A revolution has begun to take place over the last couple of years in the dance community. From the streets to the stage, from the studio to the cyphers, dancers are finding new opportunities to share their talents with the world through innovative technology.
Due to the ever-changing policies of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, dancers are finding new ways to share their inspiration without having the dragon of copyright breathing down their necks. So it’s either finding non-copyrighted music, take the risk of posting a video with copy-written music, or find a new avenue. From Ian Eastwood’s Dance Mixtape to project-mapping with live performances, and the new, creative ideas behind battle contests around the world, the dance community is bursting with innovation.
Keone and Mariel Madrid (Building Block Studio; Choreo Cookies) can be coined innovators solely based off the unique dancing they display with their choreography. Whether it’s a solo or duo piece, with Choreo Cookies, or some of the other incredible dancers they team up with, Keone and Mari have once again set forth on a new trail destined to be a revolutionary path for dancers of all kinds.
Having just completed 15 dance videos in 15 straight days, Keone and Mari unveiled their reason behind the two-week video feast. They’ve started their Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for an enhanced eBook interactively storytelling through dance.
“We’re best known for our work as dancers and choreographers, yet we’ve always had a dream to use dance as a medium between different/collaborative art forms. With Mari’s creative writing degree and our love for various art forms we never saw dance being completely independent of the different crafts. Our dream is this: An enhanced eBook with storytelling through dance. Enhanced eBooks are digital books that include immersive, interactive, and interesting features like video, music, audio narration, animation, photography, and more. While dance videos online have become a norm in the millennial age, we hope to give dance a new home within this enhanced ebook. ”
ENHANCED EBOOK OF DANCE!! Like, what?!! Think back to being a kid and reading books like, “Where The Wild Things Are,” and living out your imagination through acting, singing, and dancing. Keone and Mariel now make books alive through an interactive ebook of dance, only opening the capacity of live performance, story-telling, and inspiring all people to think outside of the box.
“Imagine following a movement-driven story, that’s accompanied by originally produced music, partnered with interactivity – like flipping through photos, learning a dance, or potentially dictating where in the story you’d like to go next. The imaginative possibilities are truly there,” says Keone and Mari.
We look forward to seeing this project continue it’s pursuit of the $45k goal, and with amount of inspiration Keone and Mari provide the community around the world, it’s not impossible for them to reach this goal. Funds go right to the project including:
15k – Production costs cover: crew fees, location costs, equipment rentals, day-of shoot expenses, costumes, etc.
15k – Music costs cover: producer/artist fees, recording fees, etc.
10k – Design costs cover: graphic artist fees, illustrator fees, book production, etc.
5k – Staff/Cast cover: staff fees, dancer fees, etc.
“Artists have always thrived on community and support. On connection and relationship. We truly believe this as an opportunity to not only push for a vision, but to build new bridges between artistic communities, and open minds about how a person can interact with stories, characters, and movement,” says Keone and Mari.
DONATE TO THE PROJECT HERE