MEMCO x SMTD: IN SYNC

Bianca Trihenea, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning

Collaborators: Stella Lansill, SMTD; Noah Jackson, Stamps

MEMCO (The Michigan Electronic Music Collective) is partnering with SMTD students to create a two-part interdisciplinary performance that blends dance, DJing, set design, and lighting design. MEMCO aims to integrate dance and design for an upcoming event in November organized in Detroit, preceded by a local showcase at SMTD Studio 1 on October 25 in order to foster a closer connection with SMTD-related clubs.

Despite Ann Arbor’s close proximity to the city of Detroit, there is little cultural overlap between the two cities. Students at the University of Michigan are rarely exposed to Detroit’s rich cultural legacy and vibrant community, and are often unaware of its historical importance (especially in regards to electronic music). By organizing an event in Detroit as a U-M-based club, we hope to make our community more aware of its legacy and bridge the gap.

Our planned event, “Dance Dimension”, will be a public showcase of performances by Ann Arbor DJs and SMTD dancers. The project will combine four separate fields of art and performance – dance, sound design, art installation, and lighting design. Through this combination of disciplines, we aim to create a standout experience in a multisensory environment. We wish to take advantage of our club’s current roster of unique artists and skill sets, and push the envelope of what a musical performance is capable of. We plan on contrasting the dynamism of sound and dance with the physical fixity of installation, creating an ephemeral space in which audience members are able to participate in the artmaking, engaging as actors in the performance themselves.

MEMCO is the ideal club to attempt this ambitious interdisciplinary undertaking due to our member roster’s wide range of skill sets. The differences between our disciplines can be remediated through the collaborative delegation of tasks in accordance with what each of us does best. Many MEMCO members (technical leads Tomasz Maher, Nawa Khailany) are proficient in arranging speakers and sound systems to make performance spaces acoustically optimal.

Our Architecture and Art Majors (Bianca Trihenea, Brooke Steele, Noah Jackson) are capable of designing and building large scale art installations involving varied materials, reactive projected visuals, lighting systems, and lead the photo and documentation process.

The inclusion of SMTD students will help us examine the project from varied creative perspectives, adding a level of nuance that would be lacking in a non-interdisciplinary setting. The musicians involved with the project can take cues directly from the dancers (and vice versa) in a way that wouldn’t be possible at a typical MEMCO performance. Our SMTD-based collaborators (Stella Lansill and Amelie Vidrio) have extensive performance experience, able to coordinate complex and interesting dance routines. We hope to use our many skill sets to deliver a unique and compelling event that exposes people to forms of art that they may be unfamiliar with.