Étoile, A Duet

“Étoile, A Duet” (2011), is a live transmission performance that combines a pre-recorded video of Yvette Chauviré performing The Dying Swan with a drawing performed in real-time to simultaneously expand and collapse space and time.

While the video is projected, I enter into the space and begin to follow Chauviré with my hand, tracing the gestures of her body within the projection. As Chauviré dances, I generate a drawing in real time. In the end, the video fades to expose gestural lines, a record of both her movement and mine.

I am particularly interested in the exploration of the drawn line in relationship to the projected image – the sound and sensation of the dusty charcoal pressing into the page is contrasted with the clean digital mark of light – subject to the whims of delay and degradation.

In “Étoile, A Duet”, a French ballerina who performed decades ago becomes my digital collaborator.