February 10th – 15th, 2020
Intensive artistic research days at Zacherlfabrik, Vienna
Composer/performer Pia Palme, soprano Juliet Fraser and dancer & choreographer Paola Bianchi convene in Vienna. They join forces to conduct experiments exploring the interferences of vocality and movement in space.
a piece | ein stück
Pia:
‘I began with some devised material which I knew would form only a starting point; the process is like walking into a room with a blindfold on.’
Paola:
‘like seeing how different ingredients fit together or can be destroyed’
‘I have been using my archive of postures (or non-postures, collective images), which I am interested to share with others to see how they are transformed. These are my tools. It is like seeing how different ingredients fit together or can be destroyed.’
Wechselwirkung:
a piece for singer, dancer, electronics and instrumental ensemble
Combining the distinctive creative process of choreographer Paola Bianchi with the compositional practice of Pia Palme, the piece is being devised in an experimental, non-hierarchical, collaborative way, using both devised material and improvisation. The question of transmission between disciplines is woven into the process, embracing the particularities of each individual. The results explore the consonance, dissonance and interferences between voice and body, a polyphony in which movement shapes music, sound shapes bodies.
What is it we are doing? What are we working on?
music theatre work
(music physical music theatre!)
Paola says: “what we are doing is contemporary dance” “un spettacolo”
Pia says: “the closest term we have is a ‘music theatre’ piece, but…”
‘post-dramatic’
scenic music piece
an experimental opera
a choreographic opera
opera as original term: one, coherent piece about emotional changes
for voice, electronics and ensemble
a/una/eine performance for singer, dancer, electronics and instrumentalists
a/una/eine performance piece integrating movement, singing and soundscapes
Performance = ‘performance’ in Italian and German!
Questions to be investigated are:
What happens to vocal performance when the performer’s body moves along a choreography that is orally transmitted?
What kind of movement interferes with singing, what not, and how does it interfere?
What kind of vocal performance interferes with body performance, and what not, and how?
What happens in extreme ranges of vocality, or choreography?
Is it possible, or necessary, to completely control two distinct performance processes?
Or can the result be balanced, rather than controlled?
What is more interesting?
What does the audience perceive?
How does space influence performance?