neili ep
first DEMOS
'Neili' is a concept EP that explores practicing jianshu fencing technique. Beside visualization and animation, I have a long history with music. Music production begun to develop during sound design studies at TAMK Bachelor of Arts. Experience with classical instruments combined to almost 10 years of DJ activity, producing own music is a natural continuation of the story. Also the fascination for merging visual and musical art, is a fundamental foundation for everything I do. EP will be released on this fall.
'Neili' is a fusion art work of dance, music and media art, that explores the ideological and mythological aspects of the Jian Shu fencing technique. The idea is to create a performance, that focuses on traditional Jian fencing culture with modern art presentations. The performance draws visual inspiration from the Wuxia style and uses thematic elements about Chinese Taoism and Neida’s ideology intertwined with Jian’s tradition. The ultimate theme of the EP is internal cultivation of growth to the point, where human can be freed from the limitations of the biological state, by being equal with the cosmos. At the same time, the performance mirrors thousands of years old ideologies to modern thoughts, seeking common ground, especially in the treatment of human evolution and mortality. The work is assembled together with a virtual reality environment, which is designed to work flawlessly with the dance, creating a visual set and props for the performance. Dramatic features draw ideas from the folklore of Taoism and Wushu tradition. The work combines three main elements; music (Jing), which acts as a nutrient for the performance, dance (Qi), which is the bearing energy of the performance, and virtual reality (Shen), which is the soul of the work.
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COSTUME design
The project costume design focuses in handmade historical pieces, like corsets and gloves. It also researches costume trends of the same period in different cultures, as well as their patterning techniques. Artistic vision centers on carefully crafted handmade pieces, promoting sustainability and empowering individual expression through do-it-yourself couture. Inspired by the refined aesthetics of historical eras, the work incorporates avant-garde elements and fantasy, creating a purposeful narrative that engages viewers in a dialogue between tradition and innovation.
music
dance
I produce and compose the music for the work using Ableton Live 10 software and Arturia Analog Player midi keyboard.
The technical package also includes the Akai Midimix controller. The music is completely electronic and is designed to combine the traditional Asian sound world with modern bass-winning street dance music. Music
takes inspiration from Wuxia films and strives for cinematic storytelling. Work stages include composing, sampling, producing, mixing, mastering and designing and implementing a live performance.
The main element of the performance is the sword dance, which combines Jian Shu’s traditional movement language with dance elements. Jian fencing is also based a lot on Tai Chi as well as acrobatic elements. The goal is to create an effect, where the handling of the sword is in harmony with the dance movements and the trajectories of the sword as natural as possible. Also the continuity of movements plays an important role on which the choreography is built. In addition to the sword dance, performance consists other forms, like the 'fan form' and 'water sleeves'.
virtual reality
In the VR implementation, there's two types of presentations: interactive 3D-animation, that follows and reacts to the movements of the sword (or the fan/water sleeves) and the virtual avatar that follows the movements of the real dancer. Using motion capture techniques, dancer's, as well as the sword's, trajectories are tracked and used to create the interactive content. The digital content can be programmed for example, to follow/trace/create feedback or repeat the movements in real time. The content is projected into the background of the dancer and is happening a game-like VR environment. In the storytelling side of the piece, the character performs a variety of tasks and goes through scenarios, that are built on the basis of Chinese folklore. Visualization progresses dramaturgically as a survival story, in which the character faces variety of challenges, growing towards the best version of itself. In visualization, sword movements and handling is also described through cosmological processes.
