A hero is often measured by his or her contributions, and two graduate students are working to keep the memory of a family hero’s contributions alive.
“When I am little again,” a combination of dance, video and motion-capture animation showing at Sullivant Hall, serves as a tribute to a man whose name has nearly been forgotten.
For graduate students Kareen Balsam and collaborator Vita Berezina-Blackburn, their latest production is presented as a “dance memorial” to honor Janusz Korczak, a figure who has had a tremendous impact on Balsam’s life and family.
“He’s an amazing person who has touched many lives. He would consider me to be his ancestor,” Balsam said of Korczak. “I’m a survivor of his teachings.”
In Korczak, Balsam’s grandfather, who was living in an orphanage in Warsaw during World War II, found a figure whose dedication and love left ripple effects on generations to come. Korczak, a scholar and author, had the opportunity to escape extermination in Nazi concentration camps. Seeing that his wards were being sentenced to death in the camps, he traded his freedom and life in order to comfort them before their demise.
“I wanted to do a piece where I could express the emotion that I carry for this kind of gratitude, and I also wanted to remind people here of a forgotten hero,” Balsam said.
From the story to the technical difficulty, Berezina-Blackburn, who collaborated with Balsam on the project’s technical aspects, said she has never worked on such a multifaceted project.
“This is groundbreaking for me. This scale of motion-capture projects has never been done here before. It’s the first at OSU,” Berezina-Blackburn said. “There are very few projects with dancers and motion-capture technology.”
The complexity in motion-capture lies in the cost and skills required to properly capture the dancer’s movement. Working with the Advanced Computing Center for Art and Design, both Balsam and Berezina-Blackburn were able to visually represent dance in a non-traditional manner.
“(Motion-capture) is very interesting. It’s very different than looking at a video of people dancing, or animation and dance. Traditionally, not enough dance is animated,” Berezina-Blackburn said. “The movements are so subtle and complex. You have to be a very good animator to capture the dancer.”
Tiffany Cunningham, a third-year graduate student in dance, was interested when she heard about Balsam’s project. Balsam choreographed four dancers to represent her mother, grandfather, Korczak and herself. Cunningham, who played the role of Balsam’s mother, had never been exposed to motion-capture before.
“I think for me, the mystery was, ‘How is this going to come together?’ When I saw what she’s doing in the lab — how it’s coming together — it’s beautiful, it’s invigorating. I see a different level than what I’m used to as a performer,” Cunningham said.
While the editing process to capture motion properly was difficult at times, the use of technology added a new dimension to Balsam’s tribute.
“The fact that in her dance, she combines herself, her mother, grandfather and Janusz Korczak, she can meet in an imaginary space, and meet with her ancestors,” Berezina-Blackburn said. “Here she cannot do it other than through this imaginary virtual space. Dance is the way she communicates her feelings, the way they can talk.”
Looking to memorialize the past, Balsam’s memoir is choreographed in a looping narrative, with no predetermined beginning or end. The performance’s total sequence lasts 12 minutes. Balsam said everyone is welcome to come and go as they wish.
“I’m wanting people to be inspired by the connection of generations — the trivia of everyday family life and the perspective of history,” Balsam said.
“When I am little again” will run from Jan. 9-10 from 6-8 p.m.
