Godfried-Willem Raes

"g_tec.611"

for two nude dancers, laptop performer and percussion robot orchestra

The composition "SQE v STO 4QR", written in 1977 and rescored as well as programmed for variable robot percussion instruments in 2002, formed the base of this composition. Both in its aesthetic as in its theatrics it went so far off from the original that we decided to make it an entirely new composition. In 'g_tech.611' there is a choreography scored for two dancers with some experience in martial arts. The dance setup is a square (4 x 4m) wherein all movements are confined. All movements consist of fast attacks, each repeated three or more times. Gestures alternate between players without overlap, except at the end where both dancers perform their martial movements together. The gestures form the control input for the orchestra. The instruments make use of all percussion components in the Logos <M&M> robot orchestra. Hence the musical tempo is fully derived from the movement speed of the dancers, whereas dynamics depend on the size of their moving body surfaces at any instant. Musical voices are triggered depending on position in space. To this end the authors "Quadrada" gesture control interface, based on microwave radar detection, is used. For this reason, the performers have to be naked. The laptop performer can remap the instruments in real time and has control over a few extra musical voices confined to the robots <So> and optionally <Bourdonola>, <Ake>, <Bako>, <Krum> and <Harma>.

The musical robots are restricted to the following:

• <Troms>
• <Rotomoton>
• <ThunderWood>
• <Piperola> (only its percussion is used here)
• <Bourdonola>
• <Harma>
• <Player Piano>
• <Casta>
• <Klung>
• <Vibi>
• <Springers>
• <Dripper>
• <So>
• <Flex>
• <Tubi>
• <Belly>
• <Puff>
• <Llor>
• <Vacca>
• <Vitello>
• <Psch>
• <Snar>
• <Xy>
• <Simba>

These robots constitute almost the entire robot orchestra built by the author up to the end of the year 2007. The setup on stage takes at least 120 square meters. The dancers square should be placed central, surrounded by the robots.

Although the duration of the piece is not limited in the software, it should be restricted to somewhere less then 10 minutes. The minimum duration should be 6 minutes. The 'score', save instructions summarized above, is almost completely embedded into the software.

---

First performance: 22.11.2006: Ghent, Logos Tetrahedron, M&M ensemble, with: Kristof Lauwers (laptop), the author and Marian De Schryver (movement).

Video recording available for download (25MB)

 

Godfried-Willem RAES

Public Domain,November 2006