The Microgravity Slope: Cross disciplinary meetings and explorations with artists from the field of dance, Virtual Reality, animation and sound

The Microgravity Slope Based on the question - How can we share the experience of an alternate gravity? We led a series of experiments that revealed multiple layers of communication, immersion, and choreographic setups and weaved together performance, participation, and spectatorship into a form we call Action Performance. The story of becoming an astronaut and exploring the solar system was introduced as a method to ignite the imagination and bodily engagement. It gradually became a core topic in the research, together with the fabrication of microgravity (moonlike gravity) through a harness based vertical dance system. In the past three years, cross disciplinary meetings and explorations with artists from the field of dance, Virtual Reality, animation and sound, lead to evolving participatory choreographies that took place in residencies at Åbne Scene in Godsbanen (2020 & 2022) and as part of the MFA thesis project Tiny Astronauts - Looking for Awe and Wonder finding Curiosity (June 2021). The most recent exploration named Microgravity is supported by the Danish Arts Council and The Animation Workshop, where we developed a VR environment and technology meant to challenge the boundaries and scale for moving vertically in space. We observed that curiosity is the most activating component of awe and wonder and that immersive storytelling can go hand in hand with bodily curiosity and learning. Here the concept of Expanded Choreography, we see as an invitation to re-look at physical experiences from the subjective point of view as choreographic, and as an opportunity to let the body and senses lead a reflecting process. Finally, as the topic of space travel became more significant and present, we also arrived at a follow-up question aimed at future research: Can empathy be practiced and present as part of our research?
The core artist team consists of Esther Wrobel, Michelle Kranot, Tanya Rydell Montan, Lucia Jaen Serrano and Yann Coppier.