The Feeling Of Dance
The world of dance especially ballroom dance is something strange for many people. They would laugh at it not trying to understand what it feels like. Many of them even never tried ballroom dance on their own because it seems outdated and antiquated. "The Feeling Of Dance" offers the audience access to the dancing culture in a different way. People are not forced to try dancing out but they can listen to different music while watching fabrics which represent different types of dance. This creates moods which go near the actual feeling of dancing. The aim is to give the viewers a new kind of understanding of ballroom dancing so they don't see it as old-fashioned as they used to.
Why working with textile?
Fabric comes in all kind of forms, colours and textures. It is more durable than paper. It moves, flows and it offers a variety of possibilities on what to do with it. In the fashion industry textile is used to create aesthetics. The uniqueness of each fabric can be inspiration for an artist or designer to make something special out of it. Textile can have so many different characteristics - it can be light as a feather, almost completely transparent (Chiffon) or thick, heavy and strong like denim or leather. It can also be used for a beamer and project different images on it. (Textile is always around us.)
Step 1: Searching for fabric/clothes which could be used
Starting point: Which fabric do people find at home?
Step 2: Searching for inspiration on how to work with textile
Artists, General forms of art that could be included
Of course making something fashion-related is kind of obvious when working with fabric...but why not approach it more like an artist and not a fashion-designer?
A topic is needed
The story behind
"In my whole life music was always a huge topic especially in my family. I always made music and watched dancing-shows. I loved how the clothes moved with the dancers and how they were able to create a small world on their own for a few minutes. When I got older I entered dancing-classes and discovered how beautiful the world of dancing is - the steps, the emotions you can express, the fancy clothing, the music, the feeling of becoming a princess for once,...
...but I also made the experience that not all people could understand that. Some would laugh at me for such an outdated hobby. "Only old people like dancing waltz or tango", "I would never be so silly to do this" they said. They would not even try it out before judging my interest in dancing.
The challenge is to visualize what I feel when I dance so that those people may understand that even though they laughed at me it did not change my desire to dance and maybe they can finally see what dancing means to me."
Let's try it out
The Waltz
The chiffon-fabric flows like the dresses of dancers and it feels light and soft just like a shiver. That is also what waltzing feels like - it is like flying, everything is easy and light. The lighting can give the fabric something mysterious because it is a bit transparent.
The Tango
Dancing Tango feels intimate and romantic on one side and mysterious and powerful on the other side. Especially in the Argentinian Tango there are really slow and sensual steps but also strong and very fast moves which give kind of a kick in dancing. Tango feels expensive, glamorous and also flowy. A lot of strength and body-control but also a kind of softness and agility is needed. The Satin looks expensive because of the shine and is also a strong fabric. It flows softly in the wind and is able to create beautiful figures too when throwing it.
Thoughts about sustainable aesthetics:
When thinking of aesthetics, the first thing that comes to mind is the appearance/look of something. This is a visual experience. Now when aesthetics are conneted to sustainability, it is like a change in the way of creating a design for a certain product. Sustainability means working together with the environment - not against it. The items it is offering are taken and used to create something new out of it. Not everything needs to be "brand-new" - It can be designed to look like it is way more new.
In fashion there are multiple ways to create/purchase clothing in a sustainable way. It can be a way of showing personality in a visual appearance. There is a certain culture in the fashion industry - "thrifting". It is about reusing "old" or thrown-away clothes to make some new ones or even other things out of them.