The Story of CALF

Epilogue

At the side of a wide expanse of water amidst a dry and dusty landscape, a number of young hippo and elephant calves played in the mid-day sun.

The calves grumbled and groaned contentedly, dreaming of all the things they would like to do when they grew up, things their great-grandparents could never, ever have envisaged for their great-grandchildren.

The little hippo’s loved the vast, wild spaces of their homeland. They knew such a lot, yet had a tremendous thirst to understand more.

“The world is yours and dreams can come true,” said their great-grandmother softly, “but you must work hard and take all the opportunities life may offer you. It is up to you to shape your future,” she warned. The little hippo pondered on this.

“If I could forecast that future and guide my learning, I know I might live my dreams,” Orla retorted with the daring that youth allowed her..

“Then you must go and find them,” replied wise, old Henry, enviously. “You must find out what learning pathways there are for your immediate future and the futures of those who might want to follow you. “
Henry looked across the water. Olivia still had the body of a toned, refined young dancer and the knowledge of one who knew no limits to her enquiring mind.

. “Follow your dreams Orla,” Henry whispered, “ follow your dreams.”

New Horizons

Olivia, Octavia and her friends sat on the floor of the studio bristling with anticipation.

“Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the dance could lead the technology,” mused ‘Liv.

“You’ve achieved so much here,” muttered Charlie, full of respect for his friend.  “We’ve realised so many of our ambitions. Sara studied Fine Art and Izzy is at the beginning of a wonderful career in illustration. You have really developed technology within your dance work and we have all seen how our academic learning futures may change as we grow within our respective careers. Billy is a fine documentary maker and has fantastic opportunities in front of him and you have realised your dream of becoming a journalist on a major newspaper Henry.”

“It’s such an exciting time,” Henry agreed enthusiastically.

“Look.” Octavia pointed to the large screen across the studio.

Kai and Jem crossed the studio to explain what could happen during the day.

“These tiny little sensors can be attached to any part of your body you wish. As your body moves they can measure the significance of your movements in terms of gravity, flow and pace. This is then transmitted through the technology to the screen where you can develop the images in many, many ways.”

“Come on ‘Liv, let’s get going,” exclaimed an excited Octavia.

“Just one thing Jem. This looks really exciting because I can see how the dance might lead the technology. But is that right?”

“Yes, you decide how the dance should dictate the results using the technology. We can also dictate sound using movement through the technology.”

Olivia and Octavia had finally realised their dream. The technology was accessible, they could use it to develop their love of dance in a way that opened up a whole new world for them in their visions of what dance should be. They were able to involve Sara and Izzy and so many of their friends.

“Look at the shapes on the screen, “shouted Sara and Izzy in unison.

“I love the grainy textures of the dancers that almost form a screen print in style,” mused Sara, as she wondered how she might use the work in her own subject area.

“…. and the sharp lines of the lime green against the black background as the dancers move is giving me so many ideas,” Izzy croaked in excitement.

“It’s fantastic, it’s all come together.” Octavia and Olivia were drunk with excitement and their visions of where this might lead in their own futures.

“I’m just so happy that we can leave some sort of legacy for the students coming through behind us,” cried Olivia. This technology is accessible to them, it is fairly easy to use and the world is open to them, they can go as far as they want in developing their particular specialism’s and futures.”

“…and it is dictated by the dance. It’s just what we wanted to explore,” replied a tired Octavia.

“You know I wish I was starting again. I would love another three years to develop this, it really is the future,” agreed Olivia. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an undergraduate dance technology course where you could really get your teeth into this, can you imagine the possibilities.”

“Have you thought of continuing your exploration ‘Liv?  You’ve really found something you love doing and wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the chance to move forward and develop this further?”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking Octavia? An MA or research, maybe a PhD: The Dancer and Technology.  Are you really serious about this?” Olivia was unsure, but so excited at the thought of what her friend was suggesting.

“You, me, dance and technology. Think where we might go now. The future is there for us to explore,” agreed Octavia.

“Let’s do it,” shouted Olivia embracing her friend. Henry, Kai, Tam, Sara, Izzy, Cat, Billy and Henry cheered. Learning Futures were in good hands. The friends knew they had worked on, and would continue developing something special, ongoing and unique in each of their interest areas. The way they and probably all students would learn was likely to change over the coming years. However, they were all ready to embrace these changes and knew there were exciting times ahead.

“A toast,” cheered Charlie. “To all of us. To the creation and ongoing development of academic learning futures.

“They all raised their glasses.”

“To all our futures,” toasted Olivia, “…and to the very best of friends.”

Octavia sat alone in the studio, the huge new dance space engulfing her thoughts. Throughout all the events, the new technologies they had devised and developed spmething bothered her.

“The movement has to dictate the technologies we use rather than be dictated too,” she muttered quietly. “There are a lot of tricks but what are the access points,” she asked herself.  “Do I as a live body just respond to the technology. Surely it needs to be responsive from both sides.”

“ The challenge is how to bring the body and performance into a set-up which could be quite overwhelming,” came a whisper from the corner of the room.

Octavia looked up and smiled at her friend. “Oh ‘Liv, sorry, just thinking aloud.”

“It’s good to come with up with what you want to do,” consoled Olivia.

“But sometimes I still feel that it is what technology is on offer to us as dancers and what can it do, rather than us pushing the boundaries and saying how do we do this and how might the technology allow us to do it? Even though the boys have tried to incorporate the set dance material into the tech set-up, we have needed to edit material an awful lot and no matter how much we tried to bring it together, somehow it still stayed apart,” Octavia continued.

“So let’s do one last thing before we leave,” Olivia enthused. “What do you want to do that would help you achieve these goals?”

“I want to understand how we can record, almost notate movement, including gravity, space, volume and time using technology so that, that technology is fully integrated in what I am doing…. so that there is no feeling of two separate disciplines but that they come together as one and then there is a distinct achievement, an embodiment of dance and technology that almost takes us back to the organic, sensual ideas from which our work comes. Do you understand what I mean ‘Liv?” asked Octavia.

“I do, I really do. But you know it isn’t wrong to ask these questions. If we don’t look back upon what we have done and disect it, then how can we move forward?” reasoned Olivia. “It’s time for the ultimate test. Come on ‘Liv, our final challenge.”

“It was Olivia’s idea,” Cat cried excitedly, “but you know it could work.”

“An interactive shared workspace that anyone can log into, not just arts based students on one campus but anyone who has an
interest in developing arts nationwide or worldwide,” explained Kai.

Everyone in the refectory was listening. There was a huge bizz of excitement.

“Is it really possible,” asked Sara, thinking  carefully about the potential of adding an interactive Fine Art workspace.

“Is it really possible?”

Billy and Tyrone sat in front of their VDU’s.

“The arts workspace is looking fantastic,” enthused Billy. “It incorporates everything we originally wanted from
CALF and really shows how all the creative elements and courses can come together to produce an
application that can be used no matter where the dancers are. It really is interactive and fulfills everything the
dancers, illustrators and designers wanted it to be.”

“It really does bring all the various subject areas, departments and school’s together,” Tyrone responded. “Result!”

The boys were basking in their success when the doors blew open and a whirlwind descended upon them.

“Let me look,” shouted Olivia. “It’s wonderful, really wonderful.”

She paused for just a moment.

“What’s up?” Billy was growing increasingly restless.

“Well,” muttered Olivia.

Tyrone looked up at her, catching a mishevious glint in her eye. “Well what?”

“Well maybe………just…..,” drawled Liv. “What if…..”

“It works!”

Olivia and Octavia played with the technology. “This really works,”
Olivia whispered, a little embarrassed to have doubted the
anti-technology views she had held for so long.

“Can I try the dance mat?” Olivia was hooked. “So by moving my feet
on any one of the nine squares I can co-ordinate the music.”

“Yes,” Kai answered. It could be developed so that you could be in
control of the volume of the music for instance. You could slow down
or speed up the video footage behind you or even dictate the lighting
that envelopes you.”

“Fantastic,” squealed Olivia.

Octavia watched mesmerised by what she saw.

Tyrone followed the girls delight in their new technologies. “You know,
you could really develop this into something much bigger.”

“Like what?” Olivia was fascinated.

“Well, by using sensors on your body and under the flooring you could map
out and possibly notate a whole dance sequence. In that way you could then
put your work on a workspace for others to view or even try in their own
studio’s.”

“It’s a fantastic idea,” Kai interrupted. “It would take time but I think
we could do it.”

“It would be wonderful,” Ocatvia mused, “but you know I love this idea of
exploring another dimension through the processing. For me, I’d like to
explore my other self. Dance with myself.”

“Don’t be daft,” Olivia stated scornfully. “You are all getting a little
carried away now.”

“But why Liv. Why shouldn’t I be able to film a sequence of my dancing either
as myself or even an alter ego, use the mat, or something like it to control
the pace and flow of it and then interact with that work?”

“There’s no reason at all,” replied Jem.

“Let’s put everything on a workspace, so that we can all contribute our
thoughts on the day and what we have achieved, then have another look at
where we go from there,” reasoned Tyrone enthusiastically.

I’ll create the dance workspace and we’ll all contribute to it.

Izzy and Sara, who had been sitting in the corner, illustrating the
experiments as they happened joined their friends. “We’ve loads of material
to work up.”

“Great, email it over and we’ll put it on the workspace,” instructed Tyrone.

Billy sauntered over, a broad smile developing from ear to ear.

“What are you giggling about,” whispered Olivia.

“We got you then ‘Liv,” teased Billy.

“No, you haven’t got me” argued Olivia. “You’ve opened my mind to other
possibilities that I can use to develop dance, to ideas I might not
previously have encountered.”

“….and I’ve captured it all on film for the workspace,” Billy replied.

“Great! We have so much to look at now and develop from this point forward,”
challenged Kai enthusiastically.

All eight frineds agreed it had been a wonderful idea and a day of endless
opportunities.

“Onwards and upwards,” declared Kai as they sauntered towards
the refectory for a well earned drink, basking in the success of their
challenge. “Onwards and Upwards.”

“It looks fantastic,” cried Olivia, watching her body rippling
across the screen, wave after wave, gradually fading red to pink,
pink to white. “This processing idea works really well. I almost
feel I am having a relationship with another me on the screen.”

“Jem,” shouted Octavia. “Can we alter this so that I can use
something slightly different? Is it possible to use something that
flows - like oil for instance, which when I am dancing emanates
from me as the dancer.”

“Yep! Using the  the processing technology, I follow you using the
cursor, then by applying physics, say a bubble effect, we see a
waterfall of liquid as you say emanating from you, the dancer.”

“Let’s do it,” cried Olivia.

“Give me a few minutes,” muttered Jem.

“What! You can’t do it immediately,” teased Octavia. “Come on Jem,
I love it.”

Kai and Jem worked tirelessly on the technology for the dance event
over the forthcoming days.

“We have too much here for just one explorative technology day,”
exclaimed a worried Jem.

“One never has too much,” retorted Kai. “The dancers can use what they
feel happy and comfortable with and leave the rest. It’s all
speculative at this stage Jem. So we have ‘Processing’, a way in which
we can develop effects with and for the dancer,. the ‘Dance Mat’ which
will assign video clips and various effects to each square the dancers
may step on, triggered by the dancers feet and pressure sensitive to
that rhythm and finally ‘Reactable’, a table top application.”

Hopefully the dancers should be able to work with this in order to
produce something quite different to their usual work, Jem concluded.

Yep, but the technology has to work with the dance, develop it in a
way that the participants never thought possible, otherwise we will
not have achieved anything. If the technology takes over, the dance
suffers and if there is not enough to interest the dancers then we
will lose their interest. I suppose its about keeping what they call
the sensual side of their art, the soul of the dance, whilst adding a
new dimension that emobodies that, explained Kai.

Well, that’s us ready. Roll on the performance / technology playweek.

“Hey Liv,” shouted Billy, “have you heard the news?” A mischevious twinkle grew in
his eyes.

“What news?” answered Olivia.

“Dance is going all twenty second century.”

“Billy, what on earth are you talking about?” muttered Olivia.

“You know those robots you hate the thought of? Well, all dance education worldwide is now
going to be delivered by distance learning,” teased Billy.

“Billy! That’s utter rubbish,” replied Olivia, not sure whether to believe him or not.

“Really Liv! Dance will be  taught through avatars and second life, so campus education
will no longer be viable or necessary for would be dance students.”

“What a load of tosh,” Olivia shouted, frustrated by Billy’s news.

“Ahhhh! It got you going though, didn’t it,” retorted Billy, “my one and only April fool.”

“Billy, you are an idiot. I forgot it was April the first, trust you, you are such a
ridiculous tease.”

“You thought he was serious for a moment though, didn’t you?” interrupted Octavia who had
been listening intently to the recurring war of words between Billy and Olivia.

“He’s thinking too far ahead of himself. Dance by distance learning and avatars. What an
idiot,” Olivia declared.

“Not that much of an idiot,” replied Billy, “I had you wondering.”

Billy was pleased with the result of his little plan.

“Must go Liv,” he called as he walked away confidently before calling to Olivia over his
shoulder.

“Is it so far fetched? You never know Liv, you just never know!”

Way Ahead filled the seminar room.

“I can’t believe how much the group has grown, how much interest there is,” confided Cat.

“It’s the future,” Olivia whispered, but don’t tell Billy I said that.

“You really are beginning to believe in it,” repied Cat.

“It’s all just so very exciting and I can’t wait to see what the next dance event will
bring,” Olivia whispered once again. “We had a fanatastic session the other day and used
wikis, Google collaborative tools, Twitter, Wordle, cognitive mapping and blogs. I feel
I am really aware of Internet resources and e-learning and have the skills that I will need
both for study and future work. My knowledge has been enhanced in terms of the use of
e-learning and I feel I have articulated visions and expectations for the future of
learning and employability with relation to dance more generally….. and maybe…just maybe
I might see the technologies with which I might explore dance in particular in a way I could
never have dreamed about before now.”

Cat was suitably impressed.

“Right guys,” she shouted. “We have a long session ahead of us, let’s get started.”

Kai and Jem continued to work on the technologies the dancers had requested.

“This is going to be a real challenge,” Kai exclaimed. “We can’t let them down.”

A strong gush of cold icy wind raced through the door.

“Billy!” shouted Kai, “do you ever enter a room quietly, you’re like a humungous whirlwind
gripping everything and everyone in your path.

“Sorry,” muttered Billy apologetically. “Just wanted to see how far you’d got.”

“Give us a chance,” responded Jem. “It doesn’t happen overnight you know!

“Sara!” shouted Cat.

“Hey, how’s things,” retorted Sara as she embraced her friend.

Cat was dying to tell Sara her news. “Did you hear about that dance and technology event
they held in the studio’s last week?”

“Yeah! It’s the buzz topic on campus. We have to get involved with this before it leaves
us behind Cat,” Sara continued.

“Let’s form a futures group,” teased Cat giggling as she did so.”Seriously. It would bring
together everyone interested in academic learning futures within a student initiated
society.

“What’ll we call ourselves,” responded Sara.

“The Falmouth Futurists,” queried Cat.

“No, we can’t do that. The Uni are already looking at a centre for future learning. Heard
it on the grapevine last week.”

“I know,” shouted Cat, gripping Sara’s arm. “Way Ahead!”

“Mmmmm, Way Ahead,” mused Sara. “I like it and we’ll be its founding members!”

“Brilliant,” replied Cat. “Way Ahead is born.”

“Way Ahead. Love it,” repeated Sara. “Way Ahead it is!”

Billy sat in the editing suite, night after night after night, cutting and splicing the
raw footage he shot at the dance event.

“I want to try and understand this sensual, organic feeling the girls are constantly
sparring about. Why do they find it so hard to understand how technology might develop
their work and take it into a new dimension,” he asked himself quietly and thoughtfully.

Billy pondered on this hour after hour.

“If I could manipulate the studio footage into a situation that could never be created
in a realistic setting, I’m sure I’d convince the girls of the possibilities technology
might offer”

” I’ve got it!” he shouted, “I think I’ve got it! I’ll use the footage I shot of
cascading water and re-create the dance through this natural falling phenomenom. The girls
have to be impressed and it all adds to the emotions they want to portray.”

Billy had found his starting point.

“I’ll call it Project Cascade,” he cried, yawning as he did so.

Billy’s head sank slowly towards the editing desk. His eyes closed and he was soon in a
not so distant land of crashing water and convex pigments of every colour of the rainbow
radiating from the falling spume.

Two parties amassed on each side of the room, no man’s land visible between them. The
idea that any ‘Think Tank’ or discussion about dance and technology could take place, seemed to be more
distant than ever.

“It’s a bit us and them,” whispered Billy to Olivia. “You know, by rights I should be
on that side.”

“But it’s not about sides,” retorted Octavia. “Billy, I feel so strongly about this.
Did you not understand anything about the message we conveyed in our performance piece
just moments ago?”

“We need to knock this wall between us down and embrace their point of view,” admonished
Billy in his usual gallumping fashion.

Olivia stood up, frustrated by Billy’s schizophrenic attitude, and addressed the room.

“I’m just not sure about this collaboration of dance and technology,” she conceded. “Fine,
there are the technological aspects of lighting and music which can create and evoke
mood, place and setting in which dance can take place, but what about the dance itself,
what about the synergy of dance and music for instance. I’m frightened the technology
will change such things.”

“Why?” asked Kai from the far corner of the room.

“My body is made up of muscles, tissue, joints and nerves which all work together to tell
the purest of stories through the medium of dance,” continued Olivia. I’m not a robot, I
don’t want to become mechanical or my dancing to emanate from technology. I could never
lose the organic, sensual physicalness that dance gives me to the hard, cold mechanism that
I see as technology.”

“You are looking at this the wrong way round, back to front and upside down,” interrupted
Kai. “It’s not about us and you and two extremes. It’s about these forms coming together,
it’s about you deciding what technogy you want to use to develop your work and if you want
to use it. It’s about embracing technolgy and finding out what might be out there.”

“….and if it’s not there….?” declared Liv.

“If it’s not there, then we look at how we might create it or develop it,” replied Kai.

“It’s about technology being made to work for you,” interrupted Jem. “It’s about you taking
hold of it and using the tools available to you, finding out what works for you.”

The bricks in the wall were beginning to crumble. Their was much food for thought as the
dancers and technologists began to find a common ground.

“OK,” enthused Octavia. “Let’s have an experimental week, a week of dance and technology
and see what is out there, what techological tools we might use.”

“What if we could have a dance space on the web where we could all share our work, create
new work and respond to others,” declared Olivia, with far more enthusisam than she would
care to admit.

“We could provide a range of technologies for you to experiment with,” explained Kai.”These
might include the Reactible Collaborating Musical Experience, Computer Vision, High
Definition Video Conferencing, I Cube, Colaab and Audio Tool, to name just a few.”
“Sounds great, let’s give them a go,” cried an elated Billy, who was finally beginning to
believe his ideas might just come to fruition. I’ll take the raw footage I’ve filmed and
see what I can create from it before the experimental week.”

“Why not invite some of the illustration students to come along. They could create a
response to the week through their own medium, submit it to us and then, if we can get
a dance play space up and running display their understanding of your work through their
images on the web,” suggested Kai.

“Brilliant,” responded Olivia. “Let’s do it and as soon as we can!”

Olivia knelt silently in the middle of the dance studio, the old typewriter, her symbol of
developing technology, weighing heavy on her young shoulders. Billy focused his camera
upon Octavia as she began to type, slowly, very slowly. The dance unravelled, gaining pace,
the two girls revelling in the sensuous, organic art form they loved, their bodies moving
as one, a wild athletic cat at odds with the world of technology. As the dance neared its
end the dark studio was filled with a ray of bright sunlight. The studio doors opened and
that technological dance was surrounded by the natural elements of the sunlit wooded copse
beyond the studio. Billy watched through his camera lens, as quietly and so beautifully the
dance concluded in a tiny hollow in the deepest part of the woods.

“Wow!” he exclaimed aloud. “Technology and dance….so beautiful, how on earth can one
argue against that?”

Sara pushed the refectory doors open with a huge sense of unease. A volley of noise hit her, knocking her back a step. Shouting, laughing, a cocophony of voices of different pitches and volumes emanated from the vast space in front of her. She stood alone, nervously wondering if she had made the biggest mistake of her life in coming to University to study. Cat looked up. She noticed a tiny, pretty young thing standing at the refectory entrance looking as though at any minute she might bolt, like a young colt, back from wherever she came.

“Hi, I’m Cat!” Taking hold of Sara’s arm she steered her towards a quiet corner. “Come on, it’s OK, they won’t bite, just a bit loud, honestly.”

Sara looked around, her huge blue eyes like saucers peering from under her fringe. “I’m not sure I know what all this University education is really all about,” she confided in her new friend. “How will I manage my time? What will the study experience be like? How will it differ from sixth form? How will they want me to write essays? How will I manage and prioritise my time?”

“Whoa! Hold on a sec,” Cat responded in the kind of calm, understated way only a third year student could? “We were all there once you know.”

“But how different will things be here Cat? …..and it’s not just now and for me, what about in the second and third years of  my course?”

“Everyone feels like that at the beginning, although they might not show it.” Cat was a comfort to Sara, so much so that a hint of a smile bought new life to Sara’s face. “Decades ago students worried about change and decades on it’ll still be the same. Think what life for students might be like twenty, thirty or even fifty years from now. We’ll be sitting by the fire, with our grandchildren on our laps telling tales of our time at Uni.”

“Ooh, it wasn’tlike that in my day,” mimicked Sara, showing Cat a mischevious side to her nature that she hadn’t seen until now.

“I love my grandparents sooooooo much,” Sara continued, “but I often think about how much life has changed since they were eighteen. Technology, computers, e-books all now a basis for learning that they never had. Technology has driven our ability to learn and our access to and methods of learning in untold ways that they could only have dreamed about. But imagine Sara, sixty years from now, what will our grandchildren be doing on their first day at University? Will they even go to University to continue their education after school? Will there be any Univerisites? How will they manage their study time and balance their social life whilst writing essays and learning new skills?”

“We won’t ever know exactly, I don’t suppose,” chortled cat. “But you know, even though we can’t predict Academic Learning Futures, we can look at the possibilities technology might offer us and create scenario’s for future learing with that in mind.”

“…..and we can start by managing our study time, balancing our social life, looking at appropriate methods of research and research skills and gaining an understanding of good essay writing,” responded a more confident Sara.

“By jove, the girl has got it.” Cat laughed whilst Sara even sniggered somewhat. Sara was at ease with her new found friend and had re-kindled an interest in learning futures, knowing that her immediate questions could and would soon be answered.

“Come on,” shouted Cat smiling at Sara, “let’s move forward let’s see what the future holds.”

“Virtual Environments. What do you mean?” Izzy shook her head confused to say the least.

“Well think about it,” retorted Henry, somewhat frustrated at Izzy’s lack of enthusiasm.  “Design is all about looking at future needs. People don’t always tell you what they want because they don’t know. We have to create these scenario’s for them. Think about it Izz.  We can already create imaginary environments for a variety of needs, but what about our learning environment and future environments for educating designers and illustrators like you and me?”

“….. and it’s not just the learning environment at under and post graduate levels I suppose,” retorted Izzy. She thought for a moment as the idea Charlie presented to her became clearer in her own mind.”What about the workplace, our future working environment? The changes there will affect our own practice in the real world for most of our working life.”

Charlie smiled. “Now you’re with me Izz, so let’s do something about it.You in the field of Illustration, whilst I develop the idea with some of the other students in garden, textile and interior design.”

Izzy’s enthusiasm had been ignited. Like a bullet waiting to be fired from a Colt 44, she was ready to explode.

“What if I took the Strategy for Future Learning, which they must have somewhere, and turned it into a visual document. You know, a comic, picture book or graphic novel, something that was easily available and understood by people. I might be able to influence others thinking about the future, generate future possibilities in Illustrative education. What do you think Char?”

“Sounds great Izz,” replied Charlie, secretly admiring Izzy’s newly found enthusiasm. “Meanwhile I’ll delve into those environments for design education and the work-place we talked about.”

Charlie’s mind was racing with ideas. He was on the starting grid and raring to go.

“It’s a deal. Let’s go for it Izz,” shouted Charlie excitedly.

“What now,” Izzy enquired.

“No time like the present old girl,” Charlie responded with a glint in his eye. “Remember this. Today is tomorrow’s future.”

“Today…. is tomorrow’s…. future,” Izzy repeated slowly and quietly as she watched Charlie walk enthusiastically towards his goal, vying for pole position.

“Today is tomorrow’s future!”

Billy watched Olivia and her friend travel gracefully across the studio. There was such beauty in their movement.

Olivia kneeled tightly on the floor whilst Octavia placed a typewriter on the honed muscles of her back.

“Hey ‘Liv,” shouted Billy across the studio. “What you doing with a typewriter on your head?”

Olivia moved suddenly, the typewriter crashed to the ground.

“Get out of here Billy,” she shouted.

“Aw, sorry Liv,” whined Billy apologetically.

“It’s OK,” Olivia answered smiling at her friend. “It was hurting my shoulder blades anyway.”

“So what is it with the typewriter? A flat screen would have been much lighter,” teased Billy.

“It’s literally about the weight of technology on our shoulders as dancers. If technology is a burden to us in exploring our art, why use it?” Ocatvia continued. “I suppose you could call it a third collaborator,” she explained, “but if that collaborator has no reason to be there, what’s the point?”

“…because that’s our future,” Billy responded emphatically. “You have to go with it, no matter what you do or who you are.”

“Do you?” Octavia was sceptical. “Do you really? Just because it is there doesn’t mean you have to use it. There has to be a reason.”

“I tell you what,” Billy teased. “You tell me when your performance is and I’ll film and edit it. Then if you would be happy for me to do so, I’ll take it away and create something very different using that footage and technology. I’ll show you why I think our futures, and our learning futures particularly, are reliant, and in essence embraced in the arms of technology.”

“It’s a deal,” shouted the girls in unison, “now get out of here!”

Olivia’s enthusiasm was uncontainable.

“I have to show people what technology might be able to do for dance,” she muttered.
“….only one problem, technology and dance…..are they really able to collaborate.”

Olivia thought more and more about the sensual side of dance, the physicalness of it, the use of space and time.

“What can technology add to that,” she asked, “without taking the pureness and beauty of it all away?”

Olivia and her friend Octavia discussed the issue for many an hour.

“Let’s look at it from a physical perspective first,” reasoned Octavia. “Dance and technology are two distinct areas, poles apart, and you know technology could be a burden to the freedom we enjoy as dancers,” she explained. “Why don’t we explore technology through our dance and create a performance piece based on our fears. Once we have done this we can then look at the impact technology might have on our work from a different perspective.”

Just at that moment Tyrone popped his head around the studio door.

“Forgive me for overhearing, but you know, you are looking at the essence of the argument back to front and upside down. Of course technology and dance are inherent within each other. Look! You start from your perspective and I’ll start from mine and let’s see what the two performances tell us about dance and technology, then we can have a critical discussion about the future of dance and technology based on something substantial.”

“OK,” responded Olivia, we’re up for that. “Six weeks and let’s see what we have.”

The three dancers, three great friends wondered off, full of ideas, ready to start planning, rehearsing and performing the two works yet wondering just what might emanate from it.

Olivia danced and danced. She enjoyed every moment of her studies. Hour after hour were spent in the dance studio, exploring this and developing that.

“I only feel free when I dance!” she exclaimed. “I can be anyone and anything I wish, a free spirit. The music carries me, moves me, the music is within me.”

Hour after hour. day after day. Weeks moved to months and the seasons came and went as Olivia’s lean and muscular frame was honed to perfection, moving from one ambition to another, achieving her goals, carrying her onwards towards her dream.

There was one dream that still seemed unattainable. She yearned to choreograph dance for the film industry, but in a way she wasn’t really sure was possible. Olivia knew the day would come when she would no longer have the security and support of the university environment. A time when she would have to develop everything she had learned and gained through her university days. She wanted to pass on the skills she had learnt.

“But is it possible? What is the future for learning and what are the skills I might need to achieve my dream?” Olivia pondered upon this question for some time.

“What if I could create dance through body mapping,” she whispered, excited at this very thought. “Dance could travel. Adults, students, children, anyone interested in dance could learn any number of skills, routines and techniques. Dance education could be available at a distance and not only campus based. Dance would be accessible to the whole world at the click of a button.”

Olivia’s excitement grew as she she thought of the endless possibilities this scenario might offer her. She started work using her first idea.

“If the dance floor was receptive to the dancer’s steps, they could be mapped on to the computer screen,” she muttered. “If sensors in the floor could map these steps and a camera could map the position of the body, I might just be able to do this,” she exclaimed in great delight.

Olivia’s idea was still in its embryonic form. It had such a long way to go, but she knew that she had the beginning of something exciting and bold, something, where no one had danced before.

Karenanne Knight  Thursday 16th April, 2009

We don’t see many hippo’s in Falmouth! However, a large hungry baby hippo and his friends are now knocking on many a door and asking lots of questions. Can we forecast future learning? What is the future of education? What are the future tools of education?

Karenanne Knight Monday 23rd February 2009
Link to University College Falmouth CALF VLE