Visiting artists meld media, dance

Composer Mark Coniglio and choreographer Dawn Stoppiello, recognized innovators in the field of dance and interactive media, will conduct a weeklong workshop for students during a residency at UW–Madison through Feb. 2.

Dance/Interarts and Technology Program participants meet each evening and experiment with technological tools that allow gestures, movements and vocalizations to interactively control sound synthesizers, video playback devices, theatrical lighting, and other computer media.

The workshop culminates in a free public showing of new works by the artists and students Friday, Feb. 1, 8 p.m., Margaret H’Doubler Performance Space, Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Ave.

Coniglio and Stoppiello have been creating dynamic live performances that combine dance, music, theater and interactive digital media since they formed their New York-based dance theater company Troika Ranch in 1993.

“Like many artists, we use digital software tools as we create the visual and aural material for our performances,” says Coniglio. “We go a step further by making interactive digital media and technology an essential component in the performance of our work as well.

“Typically, we use sensory devices to allow the movements or vocalizations of a performer to manipulate some aspect of the media’s presentation in real time,” Coniglio explains.

Through fierce choreography, dense musical scores and an evocative use of media and theater, the duo explores how they can maintain their most human attributes, “our emotions, our bodies, our passion,” in a time of accelerating change and physical disconnection.

“We are drawn to do this because most electronic media is dead,” Coniglio says. “In other words, it is precisely the same each time it is presented — quite different from what happens when a dancer or actor performs the same material twice.

“We want the media elements in our performances to have the same sense of ‘liveness’ as the human performers it accompanies. We impose the chaos of the human body on the media in hope of bringing it to life,” he says.

Support from the School of Education and the Anonymous Fund makes this guest artist residency and workshop possible.

For more information, call (608) 262-1691.