Rendezvous with Rama – a dance adaptation
Sci-fi meets Dance – in my final year at university, I worked with the novel ‘Rendezvous with Rama’ by Arthur C. Clark and created a design concept for a full length dance adaptation which integrated elements of contemporary dance, classical ballet and aerial dance. Please have a look at the teaser and the costume and set designs below, to get an idea of how I envision dance to tell a story of the human desire to encounter extra-terrestrial life.
Rendezvous with Rama – Teaser
The following teaser was created by myself, starting with the designs, to the making of the costumes, props and set, to the filming and editing. Many thanks to the great choreographers and dancers Hayley Reinprecht and Louise Spearing!
Sound effects and music obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com.Costume designs for the teaser
The Crab Biot (a mix of robot and organic animal), danced by Hayley Reinprecht.
The Astronaut James Pak, danced by Louise Spearing
Examples of the additional costume designs for the full length dance production
Human Characters: The Rama Committee members, the scientist and the astronauts
Extra-terrestrial Characters: Rama/ the cylindrical sea and the spider biots
The Stage design
In the centre of my design for the full length dance adaptation is a round, 4 part, moving stage machine which can take on various appearances to create different locations and atmospheres throughout the performance. Furthermore, the integrated cutting edge technology, in form of 3D projection mapping on the back wall and LED floor panels under the dance floor, emphasizes the different locations and atmospheres.
The picture below shows my set design, on the main stage of the Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London in a scale of 1:50. Additionally it depicts the stage set-up, for the moment of the performance, which I captured in my teaser.
