PIANO & DANCER

Abstract

PIANO & DANCER is an interactive piece for a dancer and an electromechanical acoustic piano. The piece presents the dancer and the piano as two performers on stage whose bodily movements are mutually interdependent. This interdependence reveals a close relationship between physical and musical gestures. Accordingly, the realization of the piece is characterised by a creative process that merges choreographic and compositional methods. In order to relate the expressive movement qualities of a dancer to the creation of musical material, the piece employs a variety of techniques. These techniques include methods for movement tracking and analysis, generative algorithms for creating spatial and temporal structures, and the application of non-conventional scales and chord transformations to shape the modal characteristics of the music. The publication presents the artistic and technical aspects of this work and discusses some of the challenges that have shaped the creative outcome