Day 14: Last Class

Much of our last class was spent on organizational matters (course evaluations, equipment returns, etc.), but we did make time to hold an informal public screening of the students' final projects. All of the projects were fun to watch yet really different from one another—it was definitely interesting to see just how far everyone had come over the course of just one semester. The audience seemed to really enjoy the films as well, not minding that we went a fair amount over our anticipated run-time.

The goal is to have all the finished projects posted here on the blog, so check back soon to see the results of all the students' hard work this semester!

- Cassie

Day 13: Editing

Our second-to-last class was spent in the editing lab, giving the students time to organize and log all their footage and begin the process of piecing it all together. Collaborative editing has the potential to lead to conflict and disagreement, but both groups were incredibly receptive of all of their members' ideas and did a great job of working together to put together something they could all be excited about.

Though it was an extremely productive class, neither group quite finished, meaning we're in for a bit of a surprise this coming Friday when we watch the final products in class. This screening (which should include the "premiere" of the two group projects as well as some independent projects) is open to anyone in the Tufts community—not just members of the class—so feel free to stop by the dance studio in Jackson at 1:00pm on Friday, April 24, if you want to see what the students have been working on.

More photos of the students hard at work can be found after the jump:

Spring Dance Concert Live Stream

Not able to make it to Tufts for tonight's final performance of the Dance Program's end-of-semester concert but still want to see some student dance films? Well, you're in luck! As part of the Spring Arts Festival at Tufts, tonight's concert will be live streamed—a first for the Dance Program! The show starts at 7:00 (with the live stream becoming available 5-15 minutes beforehand), and the films are the first thing in the program after a brief introduction by Daniel McCusker and Renata Celichowska. (However, the remainder of the concert, which showcases the work of a lot of talented student dancers and choreographers, is definitely worth sticking around for.)

For more information on how to tune into tonight's live stream, click here! Or better yet, come see it in person tonight at 7:00pm in the Jackson Dance Lab at 50 Talbot Ave, Medford, MA—tickets are only $5.

- Cassie

Student Films at the Spring Dance Concert

The Tufts University Department of Drama & Dance's Spring Dance Concert is this weekend! In addition to showcasing work from the department's Dance Repertory & Performance class (which, this semester, was led by Dance on Camera instructor Jaclyn Waguespack) and graduating dance minors, there will also be a showing of some of the Dance on Camera students' independent projects:

• Overthought by Jane Acker
• Somewhere by Sophia Atik
• Wrecked, Solitary, Here by Cassie Burns
• Build a Home by Aaron Idelson
• Unbound by Anais Jurado
• Inching Closer by Josh Lee

Tickets are on sale now for $5 each in the Balch Arena Box Office at Tufts. For more information, check out the Facebook event page.

- Cassie

Day 12: On Location

Our most recent class was yet another work day for the students' final group projects. This time, I followed the other group to the Mystic River Reservation, where they were filming their project. The location was beautiful and the group worked wonderfully together, getting most (if not all) of the footage they needed in just one day. This means that next week, it's off to the editing lab!

In order to avoid spoiling their project too much, I'm only including two short clips from their shoot, both of which can be found after the jump:

Day 11: On Location

Now that the screening is over and independent projects have been submitted, the students have been able to focus all of their energy into creating their final group projects. This meant that all of last Friday was once again spent on location. While one group headed off campus to do some filming by the Mystic River, the other group stayed here at Tufts to explore some of the possibilities offered by using the library roof as their primary location in preparation for working with their dancers next week.

Some pictures and footage of their exploration can be found after the jump:

Augmented Reality at the Screening

Augmented reality was practically unavoidable at the dance on camera screening we hosted. In addition to hanging up some of the promotional materials we made which doubled as AR triggers, we also set up an exhibit entirely dedicated to showcasing student work through AR. Plus, every image in our program was an AR trigger. We made sure to have our students bring their iPads so that they could show people how it worked as they were arriving before directing them to our exhibit up on the balcony for more.

If you haven't already, be sure to download the dancetechAR app on your smart device so that you can scan all of our trigger images (program included) after the jump!

Dance on Camera Tour Film Screening at Tufts

The dance on camera screening we hosted was a huge success! We had a great turnout and everything went off without a hitch. In addition to the screening itself, we had an augmented reality exhibit, a video booth (like a photo booth but videodance-ified), a display of projects done by former Dance on Camera students, and a table full of homemade Korean food. It was a lot of hard work to pull off but totally worth every second of it, and we hope everyone who came had as much fun as we did.

Some of the students documented the event on their cameras, so hopefully we'll have some of their pictures and videos to share here soon. Until then, you can check out some of the pictures I took on my cellphone after the jump:

Day 10: Creating & Filming Site-Specific Dances with Rachel Boggia

On Friday, we were visited by guest artist and screening panelist Rachel Boggia, who took us back to the squash courts for a lesson on creating and filming site-specific dances. As I spent the entirety of the class throwing myself against a wall dancing for the student filmmakers, I unfortunately don't have any videos from this awesome class yet. The students, however, ended up with some really great footage that hopefully they'll be willing to share here in the near future. (Their first independent projects are due this week, so I don't want to bug them for their footage, but trust me—the stuff they got is amazing!)

- Cassie