Murali Balasubramaniam

DANCERS!

DANCERS! is an interactive video data base of solos of professional dancers of any style or technique performing within a precise context : 2 minutes, defined space, exact lighting, chosen music. DANCERS! can be viewed online for free at www.dancersproject.com where one can navigate through the dances in two different easy and entertaining ways that also provide links to the artists and commentaries. The DANCERS! monumental installation was presented for the first time in the Biennale of Charleroi/Danses in November 2009 in the Metro station Beaux Arts of Charleroi (Belgium). Spectators interacted with the video database via a touchscreen that controlled the life size HD video projected onto the giant screen! Related projects are a documentary film about the project DANCERS! and the dancers involved, dvd sets, scientific studies that can take advantage of the precise conditions of the videos to investigate aspects of dancers from different angles such as anthropology, physiology, medicine, dance pedagogy, aesthetics, philosophy etc. DANCERS! is a project that will continue to evolve over time as it travels to cities throughout the world welcoming dancers of all cultures into its database. While normally the ephemeral work of a dancer disappears the moment it is executed, DANCERS! reverses this reality by preserving it for eternity. It is then, dynamically amplified, reflected, and leveraged to have an ever-increasing impact.