Katie Phelan Mayfield (she/her) Founder of the Digital Dance Collective

Katie is a screendance creator, researcher, choreographer, and educator. She
holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance at the University of Iowa, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance,
a minor in journalism, and a minor in advertising from Oakland University.

Katie is an adjunct
faculty member in the Department of Contemporary Dance at Indiana University where her
teachings and research reside in dance and technology work.

“The dance and technology work I am researching is challenging the parameters of where choreography resides, not only in the body, but also in the digital art, in the projection design, and in the interaction between physical and digital spaces. It is what gives the spectator that magical visualization. We live in a digital charged era which provides endless inspiration for art making. Every day we are interacting with digital spaces and being influenced by them. The work I do is reflecting that interaction of physical and digital space found within our current society.”

“There is so much depth that can continue to be discovered and revealed in this aspect alone. Much of the performance work I create can be seen in performances by The Digital Dance Collective, an Indy-based Digital Arts and Dance collective under the direction of myself. Since its beginning, DigiDanceCo has strived to produce thought-provoking work by combining dance, film, digital arts, and audio arts.”

“I began dancing from a young age and pursued my BFA in dance, followed by a performance career in Indianapolis and Chicago.
It wasn’t until my mid-20s that I began to dabble in the interdisciplinary work of dance and technology such as film, animation, and projection design. I was able to deepen my research while I expanded the possibility of what I could create during my graduate school studies.”

“I just wrapped a fabulous semester at IU, teaching Digital Media for Theatre and Dance where students learn the tools, programming, and skill in film and animation to create their own dance and technology works. An upcoming viewing that DigiDanceCo will offer is a multimedia performance show in Indy Fringe Festival. It is a multimedia work incorporating dance choreography, digital animation, and projection design. While work like this is being produced worldwide, it is rare to see this
type of interactive performance in Indianapolis.”

Learn more about her work at https://www.digidanceco.com/