dense moments - a song cycle

long-term collaboration project between Jan Schacher (sounds, interaction-technology, gestures) and Angela Stoecklin (dance, sounds)

In the collision on stage of body and movement, electronic sounds and gestures, the domains of music and dance fuse into an expression of an intricate and densely woven web of meaning. On stage, in a meeting of the practices of electronic music performance and interactive dance, the goal is to explore links and dependencies, analogies, similarities and a common movement and sound language.

The ultimate state and expression of this union is expressed on stage in a state of intense presence, flow and fusion between the media and art forms. We are searching for a linkage between the non-verbal art forms dance and music, where the body can take on the role of a musical instrument and the electronic music obtains a physical form and expresses motion pattern. We are interested to find a crossing point where the two art forms become like one. 

We work in the field of improvisation, as this is the most direct form of communication. We aim for dialogue and equal positioning more than music accompanying dance or dance following the music.

1) sounding bodies - moving sounds
http://jasch.ch/sounding_bodies.html

 I a) New Delhi / India, November 2013   

On invitation from the Sound Reasons Festival  Jan Schacher and myself got a residency through Pro Helvetia. This consisted of

- teaching workshops on improvisation and the interaction between music and dance for musicians and dancers

- preparing a performance with the Indian dancer Namrata and Swiss musician Lionel living in Delhi for the Sound Reasons Festival on Wed Nov 20th at the Alliance Francaise in New Delhi

https://vimeo.com/80215160, password d3e3l9h6i8 (performance at Alliance Française 21.11.13)
-residency between JAn and myself for our project Dense moments - a 'song'-cycle https://vimeo.com/80791400, password d3e3n6s2e3 (open-form music&dance work session)

   b) Lausanne / Zurich August 2014
the four artists meet again for mutual working sessions in Lausanne, and a performance at Corner College in Zurich (Sun August 10th).

II Habana / Cuba October 2014 
- workshop for dancers, musicians and fine arts on interaction and improvisation at ISA (Instituto Superior de Bellas Artes)

- performance at Teatro del Museo de Bellas Artes:

        - "one hand clapping", Jan Schacher and Angela Stoecklin
        - performance piece for pianist Sunlay Almeida Rodriguez interacting with Jan Schacher (sounds)
          and Angela Stoecklin (dramaturgy, action proposals)
        - Instant Composition with two dancers and one musician from ISA

thanks to the support of Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council and the Laboratorio de Musica Electroacustica, director Emmanuel Blanco


teaching on the relationship and interaction between music and dance in intercultural contexts

http://www.jasch.ch/sounding_bodies_workshops.html

III Tokyo, Japan  December 2015

 three week artists residency at 3331 Arts Chiyoda

- collaboration and performance on Dec 17th at 3331 Arts Chiyoda with dancers Junya Ishii and 

Kota Nagaya, and Yuko Sasama, musician

http://www.jasch.ch/sounding_bodies.html

  

Photo: Steven Seidelberg

2) dense moments - a song cycle  
http://www.jasch.ch/dense_moments.html

a) March 23rd 2014: performance at Atelier Herman, Hochdorf
b) May 9th 2014: performance at Pantographe, Moutier following a five day residency there


3) one hand clapping

Two bodies in a space:

Feet fidget, arms flutter, necks crane and heads collide; for a brief moment hands cut the air with woodblocks and a bow glides and skitters, together beginning a dance. Sounds appear within an instant, the impulse of an arm sweeps them away onto a journey of their own. Hovering over the instrument, a body melts into melody, another swiftly alters shape and dynamics. Movements trace the space, movements beat the time, sounds arch the body’s back and caress our ears.

The performers are entangled in a game of sounds and gestures and explore the potential of this encounter, lightly shifting between sounds and movements. The audience is being led from the poetic to the bizzare, from the humorous to the serious, from the emotional to the factual, through richly intense situations and atmospheres. The interaction between music and dance opens up spaces where the compositional handling of bodies, sounds and time is the essential element of performance.

The performance venues vary from industrial spaces to conventional stages, from white cube to black box, from urban to insider spots.

I) residency at 3331 Arts Space Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, Dec 6 - 28 2016
     - 16/12/2015   Co-oh Art Space, and  17/12/2015   3331 Arts Chiyoda,  
    

http://www.jasch.ch/one_hand_clapping.html

Photo: Viviana Ramos