Resistencia

The piece is called Resistencia (Resistance), and it was presented as part of the celebrations for the Chilean independence bicentennial. The title refers both to the Chilean war of independence (Resistance against the Spanish Crown), and to the concept of overcoming the resistance of time and space, by creating an improvisation that involves dancers and musicians performing in two different continents at once. There were 3 musicians and 1 dancer in Chile (GRUPO TDL), and 4 musicians and 2 dancers in Utah (SLEAP). We used a videoconferencing device to watch each other dance and play (it's at the right of the screen). The half-second audio delay involved in this video conferencing transmission was inadequate for playing music together transcontinentally, so for the audio we used new technology developed at Stanford University that allowed us to play with the Chilean group with no timing problems ("jamLink"; it will be released commercially as soon as this beta testing phase is over). Another technological aspect of the performance is the use of my interactive dance space. The dancers trigger electronic sounds through their movements, using a camera and motion capture technology. The first half of the piece is structured as a series of improvisations in different interactive dance spaces. You should be able to tell what the dancers are triggering because when each new space begins, they are the only ones making most of the sounds. It gets pretty wild at times, especially with the trombone at the end, (which is modified electronically), so it's not always clear what the dancers are triggering, however, the interesting thing is that in this context they become another set of musicians, since instead of following the music, they are creating it through their movements. Performers: SLEAP (Salt Lake Electroacoustic Players, University of Utah) Angie Banchero-Kelleher, dance Sarah Donohue, dance Marie Grudzien, dance Igor Iachimciuc, voice and percussion Shawn Standing, cymbalom Miguel Chuaqui, laptop and bass trombone, laptop and interactive dance system / ensemble leader Universidad de Chile Grupo TDL Edgardo Cantón, piano and laptop Leonardo Cendoyya, keyboards and laptop Lilian Pizarro, dance Rolando Cori, guitar and laptop / ensemble leader