CODE: A CHOREOGRAPHED ILLUSTRATION OF RULES, BOUNDARIES, AND SOCIAL GUIDELINES THROUGH DANCE, FILM, AND VISUAL ART

Abstract

Code is an exploration of life's boundaries and the laws, guidelines, and customs that construct these barriers. Governments impose restrictions on the members of its community; these members then enforce additional limits through formalities, etiquette, and other social codes. Technology is constantly raising its own limits; however, technological devices still cannot achieve all that the mind can fathom. The programming code controlling these devices also presents boundaries of its own. A sample of life's rules is illustrated through a formal concert, which incorporates live dance and prerecorded film components, and through a limited edition book of artwork related to the components of this concert. Each of six choreographed works presents one or more of the binding codes that shape our lives. This written documentation explores how these works function within four categories of codes: externally enforced boundaries, social structures within relationships, limits of technology, and the absence of rules.