2019 Annual WASLA Conference

Greater Tacoma Convention Center, March 22, 2019

3:00 - 4:00 PM
Approaching the Site: Dance, Music, and Landscape Sequence

Session Presentation

Description:

A choreographer uses bodies and movements to define a composition and express what she intends to have the audience experience. A composer arranges a piece of music with rhythmical intervals and punctuations. A landscape architect stitches together sequences of space, shapes the land with forms and materials, and allows the users to complete the space by introducing movement and experience.How can dance and music inform our approach to the site, space and environment?From Lawrence and Anna Halprin's open space sequence to ˜Tesseracts of Time" by Steven Holl and Jessica Lang, this presentation will discuss how dance and music play a fundamental role in the creative design process and the experience of space.

Speaker Bios:

Flora Yeh, Senior Landscape Architect, Mirador Group

Flora Yeh is a senior landscape architect with Mirador Group in Houston. Originally from Taiwan, she graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a master's degree in landscape architecture. Her passion for dance, music and art has inspired her imagination in design and helped her understand spatial continuity, sense of movement and a totality of experience in her projects. Prior to returning home in Houston, Flora worked at GreenWorks in Portland and Site Workshop in Seattle. She has given talks on Dance Form and Landscape Architecture at University of Washington, University of Houston, University of Kentucky, National Taiwan University and Fu-Jen University. Her dance training includes Dance Forum, Taipei; Chrysalis Dance Company, Hope Stone Dance, Met Dance in Houston; Velocity Dance, Seattle; and BodyVox, Portland.

Learning Objectives:

  • Examine dance and improvisation as abstract lenses through which a designer can work with a site
  • Bring a sensitivity to how people use a space and how people interact
  • Analyze landscapes in relation to dance and music forms through work samples by various artists and designers