BRIDGMAN|PACKER DANCE

VIRTUAL PRESENTATIONS

• Technology: Zoom or other live streaming platform provided by presenter.

• Company requires Presenter to provide virtual stage manager to run virtual activities. A tech rehearsal before every event with the virtual stage manager is required.

• The company can adapt activities to meet the needs of each presenter/theater and their respective communities.

• These Virtual Presentations can also be offered in person as well as virtually over live streaming platforms provided by the Presenter.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES: Making of Ghost Factory

A look behind the creative process of Bridgman Packer’s newest creation Ghost Factory, which was inspired by the residents and vast deserted factories of Johnson City, a small upstate NY town. In this presentation, Co-Artistic directors Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer, pioneers in the integration of dance with video technology, offer audiences a look into their creative process, which includes multiple site visits, storytelling sessions, and filming the once majestic buildings of this post-industrial town. This event may be hosted ahead of Ghost Factory coming to a community in order to bring local audiences into the themes of the work, draw interest, and deepen community engagement opportunities in preparation for the live performance. Option to include moderator. Alternatively a moderator may be provided by Presenter.

Details:

• Max number of participants: Dependent on presenter’s platform maximum capacity.

• Approx 60 minutes (45 minute presentation w/ 15 min Q&A).

ARTIST TALK

This in-depth presentation provides insight into Bridgman|Packer’s choreographic process and its integration with video technology, with images and video excerpts, they describe the history and development of their unique concepts of Video Partnering and their use of green screen technology, video editing and live camera stage set up. There will also be focus on their work creating stand-alone dance films including screenings of two short dance films: Look Out, and Embrace in the Time of COVID-19.

Details:

• Max number of participants: Dependent on presenter’s platform maximum capacity.

• Approx 60 minutes (45 minute presentation w/ 15 min Q&A).

VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS

CREATING SHORT DANCE FILMS/PARTNERING WITH THE CAMERA

Art Bridgman and Myrna Packer offer a 2-hour workshop where participants can experiment with creating short dance films with their cell phone cameras. Bridgman and Packer will focus on camera angles, lighting, framing, movement invention, and relationship with music and sound. This workshop will emphasize process rather than product and will include several hands-on experiments that explore partnering with the camera. Workshop will be held on Zoom. It is best if participants have both a computer and a cell phone, but adjustments can be made if that is not possible. Max number of participants: 20

CREATIVE FILM WORKSHOP SERIES

Incorporating video (with cell phone or camera) with movement and text (prose poetry, spoken word), students will create short video projects. This workshop requires multiple sessions, ideally a minimum of 4 sessions in order to realize a film project from each participant. This series can also include an Artist Talk presented in a virtual lecture demonstration format prior to starting the workshop that will introduce the students to Bridgman|Packer’s artistic process.

Details:

• Max number of participants: 15 Students (collaborating in 5 groups of about 3 students each)

• Running Time: Sessions #1 and #2 – 60 minutes, Sessions #3 – 20 minutes per group, Sessions #4 – 20 minutes per group.

• Tech Requirements: Cell phone camera (iPhone or smartphone camera) or camera that allows for still photos, video and audio recording capability (such as camcorder, digital camera) that can be saved as video files (mp4, mov); Video editing software on computer or phone that can be used to help students realize the final video (iMovie or other cellphone editing software, final cut pro, etc); Zoom. A Zoom facilitator is requested.

  Sample Schedule:
  Week 1 Session #1 Virtual Zoom Lecture Demonstration with BPD
  Week 1 Session #2 Creative Film Workshop
  Week 2: Students work independently to create short films
  Week 3 Session #3 first 20 minute Session w/ each group
  Week 4 Session #4 second 20 minute Sessions w/ each group
  Week 5 Session #5 Virtual Screening of Films with Students and BPD

COMMUNITY STORYTELLING WORKSHOPS

In anticipation of Ghost Factory live performance, Bridgman and Packer offer an online, virtual community storytelling workshop. Participants may be families, intergenerational or from schools, community clubs or organizations that will gather and be guided through the workshop by focusing on dialogue while sharing stories of individual, family and community histories as well as visual images from their communities. Through playful and insightful intergenerational exchange, young and elders experience how their stories may differ or overlap.

Details:

• Max number of participants: 10-15 Participants.

• Running Time: 2 hours

• Personnel Requirements: A local community liaison to provide advance details to participants.

• Tech Requirements: A Zoom facilitator is requested.

GHOST FACTORY, LOCAL STORYTELLING PROJECT

Working with local community liaisons, Bridgman and Packer will engage in storytelling workshops and/or interviews with local community members by phone or zoom, collecting stories about connections, memories, and experiences of their town and neighborhoods. Focusing on how local buildings might hold people’s stories, their input will be part of the audio/visual installation in the lobby of each venue where Ghost Factory is performed.

DANCE FILMS

Look Out (2018)

Look Out, a driving and precarious choreographic voyage through rooftops, a parking lot, and a construction site filmed entirely by drone camera, captures unexpected angles, distances, and perspectives. Shot on location during LUMBERYARD Under Construction Summer Festival 2018 (Catskill, NY), it features Bridgman|Packer choreography and performance, cinematography by Gavin Preuss, and industrial-percussion by Jeff Cook. Look Out has been selected for Screendance Miami and received Best Cinematography at the Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival and Best Drone Film at the Beyond Earth Festival.

Presenters may commission a version of Look Out to be filmed on the presenter’s campus or designated area. Filming is all shot on site with a drone camera.

Embrace in the Time of COVID-19 (2020)

This film was inspired by those who lived alone during the pandemic and for those for whom touch and embrace were absent. In light of this, it explores the concept of virtual embrace and its relationship with the physical. “Embracing”, moving, and merging with each other’s film images, Bridgman and Packer delve into the relationship of intimacy and distance while exploring the uncertain, ephemeral, impermanent nature of existence. With choreography, performance, and filmmaking by Bridgman and Packer and music by composer/violist Martha Mooke, it has received Best Choreography Award at the Best Global Shorts Film Festival, Judge’s Special Mention at Redwood Shorts and Scripts, and Best Dance Film at the Experimental Dance & Music Film Festival.