Long Wave/Moebius

Kappenberg’s research as a performance artist explores the body as a bearer of history through choreography for camera. Working in the tradition of Screen Dance (see Aggiss and Cowie), she endeavors to challenge traditional modes of choreographic process and filmic representations. In contrast to much traditional performance where movement and choreography are developed from within the performer, this work proposes that movement is in part determined by constructed external factors. The choreography's screen works aim to visualise the individual body as a composite of its own particularity and as a responsive live site within a constructed historical landscape.This research started as an exploration of physical and historical counter tensions that used archival footage projected on the body of the performer and in which the performing body becomes like a moebius strip; an infinite loop depicting past and present simultaneously. A one-minute version was screened under the title 'Long Wave at Dance on Screen' at The Place Theatre, London and selected for ‘Dance on Screen On Tour', Italy 2006; for Reeldance, Australia 2007 and reviewed in the Australian online journal Real Time Arts.Kappenberg developed this research under the title Moebius. It was selected for Video Dance 2007, Athens and Thessaloniki, curated by Christiana Galanopoulou. Award-winning screen dance academic Douglas Rosenberg, Professor, UniversityWisconsin and jury, selected 'Moebius' for the 12th American Dance Festival, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Subsequently, it was chosen for screening at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Dance and Choreography, and at Dança emfoco, Festival Internacional de Vídeo and Dança, Rio de Janeiro.Kappenberg’s interest in historical roots for performative work led to a chapter for the book Anarchic Dance, co-authored withProfessor Liz Aggiss, published by Routledge, 2006. She also contributed to the international conference Open Source 2006 in Findhorn, Scotland.