As challenging as the week just past has been in our larger world, it’s been more positive and interesting in my local sphere.
I received some incredible responses to “momentum,” and how that idea is manifest if different areas of peoples’ lives. There’s so much wonderful to digest and process, and I thank you for sharing your ideas. I’ve a file building now, with comments properly credited to you, and imagine this a longer-term project. That includes posting your ideas in the future, as that digestion takes place…
Last week brought a wonderful meeting with John Dixon, a colleague in ECU’s School of Theatre and Dance. John has a project in mind.
–John and Teal Darkenwald worked with The Machine Is Neither on a collaboration-commission I put together as part of NewMusic Initiative a few years ago. (Bandcamp release; Youtube of the 2nd performance [less impressive space that the main dance stage, fewer performers, but still interesting]). That was a great project, teaching all of us alot, stretching all of us alot, and very gratifying all along the way.–
The project on John’s mind is motivated by much of our current world, including the many ways in we’ve all lost parts of our lives or, indeed, lives close to us, livelihoods, ways of life, modes of living; and also by the passing of his mother last spring. He has in mind something in the nature of a requiem. Not necessarily with that title, not necessarily with the traditional text (if any text at all), but of that spirit.
We had an exciting and stimulating conversation on Thursday morning, and I think we both left with good energy to move forward. Lots to consider in this, something that would be released from an enclosed performance space, from an audience-performer separation, perhaps involving trained singers, certainly involving dancers’ voices; perhaps involving instrumentalists, but more likely small instruments like bells, shakers, etc., and perhaps pre-recorded sound using bluetooth speakers strapped on dancers, perhaps using phones to trigger sound…so much to consider both conceptually and, in time, logistically and technically.
I’m thrilled about working with John and dancers again, and am deeply excited by this particular concept. I do need to get another project out of the way first, a relatively small one (a single song). Now that the biggest time-user of the fall (1st semester music theory) is over, I look forward to digging into that now (started this past weekend, actually).
To end with more sugar:
