The Performing Subject: Identity and Representation in the Modern and the Postmodern Eras

Abstract

During my days as a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota, the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance collaborated with an international array of professional and educational institutions to premiere a groundbreaking performance piece called Dancing beyond Boundaries. Produced in conjunction with the 2001 SuperComputing Global Conference in Denver, the performance made use of the World Wide Web to link a multitude of artists and engineers working simultaneously in Colorado, Minnesota, Florida, and Brazil. The performance was spearheaded by the Digital Worlds Institute at the University of Florida at Gainesville and featured an original dance composition by Minneapolis choreographers Daniel Shapiro and Joanie Smith; dancers performed the composition in Denver, Gainesville, and Minneapolis to accompaniment provided by percussionist Mestre Boca in Sao Paolo. The audience at each site could watch both live performers and live transmissions of performers at other sites projected onto screens situated around each performance space. Dancing beyond Boundaries was also broadcast real time over the World Wide Web. Anyone with access to the Web could view the performance as it unfolded in virtual space; videos of the performance are still posted on the production Web site; one can view the videos at http://www.digitalworlds.ufl.edu/projects/dbb/