On the precipice of land and sea, where the Pacific Ocean meets the California coastline, The Headlands Center for the Arts offers artists from around the world a creative sanctuary for exploration, innovation and play.

Kinetech; Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang.

 Daiane Lopes da Silva, a dance artist from the San Francisco Bay Area was a Headlands Artist in Residence for their fall cycle. She perceived the unique environment as perfect for her site-specific explorations. Said Daiane,  “I am interested in how movement, nature, and technology help us find stillness. We live in such a fast pace world that our senses are constantly over stimulated making it difficult to stay in touch with our bodies.” At the Headlands, across the Golden Gate from San Francisco, Daiane found peace as she hiked, meditated, and developed her own movement practice on the beach and in the mountains. “It gave me the time, the resources and the right environment to be fully present”. With a relaxed mind, and inspired by her surroundings, she started the creation of four new dance pieces and a dance film based on the scientific concept of fractals.

Kinetech; Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang.

 The Headlands Center for The Arts has emerged as a collaborative ground for artists from around the world with diverse international backgrounds and experience in the arts. Daiane studied classical ballet in Brazil and danced professionally in Portugal. She then refined her training in contemporary dance in Belgium, where she was exposed to many artistic forms, especially the conceptual and minimalist art that “became the strongest influence on my work”.

Kinetech; Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang.

Over the course of her residency at The Headlands, Daiane collaborated with scientist Weidong Yang, to investigate movement properties of fractals- properties in nature that repeat in different scales. Said Daiane “I see fractals as meditative and creative creatures that carry infinity within them. They fascinate me.” Weidong Yang, assisted with the development of the work by introducing concepts such as chaos theory, information theory, and emergent patterns. Weidong also created a platform for dancers to digitally paint on a white canvas using the weight of their bodies. This new interactive technology is guided by fractal noise, “creating a dynamic and unpredictable dialogue between the dancer and the painting.”

Kinetech; Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang.

Daiane and Weidong direct Kinetech Arts, a collaborative where artists and scientists coalesce to create new media and possibilities for performance. Kinetech Arts strives to find new ways of presenting performance that accommodate the unique technological environment of today. “The advance of technology over the last century poses a great challenge to live theater performance. It’s difficult to match the visual and audio spectacle on a big screen.” Thus, Kinetech develops technologies that contribute to spontaneity and uncertainty, drawing the audience into the performance, viscerally.  Said Daiane “The technologies we use are often independent, pseudo-intelligent agents, having random components with hidden structures. They are influenced rather than controlled by performers, demanding full awareness and spontaneous communication”.

Kinetech; Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang.

With technology, Daiane perceives that the artist can expand the traditional boundaries and environments for dance. “At this moment, I am interested in…technologies that connect the mind to a multidimensional space, enhancing the communication between performers and audience.” Daiane’s work strives to expand the understanding of performance possibilities in nature, exploring the potential integration of the natural world and technology in her art practice. 

Kinetech; Daiane Lopes da Silva and Weidong Yang.

Daiane looks forward to dance anywhere® each year as the celebration sheds light on diverse dance communities near and far.  “dance anywhere® is crucial in bringing awareness and value to dance worldwide and to remind people that dancing is fun and necessary.” As an international artist,  “the fact that people from 7 continents stop on the same day to dance together is immensely powerful.” Stay tuned for Daiane’s dance anywhere® 2015 plans! 

For more information on Daiane Lopes da Silva and Kinetech visit her website

For more information on The Headlands Center for the Arts visit their website