Gesture: Music-Art-Dance

Gesture was the impulse that guided the creation of the graphic score. This gesture could be

the original Ligetilines inspiration of two dancers entwined in Balanchine choreography,

the musical textures that characterise the Ligeti Solo Cello Sonata, the contours of its musical notation that reflect expressive intent, the physical gestures required to play the cello, or the discreet articulations made fluid through the continuity of bodies in motion.

 

The Ligeti Solo Sonata together with the graphic score led choreographer Harriet Macauley

to question particular truths and realities that music and art set forth. She asked the dancers

to respond to a series of lies they told about themselves. First they were to represent these lies

through sound, and then devise specific gestures that complemented these sounds.

Below are some of the technical gestures at the cello that translated directly to the graphic score,

and indirectly to the physical gestures at right. Language always mediated between disciplines.

Here, the gerunds that helped to translate technical to visual gestures appear above the music;

above the graphic score gestures appear feeling descriptors - informed by an exploration of synaesthesia -

that I produced for Harriet. The physical gestures devised by the dancers

were the last details to enrich the choreography. Exact mirroring between music and movement

was never our aim. To emphasise this, the musical and visual gestures appear here

in the original order of musical presentation, while the movement gestures are in alphabetical order.

Hover and click with abandon!

DANCE

  • Pizzicato Glissando

    bending

    twisting

  • Slurred Arpeggio

    deflating

    supple

  • Double-stop Tremolo

    hovering

    buzzing

  • Double-stop Martelé

    tearing

    scratching

  • Disjointed Arpeggio

    snatching

    prying

  • Appogiatura

    striving

    hyper-ventilating

  • Pizzicato Flautando

    chirping

    dizzying

  • Double-stop Bariolage

    crude

    churning

  • Detaché Pair

    arching

    launching

  • Chordal Arpeggiation

    rippling

    gargling

  • Chromatic Ricochet

    dribbling

    slipping

  • Hemiola

    stretching

    stinging

  • Final Chord

    embracing

    ears ringing

  • ah-ah-ah (sung triad)

    An arpeggiated second-inversion chord from Joel!
  • [burp]

    This foward thrust amplifies the burp
  • eeehr...bluhlalalalala...

    A mechanized gesture from PJ
  • eh...

    Joel points in disgust, saying 'eh'
  • hah-hahhh...(whisper)

    With a peircing whisper, Joel licks his arm
  • hooo...(whisper)

    With this gesture, PJ evokes the Matrix
  • luh-ta-bah

    Joel pulls off the bum slap
  • ml-ml-ml-ml-ml-ml-ml-ml (lips puckered)

    A mime-like gesture from PJ
  • pooh...(whisper)

    PJ falls back on a whisper
  • 'screech!'

    PJ jumps laterally on 'Screech'
  • tktktktktktktk

    PJ slithers with this percussive sound
  • whooo!

    PJ skydives forward with a hoot
  • zooo...

    In this gesture, a hushing downward motion accompanies the sound 'zooo...'

Music: Ligeti Solo Cello Sonata (≈9’)

Art: LSCS Graphic Score (21 pgs.)

Dance: Choreographed LSCS

Sections:

Representation:

Movement Paths:

'Dialogo' (≈4')

spatial (5 pgs.)

tangents to diagonal:

The music of the LSCS first 'Dialogo' movement
The first of five 'Dialogo' graphic score pages, which introduce spatial relationships
In the 'Dialogo' movement, the dancers interchange in and out of the space, and move through the invisible tangent of sound

cello

dancer 1

dancer 2

'Capriccio' (≈4'50")

linear (16 pgs.)

orbital:

The music of the LSCS second 'Capriccio' movement
The first page of sixteen in the 'Capriccio' graphic score shows inversion of the musical subject
In the 'Capriccio' movement, the cello seems to hold the dancers in motion

cello

dancers

Textural/Gestural:

use arrow keys to move between gestures

MUSIC - ART

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The music of the LSCS first 'Dialogo' movement
The first of five 'Dialogo' graphic score pages, which introduce spatial relationships
The music of the LSCS second 'Capriccio' movement
The first page of sixteen in the 'Capriccio' graphic score shows inversion of the musical subject
The music of the LSCS first 'Dialogo' movement
The first of five 'Dialogo' graphic score pages, which introduce spatial relationships
The music of the LSCS second 'Capriccio' movement
The first page of sixteen in the 'Capriccio' graphic score shows inversion of the musical subject
The music of the LSCS first 'Dialogo' movement
The first of five 'Dialogo' graphic score pages, which introduce spatial relationships
The music of the LSCS second 'Capriccio' movement
The first page of sixteen in the 'Capriccio' graphic score shows inversion of the musical subject
Thank you to all 35 Ligetilines Kickstarter backers!
The music of the LSCS first 'Dialogo' movement
The first of five 'Dialogo' graphic score pages, which introduce spatial relationships
The music of the LSCS second 'Capriccio' movement
The first page of sixteen in the 'Capriccio' graphic score shows inversion of the musical subject
Thank you to all 35 Ligetilines Kickstarter backers!
The music of the LSCS first 'Dialogo' movement
The first of five 'Dialogo' graphic score pages, which introduce spatial relationships
The music of the LSCS second 'Capriccio' movement
The first page of sixteen in the 'Capriccio' graphic score shows inversion of the musical subject
Thank you to all 35 Ligetilines Kickstarter backers!

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Below are a few of the physical gestures that resulted indirectly - translated through choreographic task - from the gestures of the Ligetilines graphic score.

Collaboration explained