An Echo In Reverse

Blending dance, music, projections and a live video feed, ‘An Echo in Reverse’ is an improvised performance centered around perceived motion and real-time surveillance. It starts with a dancer, building movement over time both in front and behind a transparent screen. Multiple cameras and phones around the room film the performance in real time, including a phone held by the dancer as well as several phones used by audience members. The videos are then projected live on top of the screen and mixed and matched to a live musical score created in conjunction with the dancer's movements. All the cameras are from different generations and have varying quality and lag time, creating the sense of seeing something that hasn’t quite happened or just missing one another. Throughout the arc of the performance, each element is both improvised and reacting in real time to the other ongoing pieces, creating an unexpected outcome in each performance.

Performed at Pageant in New York City, July 2023
clip of performance

Credits:
Molly Valdez: Co-Director, Videographer
Judson Valdez: Co-Director, Music, Projections & Tech Performance
J Gash: Choreographer & Movement

photos by Christian Filardo

The Screen Is A Mirror

Through exploring improvisational performance between a dancer, videographer and evolving technical set recording the movements, ‘The Screen Is A Mirror’ aims to create an interdisciplinary dialogue and use the process of filming to unfold our conceptions of choreography and surveillance. In each of the videos in this series, there is a dancer moving in an improvisational method through a space, traveling through different parts of the set. Following and reacting to the dancer is a primary camera held by the videographer, with the live video feed projected back onto the set to create one of the ‘screens’. This creates a live improvised set, with the technical setup adjusting throughout the performance as the movement evolves.

Series shown at Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in Seoul, May 2023
Series shown at Konnektor Forum für Künste in Hannover, October 2023
Shown at
clip of performance

Credits:
’The Screen Is A Mirror 4 - J’
2022, single-channel video, 6:10
Video by Molly Valdez and Judson Valdez, Dance by J Gash, Music by Judson Valdez

’The Screen Is A Mirror 3 - Julius’
2022, single-channel video, 1:11
Video by Molly Valdez and Judson Valdez, Dance by Julius Elegido, Music by Hollow Comet

’The Screen Is A Mirror 1 - Tom’
2022, Single-channel video, 1:53
Video by Molly Valdez and Judson Valdez, Mosh Pit by Tom Grinberg, Music by Hollow Comet