IMA_soundvisions 1
Charles Atlas: Torse (1977)
Thu, February 14, 2013 8 pm CET, Film Screening
Merce Cunningham’s choreography »Torse« examines the flexibility of the back as based on the five fundamental positions of the dancer. From these basic figures Cunningham derives 64 possible movements – a number corresponding to the sum total of symbolic hexagrams outlined in the “I Ching”. The dancers realize the phrases and steps of the variations not through instinctive action or out of the flow, but through Cunningham’s very special methodological approach, which also embraces the element of chance.
The dance film “Torse”, which Charles Atlas, Cunningham’s companion of many years produced in 1977, was conceived from the outset as an independent artistic work, and is to some extent the mathematical continuation of the choreography. “Torse” was recorded at the University of Washington with three 16mm cameras facilitating various perspectives on the dancing event. For his choreography, he drew on the idea in Einstein’s theory of relativity, namely, that no fixed points can exist in space and thus, by extension, that there is no ‘best’ or ‘preferred’ perspective on what happens.
The screening at the ZKM is an up-to-date HD restoration of the 16mm material containing the original music entitled “REMAINDER” by Maryanne Amacher. The composer Bill Dietz who, among others, is responsible for the collation of an archive of uncompleted works by the late Maryanne Amacher who died in 2009, will hold an introductory talk on the composition “Torse” and, by way of sound examples, provide fascinating insights into the compositional works of this artist.
Bill Dietz (*1983 in Bisbee, Arizona/USA) studied composition at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA/USA and cultural studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN/USA. He has been living in Berlin since 2003, initially as student and assistant to Peter Ablinger. He frequently works with Christian von Borries, Catherine Christer Hennix, Chris Newman and, in 2009, with Maryanne Amacher as well. He has been director of the ensemble »Zwischentöne« since 2007.
Among others, his compositions have been performed as part of Happy Days Sound Festival, Oslo/Norwegen; MaerzMusik, Berlin/Germany; Incubator Arts, New York, NY/USA; at the Romanische Nacht at the WDR, Cologne/Germany; Tbilisi 6. Never on a Sunday, Tbilisi/Georgia. As an interpreter of music he also regularly appears as (Documenta XII, Musikprotokoll des Steirischen Herbsts, Tate Modern, Hamburg Bahnhof).
The dance film “Torse”, which Charles Atlas, Cunningham’s companion of many years produced in 1977, was conceived from the outset as an independent artistic work, and is to some extent the mathematical continuation of the choreography. “Torse” was recorded at the University of Washington with three 16mm cameras facilitating various perspectives on the dancing event. For his choreography, he drew on the idea in Einstein’s theory of relativity, namely, that no fixed points can exist in space and thus, by extension, that there is no ‘best’ or ‘preferred’ perspective on what happens.
The screening at the ZKM is an up-to-date HD restoration of the 16mm material containing the original music entitled “REMAINDER” by Maryanne Amacher. The composer Bill Dietz who, among others, is responsible for the collation of an archive of uncompleted works by the late Maryanne Amacher who died in 2009, will hold an introductory talk on the composition “Torse” and, by way of sound examples, provide fascinating insights into the compositional works of this artist.
Bill Dietz (*1983 in Bisbee, Arizona/USA) studied composition at the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA/USA and cultural studies at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN/USA. He has been living in Berlin since 2003, initially as student and assistant to Peter Ablinger. He frequently works with Christian von Borries, Catherine Christer Hennix, Chris Newman and, in 2009, with Maryanne Amacher as well. He has been director of the ensemble »Zwischentöne« since 2007.
Among others, his compositions have been performed as part of Happy Days Sound Festival, Oslo/Norwegen; MaerzMusik, Berlin/Germany; Incubator Arts, New York, NY/USA; at the Romanische Nacht at the WDR, Cologne/Germany; Tbilisi 6. Never on a Sunday, Tbilisi/Georgia. As an interpreter of music he also regularly appears as (Documenta XII, Musikprotokoll des Steirischen Herbsts, Tate Modern, Hamburg Bahnhof).
- Organization / Institution
- ZKM
