Every Story Has A Beginning
I’m a graduate student studying dance at Sarah Lawrence
College (Class of 2016), and I have begun a project that crosses lines of research in on-campus environmental sustainability, and dance. I started asking people the basic
question of how they use something in almost everyone’s lives: paper. It’s a universal feature of all departments on campus here, as
well as in our student files, payroll, administrative office work, maintenance
work, health care, advertisements for student-run events, bathrooms, and
student publications. Our campus has recycling containers in most every public
building, and outside of dorms. How much paper is actually recycled, and how
much is thrown away?
My Brain-Child
I use paper in most of those stereotypical uses, but I also
create art with it. I find myself tearing up papers I don’t use anymore (or paper
that others throw away) and make origami cranes, doves, and other creatures. My
project involves creating a dance that interacts with these pieces of art. I also wanted to make something this connects me to Sarah Lawrence College on a deeper level.
Some components of this project include:
1. Collecting information on paper use around campus and compiling it into a written presentation.
2. Choreographing and costuming the dance portion of my work.
3. Crafting hundreds, perhaps thousands, of folded creations from paper
found on campus.
Here’s Where You’re Needed
I need to pay for a few things
before this project can really take off. I am looking to pay for the following:
· $1300 - On-campus space and faculty resources to craft
and perform my dance.
· $50 - A place to safely store my paper as well, which
I’ve already begun collecting and creating a folded menagerie.
· $350 - We have an audio/visual department with
excellent cameras and sound equipment, but being able to have one on me all the
time is proving difficult. My own camera would greatly open up possibilities
for updates as the project continues.
· $100 - A place to store my video footage of this
process. I have access to good video editing software on campus, but storing it
in a safe place is difficult. A portable external hard drive would be a great
asset to this project.
· $100 - The costume I have in mind for the piece will either be built from scratch or from found material, and will require time building it. The sooner I have the
costume, the further this dance can go.
Help me find a creative outlet to show people their use of
paper here at Sarah Lawrence College, and to find a more interesting vehicle
for its disposal. Let’s fold our lives together, and make something new and
beautiful: Paper Dances.