School of Dance and Department of Art & Art History
Amount Awarded: $5,700
Awarded for 2017-18
Title: Seeing Sound, Hearing Gesture: The Synesthesia of Transdisciplinary Processes – A Workshop with Theirry De Mey
The School of Dance, in collaboration with the Departments of Film & Media Arts (F&MA), Art & Art History (A&AH), along with Miguel Chuaqui in the School of Music, will host internationally renowned Belgian composer/dance filmmaker/installation artist Thierry De Mey for a transdisciplinary workshop. Mr. De Mey’s significant, critically acclaimed, creative research breaks down barriers between arts disciplines and promotes hybrid thinking. His residency will serve to promote innovative pedagogy and projects in the College of Fine Arts (CFA).
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We are pleased to submit this final report to the Council of Dee Fellows on the 2018 Artist-in-Residence Workshop, with visiting Belgian dance filmmaker, Thierry De Mey. Funds from the Dee Council were requested to support an interdisciplinary workshop, engaging students and faculty from a variety of Departments and Schools within the College of Fine Arts (CFA). Mr. De Mey is known for his significant, critically acclaimed, creative research that breaks down barriers between arts disciplines and promotes hybrid thinking. And, as was our hope, his residency was a great inspiration to all who attended. Many students and colleagues reported how Mr. De Mey’s work and teaching style opened up new ways of thinking about artmaking and furthered possibilities for collaboration within the College of Fine Arts.
There were three components to Mr. De Mey’s residency activities in Salt Lake City. One was as the guest of honor for the inaugural collaboration between the University of Utah’s International Screendance Festival and the Salt Lake Film Society’s community programming at the Broadway Centre Theaters. The second was a weekend Screendance workshop for students, filmmakers and educators from across the country that coincided with the Screendance Festival at the Broadway. And the third was for the interdisciplinary workshop for CFA students and faculty, which was generously funded by the Dee Council. This workshop took place week nights on the Marriott Center for Dance stage, March 5-8, from 6:00-10:00 pm. Attending were faculty and students (both grad and undergrad) from the School of Dance and the Departments of Art and Art History and Film & Media Arts. Attendees were free to drop in to single or multiple classes, depending scheduling conflicts, and there were many who were in attendance for the entire week. All in all, there were approximately 30 in total who attended.
Mr. De Mey was quite generous in his instruction/presentation style. He was very committed to addressing specifics for each genre represented, as well as presenting best practices for capturing both sound and moving bodies for the screen. He screened his own works and also led students through specific shooting exercises. A unique aspect of his residency was his willingness to share his own personal and artistic challenges encountered over the years, shedding light on some of the more difficult aspects of interdisciplinary collaboration. This was enlightening and of great value to all.
Here is a link to a short splash video which gives the viewer a feel of the activities, images and energy of the workshop:
https://vimeo.com/272450931
The School of Dance Screendance Festival Website:
http://www.dance.utah.edu/events/screendance
Salt Lake Film Society’s website:
https://saltlakefilmsociety.org/what-s-happening/screendance
The opening night Red Carpet Reception at the Broadway Centre Cinemas was an extremely well-attended celebration of the inaugural year. It was an enthusiastic gathering of CFA faculty and staff, including Dean Scheib, along with an excellent showing from the dance, art and film communities of the greater Salt Lake area. As part of the opening night screening, Dance Media Scholar and Assistant Professor in the School of Dance, Kate Mattingly, conducted an excellent interview of Mr. De Mey, which revealed his unique and visionary approach to making dance films.
Once again, we extend a sincere thank you to the Council of Dee Fellows for supporting this successful, interdisciplinary workshop at the University of Utah.