TOKIMEKI BLUE Multimedia dance installation in the Fosdick-Nelson Gallery at Alfred University Created by Cameron McKinney + Cayla Mae Simpson Curated by D. Chase Angier Sept 10 – Oct 11, 2021 This project is made possible with funds from the NYS DanceForce, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the following programs within Alfred University: Marlin Miller Dance Residency Program, Miller Endowment for Excellence in the Arts, Fosdick-Nelson Gallery; the Institute for Electronic Arts; and the Diversity Innovation Fund Grants Program. TOKIMEKI BLUE is a multimedia dance installation that integrates contemporary dance and film. Inspired in part by the Japanese onomatopoeia tokimeki, which describes the sound a fluttering heart makes as it discovers love, the work offers onlookers an escape from the overbearance of their individual realities by inviting them into an alternate, colorless world. Through choreographer Cameron McKinney’s idiosyncratic mix of contemporary floorwork, streetdance-influenced movements, and vibrant visuals by filmmaker Cayla Simpson, the protagonist’s unexpected journey of self-discovery becomes a catalyst for vivid distortions that leave his world forever changed. Mckinney and Simpson will also be engaging with students/faculty/staff and the public through the following events. Holmes Auditorium Wed Sept 8, 9:30 – 10:30 am Lecture Presentation by Cayla May Simpson Exploring Creative Process for the Interdisciplinary Artist A journey through the creative process of finding your voice as an interdisciplinary artist and applying it to your stories. Format will be presentation style with some PowerPoint. Students should bring something to write on and with. Open to all SOAD + PAD students/faculty/staff Miller Performing Arts Center 11:20 – 12:35 Cameron McKinney teaches Nagare Technique to select dance classes This contemporary floorwork-based class combines the grace of modern with the speed and fluidity of streetdance, capoeira, and house dance. The class activates oppositional forces and contrasting sensations to achieve fluid transitions in and out of the floor. Phrases will involve every part of the body–whether in the air or on the ground. The class focuses on how to move from smoothly high to low, and on how to rediscover “the down” through the floorwork-oriented aspects of house dance , capoeira, and contemporary dance. By shifting the focus from an internal dialogue to creating movement that, in its own physicality, can tell a story by itself, the class will delve deeper into the cathartic potential of sweat and exhaustion, while offering a new and active method of expression. 2:30 – 3:10 Fosdick Nelson Gallery Discussion with Exhibition Design Students– Cayla Mae Simpson and Cameron McKinney September 22, 7pm Holmes Auditorium SOAD+ PAD Speakers Series Open to community TOKIMEKI BLUE creators Cameron McKinney + Cayla Mae Simpson. Moderated by curator, D. Chase Angier Gallery Talk on the making of TOKIMEKI BLUE. McKinney and Simpson will be livestreaming virtually to a live audience. This highly collaborative project has been working in partnership with NYSCA/DanceForce, the Fosdick- Nelson Gallery, The Alfred University School of Art and Design + The Performing Arts Division, The Marlin Miller Dance Residency Program, and the Institute for Electronic Arts.