Design decisions

DESIGN CHOICES BASED ON CONCEPT & PEA'S WISHES

Synaesthesia is a condition (as stated below) different in every human being, it is subdivided in many different forms and themselves are different in each. Rachel has a form of Chromesthesia/ Misofonia ( from what i have gathered in my research , see scans of notebook). Portraying the experience of one person with Synaesthesia, Rachel, and talking about Synaesthesia as a whole would be a generalization and therefore potentially offensive to other syntesthetes ( I might get responses such as : This is not what i feel like...), it would be an appropriation of the condition, and frankly considering that none of us are syntesthetes it could be very badly interpreted. I even feel uncomfortable by the name Pea has chosen for this piece, "Synaesthesia", it should be "Rachel Synaesthesia". It could have been just an exploration of colours and that would enable me to work more freely but from the moment the title is Synaesthesia than association will be made and we have to be clear about a narrative and what i convey to avoid offenses.

The focus on Rachel is therefore crucial. The audience would need to understand that this is what is going on in ONE brain, I must convey this through my designs. It is essential for the public to make the connection between Rachel and the colours. I think that I should physically represent Rachel, as she is a vital part of this piece and development. As i want the spectators to relate directly to her and her experience I need to be "down to earth" and cannot work "abstractly" to show the narrative. Also, having the three colours dancing would also look like a "colour show" so I need to include this extra performer.

Had the show been longer, if it was a dance we perhaps could have portrayed synesthesia globally however with 6 minutes we have to be concise. I am going to insist very much on this point.

I think that this performer does not have to be a dancer, I imagine her well being detached from the dance and completely still, seated on the floor while the colours " plays in her brain". The characteristic of this condition is that one appears completely normal from the exterior. Maybe she just need to show which emotions triggers which colours. For instance scream when it is red and then red plays or something like that. This is again not my call, i'm not the choreographer, i could perhaps find a way to suggest this but really I have no say in the choreography, just like Aline told me.

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Synaesthesia CANNOT be qualified as an "illness", it would therefore also be wrong to portray the synesthete (person with synesthesia) in hospital clothes, she needs to look normal. Yet the audience needs to make the connection.

I am setting myself a challenge, it is definitely easier to work with a broad subject and abstraction. But now the piece along with the set will have to have meaning!

WHAT RACHEL SEES WILL BE DRIVING MY DESIGN,

Since everything is about Rachel and how she experiences colours, I need to know more about how they come and how she sees them and why Pea chose these moves to portray each colours. Just like what Rachel experiences is described by dance, I have to do the same with my design so they combine together and create one. Pea gave me very helpful information, and her further research for some moves that I will use for my design, so I can design costumes corresponding to Rachel's experience and to Pea's choreography. It is very important for me to design for dance and not the other way round. However, i'm feeling very stressed because Pea has not worked at all on the choreography and I have no ideas what kind of moves she really is going to do. So it is hard to design for dance when not knowing what she actually plans for the dance.

Below, is Pea's ideas for the moves, and clearer information as to what Rachel sees and what triggers these sensations.

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Unit 6, Platform and communities, Design for Dance

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