Vertical Datum

Performance, Gathering, Practice, Solitude

This project began with a viewing of the romantic ballet, Giselle. The goal was to contemplate the ballet through different perspectives, and observe the depth and spatial qualities that such a complex production achieves. The ballet was annotated both horizontally across linear time, and then interpreted as a vertical journey. Elements of time, module, rhythm, and emotion can be drawn from the ballet and generate systems of marks that begin to etch spacial conditions that extend beyond the form of a physical stage on which the ballet is performed. The drawing is very intentionally generated through the interpretation of data gathered by watching the ballet and specific scenes several times over.

Ideas of plan and section were simultaneously explored through the movement of characters, whether it be the strong, fluid movements of ballet dancers, or the overwhelming ghostliness and ephemerality of the Wilis. In model form, I found that the story and experience described by the movements of dancers on stage produced a variety of spaces that included transitions between dark, hidden spaces to lively, public, even chaotic spaces. They all lead towards an eventual space of lofty, wispy, solitude.