remembering names of people after meeting them for the first time, transferring information from short term to the long term memory region and generally have a well stable peace of mind.

MIND MAP

POSSIBLE MEDIA OUTCOMES

• ·        Video art. This will be a video of everyday objects we see, parts of faces of people, animals and nature all compiled into 1. I want to use this to trigger the memories of the audience. Little details from their past or even dreams. I want to display the video from the PC to a TV set. Why TV set? This is 1 of the most influential form of media were we get audio,visuals,poetry and a lot of other types of art.

ARTWORK BY:NAM JUN PAIK

• ·        A memory game challenge. In the exhibition booth they will be a story in a form of a comic strip consisting of many different characters and different locations. Towards the end of the booth the audience will get a chance to play a drag and drop game based on the story. This will be to test how well they remember details of the story.

• ·        Digital photography of people holding images of themselves when they were young. It will be time lapse of an image within an image. The aim of this will be to demonstrate timeline through capturing the past to the present. They will also be a section where each individual will be holding a photo of themselves in their childhood covering their face,but on the present body.
  
  
  
  
  

SKETCHES