graffix by Zaengraffix by Zaen
A vision of a group of black clothed acrobatic figures appearing,
dancing and disappearing in a twinkling of flashing lights and
then coalescing in their signature cluster around their giant
mother.
This work is designed for festivals and events that are at night with a naturally dark backdrop: parks e.g. Elder park, the Convention Centre Riverside, rural festivals.
The scenario is a group of youngsters
with their mother, the 'dark one'. Kneehigh made the original
Dark One puppet for the production of Insight Unseen which premiered
at the Melbourne Festival in 1997. She is such a powerful image
that she had to have another life.
She is 3.4m tall giant stilt puppet completely covered in double
black velvet and carrying about 180 LEDS that light up gradually
in patterns driven by a miniature programmable microprocessor.
We are considering several stages:
Stage 1: Develop chasing light costume and develop / choreograph performance for early 2009 eg Womad.
Stage2: Mid 2009 rebuilding the Dark One giant to incorporate into the performance. Commission new music.
Stage 3: late 2009, designing
possible daytime costumes Performance Concept These figures appear at night
as shadows from behind buildings, trees, other people and CLUSTER
as groups and in a tableau with their giant mum. Skills include
tumbling, human pyramids and free-form dance. The PIXELS suits will light up
either all at once or in waves or also to go to blackout in an
instant. The lights can be operated by a simple switch as well
as by mercury switches. These are able to be switched the current
on automatically according to the bodys orientation: e.g.: raise
the right hand all lights on, left hand all lights twinkle, dive
to the ground and go to black. The light circuits will run on
a 6 volt system set up to insure safety and comfort of performers. Creative team Pro -Am option Light suits:
Tony Hannan /producer
, Roz Hervey as Choreographic consultant, Emma Harper as a skills trainer
with street theatre experience.
Tony and Leigh Milne from Electrickery will do technical
R&D and prototyping.
An option if the Cluster
/ Pixel group is in demand is to substitute Cirkidz trained adults:
e.g. Tara, Jannah, where school aged performers are not appropriate
or available e.g. school times or extended tours.
Another option is to have the pixels as a pro-am group incorporating
some professional(s) trainer(s)
KneeHIGH have been working
with battery powered fairy lights and LEDs on costumes since the
first Android in March 1994. A light suit was made for the Compare
in the KH Cirkidz collaboration Devil in a Red Dress.
kneeHIGH have recently been working with Leigh Milne for our Family
From Away project using a new micro processor that allows more
light chasing possibilities than ever before.
LEDS produce a bright light in several colours well suited to
costume work as it produces negligible heat and uses little battery
power.