FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2009
Washington, DC—CityDance Ensemble and Cambridge-based DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe) announce a synergy of art and science for Carbon, a concert of dance and music taking place March 14 & 15 at the Music Center at Strathmore. The musical score for two of the dances in Carbon is structured on melodies created out of seismic data from three volcanoes on three continents: Mount Etna (Italy), Mount Tungurahua (Ecuador), and Mount Pinatubo (Philippines). CityDance company member Jason Garcia Ignacio and Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson are developing works that will be performed to the sounds of these mountains and that speak to the issue of climate change.
The concert takes place Saturday, March 14 at 8pm and Sunday, March 15 at 7pm in Room 405 at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD. Tickets are priced at $20 and seating is general admission. Tickets are available in person at the Music Center at Strathmore Ticket Office (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, MD), online at www.strathmore.org, or by phone at 301.581.5100. Seating is limited, so audience members are encouraged to purchase tickets early.
‘Volcano sonification’ was developed in 2006 as a technique to help scientists predict volcanic eruptions. It consists of digitally collecting geophysical information on seismic movements and transforming them into audible sound waves through the sonification process. The software used for sonification was first developed by Dr. Domenico Vicinanza at the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), and through collaboration with colleagues in Ecuador, extensive data was gained on volcanic seismic patterns.
Harnessing the complex sonification algorithms and the conversion of the seismic data into sound melodies takes millions of computing cycles and could not be performed without access to distributed computing projects. High bandwidth research and education internet networks have played a vital part in making this project a reality. Using the immense computing power and global connections of the research networks allows the data to be converted into music. The research and education networks operated by DANTE (GÉANT2 in Europe and TEIN3 in the Asia-Pacific region) and the RedCLARA network in Latin America provide the high-capacity bandwidth and geographical reach required for the success of this project. Other EU-funded distributed computing projects involved include “Enabling Grids for E-sciencE” (EGEE) and “E-Infrastructure shared between Europe and Latin America” (EELA).
Beyond the practical scientific application of the melodies, CityDance and Dr. Vicinanza, now an engineer at DANTE, have been creating art by harmonizing the sounds and developing music inspired by the seismic movements of the earth.
“The fact that the network has made it possible to gather and compute these important scientific data, and that a composer and dance group can then create a work of art out of them, is remarkable,” comments Cathrin Stöver, International Relations Manager of DANTE. “Using the high bandwidth networks for projects like this with such an important global message is fantastic.”
“As a scientist I was very motivated to see if we could develop tools to help us predict eruptions and, in so doing, reduce loss of life,” comments Mr. Vicinanza. “But I am a musician and artist as well, so it was natural to me to see if somehow art could be employed in an innovative way to help in this quest. ‘Seismic sonification’—the songs of the earth—was the result of this work and I am delighted that this is being created into a dance performance that will help raise awareness of climate change."
Choreographer Jason Garcia Ignacio is a native of the Philippines and grew up in Manila in the shadow of Mt. Pinatubo. He was in the city in 1991 when the volcano erupted after being preceded by almost a year of seismic activity. For the Carbon concert, Mr. Ignacio has been at work on a piece titled The Mountain, a choreographic exploration of two mountains in Manila—Mt. Pinatubo and “Smokey Mountain,” an enormous two million ton man-made mountain of garbage that grew over a 40-year span. The Mountain is a work in progress that will premiere on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage in September 2009 as part of The Millennium Stage Local Dance Commissioning Project.
“When I set out to make a work about the power of nature and the challenges man both faces and imposes, I never imagined that it could take on a global perspective,” reflects Mr. Ignacio. “Listening to Domenico’s work is very powerful, and that’s just hearing it as music. When you learn where that music comes from, and consider a score based on the activities of the earth all over the world, it is profoundly motivating. In that way The Mountain, which began as a work about my home country, soon became a much more global venture.”
It was the connection between a scientist’s interest in volcanoes and an artist’s interest in science that led CityDance Artistic Director Paul Gordon Emerson to suggest the collaboration.
“The key for me,” says Mr. Emerson, “is that this project states that we can do things of enormous power, and hopefully great impact. If we can create a musical score from the earth’s natural sounds with the help of global computer infrastructure, then we can find the innovation needed to improve the planet. The fact that this work uses the voices of the earth from three continents is a very powerful metaphor for Carbon as a project and as a concept.”
Carbon is a part of CityDance’s annual performance series on global warming. Complementing Mr. Ignacio’s work The Mountain in this concert is the world premiere of CityDance Rehearsal Director & Choreographer-in-Residence Christopher K. Morgan’s Thirst, a multi-media work that looks at the parallels of our planet’s thirst, our basic human thirst, and our deep human thirsts that go beyond the need of water. Thirst incorporates the recorded voices of the audience, interviewed as they enter the theater, into the sound score. In addition, the concert features a special performance by students from CityDance’s pre-professional program CityDance Select. A series of discussions and lectures featuring Mr. Vicinanza are being planned in Washington and at his current home base at Cambridge.
About CityDance Ensemble
CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is the parent organization to CityDance Ensemble, an award-winning contemporary repertory dance company; Early Arts, an arts outreach program for youth serving thousands of students each year; CityDance Education Centers, facilities committed to excellence in dance training for youth and adults; and FilmWORKS, a creator and presenter of dance-on-camera. The mission of CityDance Ensemble, Inc. is to advance the appreciation for and participation in the art of dance through excellence in performance, education, film, and artistic innovation. CityDance is committed to green practices and environmental leadership in the performing arts.
About Domenico Vicinanza
A composer, network engineer, and researcher, Domenico Vicinanza started his musical education studying piano, percussion, and composition. He works as a network engineer at DANTE in the field of multi-domain network monitoring. As a composer and researcher, his focus was always on the richness of the information coming from nature. He first introduced the sonification of seismic signals (in particular coming from active volcanoes) as a scientific tool, co-working with geophysicists and volcanologists. His experiences include the application of grid technologies for music and visual arts, chairing the ASTRA (Ancient instrument Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application) project for the reconstruction of musical instruments by means of computer models on GÉANT2 and EUMEDCONNECT. As a composer, he has taken part in several concerts, festivals, and webcasts.
About DANTE
DANTE (Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe) is a non-profit organization that coordinates large-scale projects co-funded by the European Commission and works in partnership with European National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) to plan, build, and operate advanced networks for research and education. Established in 1993, DANTE has been fundamental to the success of pan-European research and education networking. DANTE has built and operates GÉANT2, which provides the data communications infrastructure essential to the success of many research projects in Europe. DANTE is involved in worldwide initiatives to interconnect countries in other regions to one another and to GÉANT2. DANTE currently manages projects focused on the Mediterranean and Asia-Pacific regions through the EUMEDCONNECT and TEIN2 projects respectively, and is a partner of the ALICE2 project for Latin America. For more information, visit www.dante.net
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