Animal Choreography

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and ‘Cloud Choreography and Other Emergent Systems’, an exhibition by Keith Tyson, were starting points for the workshop, along with Roos’ thoughts on these.

The workshop focused on what happens when we see animals move in a wide variety of ways. Repetition, movement, transformation and animation were key ideas.

A dedicated event room with tables and chairs was prepared before starting the workshop; drawing materials, spot lights and small electric fans were provided; lengths of string were attached to the walls and left trailing on the floor.

Participants looked at photocopies of Muybridge’s famous 19th-century photographs of animals in movement, and a Powerpoint presentation on wild animals in city streets.

The group discussed how we see animal movement, and then chose an animal and drew it several times in slightly different positions.

Drawings were placed in sequence to represent movement:

• a bird doing a somersault
• a camel bowing
• a salamander raising its front legs

People cut out their drawings and suspended them on strings. Then they tightened the strings, fixing them to the floor with tapes so that the drawings hung like marionettes.

Some needed help in attaching their drawings to the strings in such ways that they would allow the paper to move.

Small fans were used to create movement amongst the paper cut-outs.

The whole installation was then animated by projecting the moving shadows of the drawings onto the walls of the room: a theatrical performance of dancing shadows.

The workshop was attended by 12 young, mainly female, adults and residents from local communities.

Activities were arranged to allow people to grow in confidence, starting with individual experimentation and moving on to group work. Planned discussion gave strength to this process.

People began to see the piece three-dimensionally as they moved about the room changing the positions and lighting of their cut-out drawings.

The workshop provided an insight into how group drawing can produce “more than the sum of its parts”.