UNK assistant professor, Noelle Bohaty uses livestreaming technology to show her craft | State and Regional News

Bohaty, who studied dance at Ohio State University, feels fortunate that she received a background in technology.

“I was really lucky at my MFA program at Ohio State that we had an entire dance/film wing,” she said. “It really was treated like a different genre of dance. It was just as important to find the kinetic motion of the camera as it was to choreograph the bodies in space. I feel really lucky and blessed to have that background in it.”

Bohaty understands the difference between documenting dance and creating a piece of video art.

“I think it is important to not think of it as sticking a camera in a seat where an audience member would be,” she said. “A camera is never going to take the place of our complicated visual system. But if you’re thinking of it as your own choreographic adventure, if you’re thinking about getting a camera closer, that’s different. For instance, we had a shot above the stage. That’s not something an audience would ever get to see, except for a video setting.”

When working with student choreographers, Bohaty starts them with more traditional settings.

“I still try to have the students first make a piece for a proscenium stage or in the round,” she said. “Then we decide what angles would be best served for the piece. Once we get our dance major program in place, hopefully we can get a film side involved and choreograph specially for film before we get it to the stage.”