[Ray Kyooyung Ra, Final Project] "Digits"

For my final project, I took a creative direction to choreograph a concept art video titled: "Digits." The dance genre you see in the above video is called "waacking," (alternatively spelled "whacking," originally called "punking" in the 1970s Los Angeles gay disco scene) which is a strand of old school street dance subculture that I perform and research. The dance form is inherently dramatic and expressive, which makes it a good medium to visualize vastly comprehensive concepts such as 'the digital,' I think.

"Digits" represents the amorphousness of the digital. The dancer's face is covered with a dark veil, his body silhouetted against low-key back/side lights. While the performer's form is barely visible, his LED-lit fingers stand out against the dark. 'Fingers,' 'digits,' 'digital' -- it's a play on words. Much of the visuality and movement was inspired by oceanic waves as well as the line-node patterns of semiconductor circuits. And while the performer's luminous digits caress and outline his shadows in the aforementioned motifs, visibility and legibility of form is still very much compromised.

While planning out this performance piece, lyrics like "I've traveled the world and the seven seas" or the pre-chorus ("Some of them want to abuse you/ Some of them want to be abused") from Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" stood out to me when looking for a song to encompass our semester's understanding of the digital. The most difficult part of the process was making the choreography as dynamic as possible while being stationary and having my vision compromised. Hopefully, the editing and post-production did the piece justice.