# "2, 3, 4..." performance piece



## Lunasong (Mar 15, 2011)

As mentioned in this link I attended this concert last night. It took place in an empty downtown storefront that looks like it used to be a bank lobby, so the space was large with high ceilings.

The piece incorporates a solo violinist, string quartet, 4 dancers, a paint artist, and a small chorale, along with the hung cut-paper painting you see above. It started with the solo violinist and 3/4 the quartet (not the cello!) in the four corners of the room, each accompanied by a dancer. As the musicians played and advanced toward the center of the room, the dancers moved very closely and slowly next to them. Except for the soloist, they took their seats and 3 of the dancers started interacting with the artwork whilst the fourth started an almost sensual dance with the still-playing soloist.

This moved into a section than featured dance. The artist poured a gallon of black paint along the edge of the low stage and started to spread it out with her fingers (unfortuately I could not see well from my seat exactly what she was doing). The four dancers, dressed in white, started interactive dance with each other which included moving toward the paint source almost as if they needed sustenance from it. They dipped their fingers in it and continued dancing (to the atonal music of the quartet). As they touched each other and the stage mat they got covered in paint.

In the third section, the four dancers interacted with Kinect 3-D sensors that could read their body positions. These triggered recorded synthesized speech, music, and sound bites in a seemingly random pattern. It was really quite intriguing.

The last section started with the chorale, who was seated amongst the audience, doing vocalizations that created the effect of crickets chirping or other insects droning. They then moved toward the center singing a 4 part chorale on the syllable "ahhhh" accompanied by the string quartet.

After the concert, the artists took questions from the audience. I really enjoyed the performance; it was unlike anything I'd previously experienced. As one participant stated: _Creativity happens when art and science meet._

This link gives more information and more photos.
http://blueskydayton.tumblr.com/


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Good for you. I would have run away in two minutes.


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