A Collaboration with Gerry Girouard for two dancers,
motion-sensing music, and video projections
Commissioned by the American Composers Forum
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A counterpoint of image, sound, and light. The space is divided into two areas, high and low. In the lower half, the dancers control the timbre of a low,
rumbling sound, with a filter opening
and closing according to their speed. In the space above,
an ethereal processed video clip is
projected (it is based on a previous section).
The projection triggers longer, pitched sounds
that are then processed by the dancersí movements.
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This begins with the imagined sounds of muscles and tendons under tension, with accompanying "ghost" voices chatting away. Girouard uses gravity defying
movements to create optical illusions
as to perspective and direction. Towards the end of the
solo, the live performer is suddenly
replaced by a "ghost" dancer, a video projection that
is played back into the box, imitating the
previous dance. The projected video creates the resulting
sound.
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The Raft has three simultaneous visual perspectives:
the dancers walking on a wooden
balance-beam structure; a live black and white projection
of them shown on the back wall,
shot from above their head; and huge shadows encased
in orange light. There is a continuous,
low musical accompaniment, with additional sounds triggered
by the video projection and
shadows of the dancers on the walls.
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In the opening of the work, the dancersíuse overall
speed to influence filters and other
sound processing, giving the timbre a sense of movement.
The running average of overall
speed and activity is also used to continuously alter
frequency, adding greater sense of
movement to the sound via a simulated Doppler shift.
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