When dance goes digital at Wake Forest

May 8, 2020

Wake Forest dance professor Kara Wilkes has put together a video that captures the spirit of dance assignments performed remotely and video recorded by her students this spring.

Some of the clips compiled in Wilkes’ video are from the home improvisation assignments, and some students filmed new work. Accompanist Chi Sharpe who played for various dance courses this spring also contributed.

“I had a funk song in mind as background music for the dance clips, “Wilkes said. But when I started to edit, I noticed that many students had to push play on their device, step back and wait a moment before beginning. I was stunned by how beautiful and vulnerable that moment was before they started dancing. It was clear the piece needed to go deeper.”

One remote assignment was to film a 45-second self-choreographed work with only the upper body. Another was to choose an inanimate prop and incorporate it into a one-minute dance. “I adjusted the syllabus to be sensitive to physical space and technology limitations that our students might face. Giving the students agency to choreograph allowed many to express what they have been experiencing during this pandemic,” she explained.

Read more about Wilkes and her students here.