[Music]
let’s pretend that this moment is the
ending scene of a dance movie
well you just turned it on you don’t
know what’s going on with the story
okay I’m a lead character I walk out to
the edge of the stage turn my back bend
my knees and proceed to do an epic
backflip off the stage landing perfectly
like a TEDTalk
superhero now I guarantee that this
moment would make you feel really cool
and make me feel like I’m on top of the
world
you might even looked at the person next
to you and smile and nod and then point
at me and say that guy can dance but if
the movie ended right then and there and
I did nothing else just walked off the
stage what tangible idea could you the
audience take away from my performance
so the point is and I hate to break it
to you but you’re kind of watching dance
performances all wrong now I know what
you’re gonna say you’re looking me in
the face and say well Steve and I love
dance and I love watching dancers but
what you’re actually saying is I love
watching people be a spectacle for my
enjoyment I call this audience
entitlement
and I would like to suggest a new way
for you to view and understand dance but
look I used to be exactly like you I was
in love with the spectacle of movement
and what’s not to love
I mean seeing dancers perform feats of
athletic prowess is exciting and it’s
pretty sexy too so when I started my
advanced journey I was completely in awe
with movement that kid Wow a crowd or
woo a girl I would sit in my room and
watch dance movies and music videos and
pick out the coolest moves and then try
to mimic them but see the true artistry
of dance was just a tiny kernel in the
back of my mind I was instead drawn to
crowd Rafi that was extremely flashy and
oftentimes not artfully driven and if
I’m honest I still low-key enjoy this
type of krahgg Rafi but the difference
between then and now is I have a much
clearer understanding of performance and
dance and also commercial art from my
years of working in the industry and
also from my academic studies so I can
make much more knowledgeable connections
when viewing dance as a form of art but
see this is sort of where the problem
lies this little phrase art is
subjective and in a perfect role it
should be right you like what you like
because you like it
end of story but see in reality we as
humans want objective truth I mean
especially in art it’s just way easier
to have guidelines you know things like
playlists top 40 radio reviews star
ratings
these things tell us what’s good and
what’s not so good and then we
subjectively decide if we agree but see
the more you know and understand about a
subject like dance the better off you
will be in forming your own opinions
about it so my goal here is not to make
you see dance how I see it I’m gonna
simply give you a short guided tour
instead of a process to give you a
different perspective of the dance and
choreography process
so in my creative practice I do a lot of
things I’m a performer I’m a dance
teacher I’m a filmmaker a photographer
and editor and a choreographer now let’s
see most of these images you can clearly
see process or at least the creative
outcome of that process and in addition
to that you’re probably aware of what
the performer dance teacher or filmmaker
photographer all these things do and how
pretty much how they do them but one of
these things is not like the others
choreography is different see when you
usually see choreographers and media
you’re seeing the end of their creative
process which actually involves the
detail did you have movement to the
dancers and then the fine-tuning of that
movement to make them performance ready
but what about the first half of their
creative process the process behind the
creation of the movement see that’s much
harder the show because it mostly takes
place in the mind so let’s take a deeper
dive inside in my brain to see how I
personally perceive dance and movement
in relation to sound and overall visual
language so from me one of the greatest
applications of dance is the creation of
movement that as a physical
representation of the of a particular
piece of music now just let that sink in
for a moment what I’m saying is that
dancers have the ability to perform
movement with such a quality that could
potentially allow an audience to see the
music now this concept of perceiving a
singular sensory experience in multiple
ways is actually called synesthesia and
it’s the easiest way for me to explain
what the heck is going on inside of my
brain when I create dance so the most
simple definition of synesthesia is a
blending of the senses and so for me
this personally manifests in that I see
music and colors and I see music and
moving forms and shapes in
three-dimensional space the colors
represent emotions and the moving forms
and shapes represent
melody rhythm and the overall quality of
the sound now I do realize that this
Cindy Otakon somewhat complicated
relationship between dance and music
that occurs within my brain is kind of
weird and a little bit outside of the
norm I mean even as a dance teacher the
core learning outcomes I want my
students students to take home with them
are one a more complex and nuanced
understanding of music and two to be
able to express this through dance and
so my music knowledge is not really of
the traditional sense it came from my
dance career
I mean I’ve probably danced to thousands
if not tens of thousands of songs and
almost every style and genre of music
and in doing so I’ve had to learn these
songs from top to bottom every lyric
every note every beat every accent every
imperfection and so when I combined this
practical understanding of music with
the way that I perceive music in colors
and shapes it’s the basis of how I
create dance its musicality and it’s
probably the most important part of my
mental creative process so you’re
probably wondering well what’s
musicality Stephen I’m gonna tell you I
define musicality as the transcription
of the rhythm tone lyrics textures and
melodies of a song through dance so the
goal here is to translate the music into
the visual language of dance in a way
that directly or indirectly complements
the auditory and emotional qualities of
the song and the dancers job is to
interpret ingest and then express these
emotional and creative ideas through
their performance so I think I’ve
probably talked about this enough I
so I created the piece to demonstrate
this for you today so with this I
started with just an idea and then I sat
down and I composed a piece of music
then I let it sit for a while
just enough time for me to remove my ego
so I could listen to it as if it were
the first time okay so then my next step
was to take that music and visualize it
into a piece of art so I could show you
what’s happening in my head and it looks
something like this so just imagine this
in three-dimensional space moving all
around you and through you in every way
and direction that you could possibly
think of so from there which is the fun
part
I begin translating this visual idea
that I see in my head into choreography
so then I got with a couple of my
friends that happen to be dancers and
then we put this Carter fee on video
filmed it in one shot with no editing so
that you could much more easily easily
see the visual language and the
musicality of the piece so let’s check
[Applause]
so when I created this piece I had a
clear agenda in mind but ultimately it’s
your prerogative to view my work however
you want I mean if I’m honest I hope you
liked it but if I’m honest I hope you
were inspired in ways that I didn’t even
imagine or even intent but when artists
have to create a thing to help sell
another thing the audience’s reaction
and engagement actually drives what we
are commissioned to create and in turn
the audience tends to feel entitled to
and sometimes even expects a specific
type of creativity now this cycle keeps
being repeated over and over and over
and over over again so but today I’m
gonna challenge you the audience to
disrupt the cycle by using two simple
ideas okay number one why before you Wow
so when you watch dance try not to put
so much value on spectacle or tricks
before you say wow ask yourself why why
is this particular move being used and
how does it affect the emotional and
artistic impact of the piece okay number
two free your mind or aka the Morpheus
and like the character from The Matrix
this is alluding to making a purposeful
mental shift to free yourself from past
ways of thinking so again when you watch
dance try to find a new entry point to
understanding maybe maybe think about
the process behind the movement or maybe
put yourself in the shoes of the creator
or better yet put yourself in the
emotional mind state of the dancer
so I have a confession to make
when I started this talk I began by
telling you that you’re all watching
dance wrong but I was kind of being a
jerk to get your attention the truth of
the matter is there’s no right or wrong
way to watch the beautiful art form of
Dance I mean because because there’s
infinite ways but allowing a data-driven
objective truth to tell you what’s
supposed to be good or entertaining is
actually hindering you from enjoying and
seeing the creativity behind the dance
performance and I really want you to see
it so in my creative practice my
creative practice sometimes involves
making the unseen visible through
choreography my hope is that by sharing
this process and simply giving you some
new ways to view dance this idea is now
permanently with you
and you can’t unlearn it and maybe it’s
changed something inside of your brain
just a small change that will transform
the way that you see dance from now on
so in a weird way
I’ve actually choreographed a shift in
your thinking
and now you’re a part of my creative
process too so I feel so inspired and
good right now I think I can almost do a
backflip almost almost
thank you [Applause]
let’s pretend that this moment is the
ending scene of a dance movie
well you just turned it on you don’t
know what’s going on with the story
okay I’m a lead character I walk out to
the edge of the stage turn my back bend
my knees and proceed to do an epic
backflip off the stage landing perfectly
like a TEDTalk
superhero now I guarantee that this
moment would make you feel really cool
and make me feel like I’m on top of the
world
you might even looked at the person next
to you and smile and nod and then point
at me and say that guy can dance but if
the movie ended right then and there and
I did nothing else just walked off the
stage what tangible idea could you the
audience take away from my performance
so the point is and I hate to break it
to you but you’re kind of watching dance
performances all wrong now I know what
you’re gonna say you’re looking me in
the face and say well Steve and I love
dance and I love watching dancers but
what you’re actually saying is I love
watching people be a spectacle for my
enjoyment I call this audience
entitlement
and I would like to suggest a new way
for you to view and understand dance but
look I used to be exactly like you I was
in love with the spectacle of movement
and what’s not to love
I mean seeing dancers perform feats of
athletic prowess is exciting and it’s
pretty sexy too so when I started my
advanced journey I was completely in awe
with movement that kid Wow a crowd or
woo a girl I would sit in my room and
watch dance movies and music videos and
pick out the coolest moves and then try
to mimic them but see the true artistry
of dance was just a tiny kernel in the
back of my mind I was instead drawn to
crowd Rafi that was extremely flashy and
oftentimes not artfully driven and if
I’m honest I still low-key enjoy this
type of krahgg Rafi but the difference
between then and now is I have a much
clearer understanding of performance and
dance and also commercial art from my
years of working in the industry and
also from my academic studies so I can
make much more knowledgeable connections
when viewing dance as a form of art but
see this is sort of where the problem
lies this little phrase art is
subjective and in a perfect role it
should be right you like what you like
because you like it
end of story but see in reality we as
humans want objective truth I mean
especially in art it’s just way easier
to have guidelines you know things like
playlists top 40 radio reviews star
ratings
these things tell us what’s good and
what’s not so good and then we
subjectively decide if we agree but see
the more you know and understand about a
subject like dance the better off you
will be in forming your own opinions
about it so my goal here is not to make
you see dance how I see it I’m gonna
simply give you a short guided tour
instead of a process to give you a
different perspective of the dance and
choreography process
so in my creative practice I do a lot of
things I’m a performer I’m a dance
teacher I’m a filmmaker a photographer
and editor and a choreographer now let’s
see most of these images you can clearly
see process or at least the creative
outcome of that process and in addition
to that you’re probably aware of what
the performer dance teacher or filmmaker
photographer all these things do and how
pretty much how they do them but one of
these things is not like the others
choreography is different see when you
usually see choreographers and media
you’re seeing the end of their creative
process which actually involves the
detail did you have movement to the
dancers and then the fine-tuning of that
movement to make them performance ready
but what about the first half of their
creative process the process behind the
creation of the movement see that’s much
harder the show because it mostly takes
place in the mind so let’s take a deeper
dive inside in my brain to see how I
personally perceive dance and movement
in relation to sound and overall visual
language so from me one of the greatest
applications of dance is the creation of
movement that as a physical
representation of the of a particular
piece of music now just let that sink in
for a moment what I’m saying is that
dancers have the ability to perform
movement with such a quality that could
potentially allow an audience to see the
music now this concept of perceiving a
singular sensory experience in multiple
ways is actually called synesthesia and
it’s the easiest way for me to explain
what the heck is going on inside of my
brain when I create dance so the most
simple definition of synesthesia is a
blending of the senses and so for me
this personally manifests in that I see
music and colors and I see music and
moving forms and shapes in
three-dimensional space the colors
represent emotions and the moving forms
and shapes represent
melody rhythm and the overall quality of
the sound now I do realize that this
Cindy Otakon somewhat complicated
relationship between dance and music
that occurs within my brain is kind of
weird and a little bit outside of the
norm I mean even as a dance teacher the
core learning outcomes I want my
students students to take home with them
are one a more complex and nuanced
understanding of music and two to be
able to express this through dance and
so my music knowledge is not really of
the traditional sense it came from my
dance career
I mean I’ve probably danced to thousands
if not tens of thousands of songs and
almost every style and genre of music
and in doing so I’ve had to learn these
songs from top to bottom every lyric
every note every beat every accent every
imperfection and so when I combined this
practical understanding of music with
the way that I perceive music in colors
and shapes it’s the basis of how I
create dance its musicality and it’s
probably the most important part of my
mental creative process so you’re
probably wondering well what’s
musicality Stephen I’m gonna tell you I
define musicality as the transcription
of the rhythm tone lyrics textures and
melodies of a song through dance so the
goal here is to translate the music into
the visual language of dance in a way
that directly or indirectly complements
the auditory and emotional qualities of
the song and the dancers job is to
interpret ingest and then express these
emotional and creative ideas through
their performance so I think I’ve
probably talked about this enough I
so I created the piece to demonstrate
this for you today so with this I
started with just an idea and then I sat
down and I composed a piece of music
then I let it sit for a while
just enough time for me to remove my ego
so I could listen to it as if it were
the first time okay so then my next step
was to take that music and visualize it
into a piece of art so I could show you
what’s happening in my head and it looks
something like this so just imagine this
in three-dimensional space moving all
around you and through you in every way
and direction that you could possibly
think of so from there which is the fun
part
I begin translating this visual idea
that I see in my head into choreography
so then I got with a couple of my
friends that happen to be dancers and
then we put this Carter fee on video
filmed it in one shot with no editing so
that you could much more easily easily
see the visual language and the
musicality of the piece so let’s check
[Applause]
so when I created this piece I had a
clear agenda in mind but ultimately it’s
your prerogative to view my work however
you want I mean if I’m honest I hope you
liked it but if I’m honest I hope you
were inspired in ways that I didn’t even
imagine or even intent but when artists
have to create a thing to help sell
another thing the audience’s reaction
and engagement actually drives what we
are commissioned to create and in turn
the audience tends to feel entitled to
and sometimes even expects a specific
type of creativity now this cycle keeps
being repeated over and over and over
and over over again so but today I’m
gonna challenge you the audience to
disrupt the cycle by using two simple
ideas okay number one why before you Wow
so when you watch dance try not to put
so much value on spectacle or tricks
before you say wow ask yourself why why
is this particular move being used and
how does it affect the emotional and
artistic impact of the piece okay number
two free your mind or aka the Morpheus
and like the character from The Matrix
this is alluding to making a purposeful
mental shift to free yourself from past
ways of thinking so again when you watch
dance try to find a new entry point to
understanding maybe maybe think about
the process behind the movement or maybe
put yourself in the shoes of the creator
or better yet put yourself in the
emotional mind state of the dancer
so I have a confession to make
when I started this talk I began by
telling you that you’re all watching
dance wrong but I was kind of being a
jerk to get your attention the truth of
the matter is there’s no right or wrong
way to watch the beautiful art form of
Dance I mean because because there’s
infinite ways but allowing a data-driven
objective truth to tell you what’s
supposed to be good or entertaining is
actually hindering you from enjoying and
seeing the creativity behind the dance
performance and I really want you to see
it so in my creative practice my
creative practice sometimes involves
making the unseen visible through
choreography my hope is that by sharing
this process and simply giving you some
new ways to view dance this idea is now
permanently with you
and you can’t unlearn it and maybe it’s
changed something inside of your brain
just a small change that will transform
the way that you see dance from now on
so in a weird way
I’ve actually choreographed a shift in
your thinking
and now you’re a part of my creative
process too so I feel so inspired and
good right now I think I can almost do a
backflip almost almost
thank you [Applause]
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