Chew On This with Zena Bibler

Chew On This with Zena Bibler

The “Tending” in Attending: Attention, Movement, and Care in iLAND's Ecological Dance Practices

by

Zena Bibler (Ph.D candidate, CAP)

October 4 (Tuesday), 2-3 pm, Kaufman 160

This paper explores how attention and care interact within improvisational scores generated during iLANDing projects. I track how scores provide directives for both “attending” and “tending,” that is, “caring about” and “acting with care toward” aspects of one’s perceivable world. I argue that iLANDing scores—which have copied the perceptual practices of deer mice, attuned performers to networks of mushroom mycelium, and heightened dancers’ awareness of the impacts of their own movements across a landscape—attempt a re-organization of what performers consider to be perceptually valuable or noteworthy as a fundamental requirement of effective ecological care.

*This presentation will be streamed virtually, but in person, attendance is strongly encouraged.

-------------------------------

About the Presenter

Zena Bibler is a dancer and current Ph.D. candidate in Culture and Performance at the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance at UCLA. Her artistic and scholarly research explores how attention matters—that is, how it has both physical and ethical implications. For more information on present and past projects: www.zenabibler.com

Photo: Dillon de Give