Godfried-Willem Raes

"Differentials"

for a dancing viola player and ii2010-invisible instrument

March 2010

 

This piece delves further into the analogue electronic technology I have developed in the eighties for pieces such as 'Standing Waves' and in particular 'Holosound'. The hardware used here however, is completely new and documented in a technical article "Holosound 2010'. The piece was developed in close collaboration with Dominica Eyckmans and premiered on the Logos M&M concert on march 25th of 2010.

The choreography starts of with the viola player waving the bow, as soon as the ii-2010 equipment is turned on. She wears bronze bells of different sizes and weights on her ankles, but other than that, she is completely naked. The viola has a wooden clamp (laundry type) on the strings such as to muffle the sound.

The dance moves slowly to ground level, where a Arabic sounding scale based melody is heard (C, Db,E,F,G,Ab,Bb+). An accompaniment with the shaking bells is attempted with the feet in the air.

The movements get heftier again and the dancer comes up, taking on the rhythm up to ecstatic exhaustion. The piece breaks of in an abrupt way, by the dancer leaving the stage in a very fast run.

Although the duration of the piece is not limited in the hardware nor in the choreography, it should be restricted to somewhere between 8 and 12 minutes at the most. The piece is conceived as a musical dance performance. The 'score', in as far as not determined by the dancing performer, is to a large degree embedded into the firmware. The electronics do not need a performer nor an operator and run completely stand alone as in an audio installation.

 

 
Godfried-Willem RAES
Public Domain, March 2010

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