Heather Hansen: Exploring Intersections
New Orleans-based dancer and fine artist Heather Hansen has partnered with choreographer and dancer Diogo De Lima to explore the intersection of movement and canvas. The collaboration sees the two create unique large-scale charcoal artworks, emanating from their movements.
Their working relationship began when Hansen met De Lima at an art opening. She was already an admirer of his choreography and dance which fast-tracked their friendship, ultimately leading to collaboration and the cross-pollinating of ideas and the redevelopment of their understanding of art, music and dance. Eventually, De Lima, who is now a professor at Tulane University, and Hansen came to the conclusion to choreograph kinetic drawing with a partner or larger groups early in the process of the series.
“I started experimenting with the idea in workshops with students first as a way to help them access my technique,” says Hansen. ‘I can’t draw or I’m right handed, or I can’t dance,’ students would say to Hansen, but when Hansen had them draw with both hands simultaneously while mirroring a partner it tripped the switch. “They were concentrating on the other and therefore able to do it. The result was so beautiful to watch and I wanted to develop it further,” she says.
This project was almost inevitable, as a sense of curiosity and a dancer’s innate desire to collaborate compelled De Lima and Hansen to create their piece. De Lima shares a similar sense of aesthetics as Hansen, although they come from different backgrounds. Through this collaboration, she explains, she was curious to see the interplay between his classical training as a ballet dancer and hers in the visual arts. “Coming from a dance background as well, I think it’s natural for dancers to collaborate and play more so than I’ve experienced in the visual arts where processes and ideas tend to be more guarded.” She says that’s maybe a generalization, but she feels it is true for her. “I tend to see collaboration as an opportunity for growth and expansion of ideas. It’s freeing to share my process and learn from others.”
The pieces are arresting, not only in terms of their scale, but watching Hansen and De Lima has a certain theatre to it. Hansen recognised this too. “The result is greater than the sum of our individual skills; the energy and flow of dance is truly captured on the canvas. It’s a synergistic collaboration, and it’s exciting because I have the sense there’s much more to explore,” she says.
The final product is always something that surprises her, as it’s never what she imagined – sometimes better, sometimes not, and often, she explains, her opinion will change over time. “When I’m creating, my energy is so focused in the making,” she says, “I’ve come to accept the flaws and irregularities because I think they are honest. It’s a part of myself materialized. Even if I paint over something, the history of it is embedded in the canvas and I can always feel that come.”
Hansen has never put much of a distinction between dance, art and sound. While each can stand alone as art forms, she explains, they can also enhance each other in ways that constantly create new experiences. “Drawing can be lyrical, dance can create form and sound can incite movement. I’m interested in the blurry area between those.”
A kinetic drawing installation and virtual reality experience set to be released in the coming months which has been created by Hansen and de Lima. View the teaser opposite.
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