Floating Departures is an independent dance film and meditation created in response to life during the pandemic.

Full website with videos: https://floatingdepartures.wordpress.com/

It was created remotely during lockdown, January-May 2021, and recorded with smartphones. The repetitive routines we clung to during lockdown are juxtaposed with memories of a significant change in our lives where we felt in control. We seek to find meaning in an ever-emerging illogical world and take the audience on a journey through multiple layers and abstractions of reality. The way in which we made Floating Departures is as much a statement of life during lockdown as the art we created. We used a broad range of technologies to transform our everyday spaces–from everyday objects (e.g., balloons and bubble wrap) to AI art systems. Our bricolage approach to art making, while necessitated by lockdown restrictions, also led to new creative potentials. We bring together dance movement, poetry, painterly styles, and sound to create a new place, unbound by reason or logic. In this new realm we explore not only our personal experiences during lockdown, but also the experiences of a larger collective body that emerged in the space between one another. This new realm was only made possible through our evolving process and technologically-mediated interactions. Although we created this work while in separate spaces, these artistic elements were developed iteratively, in close relation to one another. Through this work we demonstrate how technologically-mediated dance collaboration can provide a new lens for understanding our body and movement beyond physical barriers.

Created by Shannon Cuykendall and Steve DiPaola in collaboration with Alexandra Pickrell and Roya Pishvaei.