Kyla Ernst-Alper
breathe deeply... move slowly... smile.
In February 2012 I was invited to be a part of a group art show at Arts@Renaissance in Williamsburg. I was given a room in which to create a piece - the requirements were that it involve the community and fit into the theme of the show - hospitality.
Before I could do anything in the space I had to do something about the filthy, deteriorating walls. With the help of two awesome friends - Jason Jordan and Mendel Rabinovitch - I painted an abstract mural inspired by the flow of breath and movement.
I came up with a mulit-part piece. First Mendel (a martial artist and teacher among many other things) gave free qi gong classes, which I filmed and edited into a short video following the flow of movement and breath. I also spent time in the space creating site-specific screendances. Finally I produced an interactive show. In one room people participated in creative communal activities which facilitated the forging of new connections and an openness to new experiences. The qi gong video was projected onto the walls inside my project room. In a slightly separate area of the project room were basic qi gong instructions. People were able to connect with their own breath and body while in the project room and then move into the main room to discuss their experience.
You can watch the final video here and experience the Zeega version of the installation here.
work. in progress.
I was going through a lot of self-doubt as a creator and decided to work out those emotions through movement. I developed a new process of choreographing using video and my Avid editing system on my MacBook Pro to make this duet: I’d film myself moving on camera left first, restart the music and do the right side, edit the two together, move moments around to change the choreography and timing, come up with new movements, play the edited duet while recording myself doing the “new” choreography, edit together the new recordings, and repeat the process. I was creating a piece about self-doubt while experiencing self-doubt and developing a new creative workflow; it wasn’t necessarily fun, but I grew a lot. Maybe someday I’ll revisit this piece and continue it’s evolution, but for now, here it is.
breathe deeply... move slowly... smile.