Piano&Dancer: Interaction Between a Dancer and an Acoustic Instrument

Abstract

Piano&Dancer is an interactive piece for a dancer and an electromechanical acoustic piano. The piece presents the dancer and the piano as two performers on stage whose bodily movements are mutually interdependent. This interdependence reveals a close relationship between physical and musical gestures. Accordingly, the realisation of the piece has been based on creative processes that merge choreographic and compositional methods. In order to relate the expressive movement qualities of a dancer to the creation of musical material, the piece employs a variety of techniques. These include methods for movement tracking and feature analysis, generative algorithms for creating musical structures, and the application of non-conventional scales and chord transformations to shape the modal characteristics of the music. The publication contextualises Piano&Dancer by relating its creation to concepts of embodiment, interactivity and musical structure and by discussing opportunities for creative cross-fertilisation between dance choreography and musical composition. It also provides some details about the challenges and potentials of integrating a mechanical musical instrument into an interactive setting for a dance performance. Finally, the paper highlights some of the technical and aesthetic principles that were used in order to connect expressive qualities of body movements to the creation of music structures.