TERP

Several years ago I embarked on a project which was designed to dramatically aid in the rehearsal process. The problem was clear. The main - and the most time-consuming difficulty was not in having a trained dancer learn individual movements but was in the context or phrasing of those movements. In order for a dancer to successfully put movement A after movement B, followed by movement C, it is necessary for the body to learn that sequence before the dancer can reproduce it in a way that the choreographer or audience might see the actual outcome of the idea.



I made a multi-channeled, sampling broadcast system for choreography where each dancer could hear their own sequence through their headset. Because the dancers knew what the words/instructions meant they were able to respond in realtime. Since the body didn't have to memorize the sequence, I was able to see my idea right away, as opposed to after hours and hours of rehearsal.



Then I began to do tests on normal people. I developed a dictionary of suggestive and exacting instructions which anyone off the street could perform. Among other things, this task found me embarking on the creation of a system to choreograph for large numbers of people, as well as refining the kinds of words and word groups people respond to best.



The experiments with groups of twenty to thirty people have shown that it is possible to create instant choreography, vibrant and fresh, as seamless as if it had been thoroughly rehearsed. The results have exceeded everyone's expectations. What was particularly wonderful was the participants' response. The personalized voice in your ear - in your brain, a part of you - made for an intimate quality, sparking imagination, which, along with the other participants, rendered with a work of art.



The final step in this process is to create a huge event with hundreds of participants from many countries. Using wearable computers, unrehearsed audience members will follow and interpret instructions in their own language, leading them on an adventure. Designed as a global structure, the event will be a group spectacle, a choreographed crowd telling a recognizable story. An expressive experience of motion, participants will find themselves in a new world of physical discovery at once private, yet building to an exhilarating, unprecedented group event.



In parallel, MIDI technology will synchronize the intricate and large-scale choreography with site specific features, such as street lighting and fountain bursting. This event could easily take place in several cities, even simultaneously.



Terping will enable people of different cultures to experience an event they themselves manifest together while maintaining their individuality. In effect it bridges the gap between classes or groups and spoken languages while creating a new language of human movement shared by all. The themes of discovery and international cooperation live throughout the process.



Simply speaking, the Terp project asserts that we interpret as individuals but we are all a part of a bigger picture. This picture is the human experience expressed through ourselves, our bodies. This effort changes the environment, in fact as we move through the experience, the environment responds. There is power in our individual expression; there is power in our togetherness.

Click here for a brief documentary of Terp!