Res, a matter.

In the end of May I’ve been invited to direct the second edition of Host Guest Ghost, an artistic residency in partnership with The Danish National School of Theatre and Contemporary Dance. The project was supported by The Danish Arts Council and Augustinus Fonden.

Still from rehearsal at Dansehallerne, Copenhagen, DK, 2011

The project aimed to foster experimental approaches to dance, theatre and interactive technologies while forming emerging, talented choreographers and creatives. Together with a team of 6 dancers, 3 musicians and a professional chef, we developed a new intermedia piece titled “Raw/Roar”. The piece unveiled a peculiar, unique world of enhanced bodies, biophysical sound, augmented music and reactive videos. Among the different media and technologies explored during the residency, the main focus was set on the Xth Sense.

It was a challenging experience; initially, the dancers found some difficulties to combine their practice with the interactive framework provided by the Xth Sense, but after enough practice and open discussions about the motivation and aesthetic of the system, we defined a common terrain. However, it has been inspiring to realize how differently a musician and a traditionally trained dancer can approach the model of biophysical music. It is perhaps purely logical; whereas the former explores movement as a means towards a transparent externalization of a sound form, the latter is submerged in such a physical self-awareness that the idea of an incarnation through her body of a projected sound can be constraining.
I believe such idea is worth a further analysis on the nature and extendability of the Xth Sense; I would love to collaborate again with dancers to gain more insights about movement, music and performance.
As soon as the documentation will be ready I will post some pictures and videos.