Daily Trojan USC.edu

Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of Flavia Sparacino Scarlet fetters | Rosanna Gamson compares her new performance piece, "Ravish," to a jewelry box.

Somewhere amid the death and despair unraveling onstage is a message. It's one of hope, life and the power of the individual. Light meets dark, humanity meets technology, dream meets reality. The highly interwoven web of artistic prowess is the result of more than two years of collaboration between two visionaries, a product found where human touch and modern technologies meet.

The premise behind "Ravish" is, in itself, the stuff great theater is made of - except that in this case, the story translates itself into an interactive dance piece. It is a modern spin on a classic tale. The production revolves around the lives of the five Bronte sisters, all of whom died of tuberculosis prior to the age of 40, and the dichotomy that existed between their own isolation and the rich, romantic lives of the characters they created.

Rosanna Gamson, the creator and choreographer of "Ravish," said that though she drew inspiration from various sources, the root of her piece is embedded in her life - the integration of disparate artistic elements a reflection of her own unique experiences. Gamson, born in Manhattan, studied dance at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and began her career in the Big Apple before moving to Los Angeles 10 years ago. The dramatic shift in environment forced Gamson to adapt to and explore the intricacies of L.A. culture.

"I really started meeting people who were not from the modern dance world that I was so used to back in New York," she said. "I met people who were specializing in martial arts, in flamenco dancing, even in stilt dancing, which I didn't think was a dance form back then. I realized just how narrow my definition of dance had been all that time.

"I feel that a big difference between New York and Los Angeles is that in New York, there are very distinct neighborhoods and pockets of people. In Los Angeles, though, there are a lot of layers of culture and meaning that you don't immediately recognize. I mean, you can find burritos and boba on the same block. There's such a mix of culture and so much interaction amongst different groups," she said.

As a result of the culture shock, Gamson began to focus on integrating a diverse range of dance and performance into her productions. Prior to "Ravish," Gamson also choreographed and wrote, among other works, "Grand Hope Flower," a piece about her initial experiences living in Downtown Los Angeles, and "Aura," a production based on Carlos Fuentes' novel of the same name.

"Ravish," despite its literary influence, is the next step, a progression into something far more conceptual in both its writing and its execution. The dynamic motion of the five dancers is set off by a 24 square-foot stage, but the physical exterior of the space by no means limits the range of influence the performers have on their environment.

"I'm trying to make movement that has a certain awkwardness, that's very hard to do in terms of stamina," Gamson said. "There's a struggle in it. Imagine trying as hard as you can to find movement that you've never seen before. It's a short show - only one hour. I need the production to feel dense, like a jewelry box. Everything in the box should be unique and flashy and essential to the production."

What Gamson said she wanted, more than anything, was to have a show that fully engaged the audience, allowing viewers to be a part of the show, as opposed to being passive observers. This is where the technological component of "Ravish" came into play.

For the production, Gamson teamed up with former Massachusetts Institute of Technology fellow and researcher Flavia Sparacino to create a completely new form of dance theater, integrating modern know-how into traditional movement to create an ethereal realm of dancing words and a dramatic interplay between the performers and the stage itself.

"One of the great things about working with Rosanna was that she is a choreographer with a vision," said Sparacino, who is the founder and director of Sensing Places, an interactive architecture firm. "A designer is a designer and will always have his or her unique artistic tastes. But with Rosanna, we agreed on a vision, and as a choreographer, she was open to ideas. I see technology as being at the service of art, not dominating it."

The point behind interactive media, Sparacino explained, is examining the relationship between people and the space they are in - and perhaps more importantly, how the people can influence their environments. In "Ravish," the dancers are at once controlling their surroundings and trapped by them: Their movement dictates the direction of the lighting and the way the stage reacts to their actions. It is motion sensors without the markers, special effects in real time.

"There are three components to interactive media: The input, the output and the glue that holds the two together," Sparacino said. "In this case, the dancers' movement provides an input and the reaction of the computer software to this movement is the output. It's everything that happens in between that is the hard part."

At one point in "Ravish," letters projected onstage follow the dancers, seemingly chasing the performers tirelessly as they spell out poignant words. Though Gamson choreographed the dances well in advance, the letters' reactions happen in real time, so there is an interactive component that immediately draws the viewer in.

"My vision is to have art generated as the body moves," Sparacino said. "Just like how skin reacts to how we feel on the inside, I want the environment and the stage itself to react to how the dancers move throughout the stage.

"This is releasing power to the people. This is about allowing dancers to create dynamic art with just their movements, and that's something that I think will appeal to people, this augmented reality."

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