The Moving Canvas Project

We are co-creating a series of participatory workshops with community dance company, Co-Evo, in drawing and movement.

We will explore the creative connection of artists and the materials they work with by offering a canvas worn and worked on the body; to test how if the agency costume design and drawing can elicit movement for performance and can produce individual expression in the participants. We will be co-researching the agency of mark-making on a costume to create choreography. 

Research Preparation

In order to prepare for the workshop series with Co-Evo, the research team have been researching the style of the canvas garments for the project and testing them out in practice.

Adele and Jenna have been joined by other creative practitioners and AUB students to test out garments in jamming practice, and to make decisions about the scope of the research project.

Test filming with Co-Evo

In March, the research team visited a rehearsal with Co-Evo to see their previous choreographic work developing in the studio. Co-Evo were working towards an end of term performance at Pavilion Dance South West, which gave us the perfect opportunity to test some filming techniques.

As part of the research, we are working with film maker Dan Tucker to document the process and present the research findings. We were playing with moving and static images to capture the movement and process of the dancers. We tested out capturing conversation and problem solving moments between dancers.

Making the Canvases
We have worked with costume maker Milena Nawrocka to create The Moving Canvas costumes. These jumpsuits are designed to be loose and moveable while creating a broad canvas to draw and mark on. Made from calico the pre-shrunk fabric easily absorbs the pen marks. Pockets have been added to enable dancers to store pens if required and Velco attached to the front to ensure fastenings do not interfere with movement. Retaining marks made by the pens week-by-week is an important part of the workshop process. This is so dancers can revisit lines and explore movement from the marks made in previous sessions. We are using an electronic devise called Fresh-up to maintain them and keep them feeling fresh, clean and usable throughout the workshop process. The pens marks are washable so a black canvas can be recreated if needed.

PQ23

In June 2023 we are presenting our findings so far as part of Prague Quadrennial. Our flash talk will be made available soon, but for now, our references and inspirations are...

Algar, L (2018) Drawing Performance, Lucy Algar, Wimbledon College of Arts / Bath Spa University (2018)
Algar, L (2020) Draw Throw: Drawing Performance, Drawing and Performance: Creating Scenography, 26 November 2020, [Online] available from https://drawingandperformance.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/keynote-lucy-algar/#more-1459 [accessed 29 Jan 2022]
Barbieri, D. (2016), ‘Costume before and beyond the production: The spacelab costume workshops at Prague Quadrennial, 18-28 June 2015’. Studies in Costume & Performance, 1 (2): 199-207
Barbieri, D. (2017), Costume in Performance: Materiality, Culture and the Body. London and New York: Bloomsbury.
Barbieri, D. (2020a) 'The Body as the Matter of Costume: a Phenomenological Practice', in Performance Costume: New Perspectives and Methods, (2020), a volume edited by Sofia Pantouvaki and Peter McNeil, pp. 197 – 212.
Barbieri, (2020b) 'Costume as Archive of gesture and meaning: its methods and ethics', in Critical Costume 2020, 21 – 23 August 2020, [online] available from https://costumeagency.com/project/donatella-barbieri/ [accessed 23 August 2020]
Critical Costume 2020, 21 – 23 August 2020, [online] available from https://costumeagency.com/project/donatella-barbieri/ [accessed 23 August 2020]
Dean, S.E. (2012) 'Somatic movement and costume: A practical, investigative project', in Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices, Volume 3, Numbers 1-2, 27 April 2012, pp. 167-182(16), Intellect
Dean, S.E. (2014) 'Somatic costumes™: Traversing multi-sensorial landscapes', in Scene, Volume 2, Numbers 1-2, 1 October 2014, pp. 81-87(7), Intellect
Dean, S.E. (2016) 'Where is the body in the costume design process?', in Studies in Costume & Performance, Volume 1, Issue 1, Apr 2016, p. 97 - 111