Inspired by the Dear Data project, I have devoted my semester to exploring unconventional, creative, and artistic ways of visualizing data this semester. As a dancer dealing with a career changing injury I am entering a significant life transition. In this transition, I have decided to explore dancing in a broader sense: How can I continue dancing without physically moving? How can I incorporate my dance knowledge into my other studies? How can I choreograph movement of something other than the body? Through these explorations it became obvious to me, data visualization can become an alternate form of choreography! I will make the data dance.
My data takes a look at the anxieties and anticipations of dancers as they think about transitions to post-performance careers, data courtesy of The aDvANCE Project: A study of Career Transition for Professional Dancers [2003]. Both current and former professional dancers answered mirrored questions regarding a career transition. Two different approaches to visualization are explored here as I attempt to choreograph a dance of data.
Jeffri, Joan, Adrian Schriel, and David Throsby. The aDvANCE Project: A Study of Career Transition for Professional Dancers [2003]. ICPSR35598-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-05-31. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR35598.v1