November 2018

Filmed by: Sam Pham

Music By: Tim Wu

Choreographed by Nicole Zizzi

Tap dancing by Catherine Buckley

Film edited in collaboration by Catherine Buckley, Sam Pham, Tim Wu, and Nicole Zizzi

Dancers: Catherine Buckley, Lisa Costello, Nicole Zizzi

​

This  collaborative project  was created as a culmination of studies in Professor Mary Hale's Design Tactics course at Northeastern University.  Over the course of the semester, we examined architectural design through the lens of various different mediums such as film, choreography, urban typologies, and field conditions.  We studied Kevin Lynch's Image of the City,  the Situationist's notion of the dérive, Peter Greenaway's framing of architecture in film, Bernard Tschumi's use of annotation systems, the collaborative nature of Merce Cunningham and John Cage, as well as their use of chance, and more.  This project aimed to combine as many topics as possible into one collaborative work.  

​

My specific contribution to the project was it's choreography, based an analysis of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston shown below.  An anthropomorphic interpretation of the MFA's floor plan, excluding the newer additions, generated two specific symmetrical body shapes which in turn became two different movement combinations.  From there, I used my own dérive through the MFA as chance generator for the sequence of movement of three dancers. I additionally, included the use of improvised movement as a reference to the meditative nature of the dérive. (The tap dancing was an improvised element and was therefore not choreographed by me.) The choreography and music were created independently of each other and were not combined until the editing stages of the project- a reference to the performances of Merce Cunningham and John Cage.