Experimental sound & body arts (dance... theater...?)

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I think some topic was perhaps slightly connected, but few things reminded of this.
Was listening some Xenakis CD of pretty abstract material, and it was mentioned to be ballet.  Still today some people do like to link jap noise with butoh dance.
While there was topic of "physicality" and moving with noise, it probably went more into moshpit action, rather than anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opaS-W7b6GI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUjhQLB0hXY&feature=related

Last time I have seen something close to this, was probably Noise Of Russia performing in Finland with naked man having "seizures" type of performance on the floor. And one couldn't really decide was it ok, or was it utterly and ridiculously pretentious.
This leads to question how much it's not really that "cool" in the scene, similarly as for example manifestos, since it exposes you to mockery and ridicule? Where staying in the most basic forms of sound and visual will be merely the safety issue?

Been thinking what are the possibilities of today, to really incorporate "noise" to something more than limited scene releases or the routines set up within rock'n'roll context. Not that it would be bad to be what it is, but perhaps seeing the theatrical & body art element of industrial/experimental/noise, would be nice. Even with Power Electronics, it's pretty much Con-Dom and Genocide Organ, while pretty much all the rest is most of all karaoke over electronics, heh, which might not be THE most interesting to see. It was perhaps Bizarre Uproar last autumn when there was the rat performances. Not really dance, but perhaps grotesque theatre? It added pretty intense atmosphere, which wouldn't be there with hearing just the music. And I'm sure, many would mock such performance be cliche and pointless - while experience proves otherwise.

Some of my recent works (as Alchemy of the 21st Century) is used as soundtrack of Hyvinkää city theater for one of their plays going during april. All events are sold out, so not really point going there as it's material known from the CD and used for beginning of play. Still I'm curious of the moment when noise is not just "pure noise", but noise reaches the other things.. or other things reach noise.

Where and by whom it's happening?

[bogskaggmannen]

This leads to question how much it's not really that "cool" in the scene, similarly as for example manifestos, since it exposes you to mockery and ridicule? Where staying in the most basic forms of sound and visual will be merely the safety issue?

In a time when having nothing to say is the norm it is bound to happen. However, if artists care about how their works are "thought" of, much is lost.

[kettu]

Where and by whom it's happening?

I have no idea.

I think the little ive read of musical therapy or whatever its called is kindly intresting and im sure noisy things fit in there somewhere. its fairly new so they still might be at acoustic guitar/tambourines or "listening to your favourite music causes strong emotions" level.

it seems like the most natural thing to use noise in these other areas but it might be on the verge of happening now. not yet that popular since noise is not very popular and it takes some time for new things to be spread.


im sure ive mentioned it somewhere but I saw a statue/installation/art of speakers put into somekind of form. alot of them but bugger me they were dummies, no sound what so ever. obviously there should have been so huge omnious drone coming out.

[kettu]

ohups, I was lying about not knowing something. Ive been watcing modern dance on yle teema and there was one where people were dancing on crutches , unnatural and slightly ugly looking affair where the music partly was groning and percussive sounds( slightly noisy). I  bet it was made by some composer who took alot of money for it.

[post-morten]

Been thinking what are the possibilities of today, to really incorporate "noise" to something more than limited scene releases or the routines set up within rock'n'roll context. Not that it would be bad to be what it is, but perhaps seeing the theatrical & body art element of industrial/experimental/noise, would be nice.

From my experience, it's not that rare that contemporary dance groups embrace the experimental music scene. I've seen :zoviet*france: several times doing live scores for the Norwegian dance company Zero Visibility. Likewise I've seen Ryoji Ikeda working with his compatriots in the performance group Dumb Type. Not to mention Stephen O'Malley and Pita's joint project KTL that rose from their collaboration with the French choreographer Giselle Vienne (also O'Malley's girlfriend, I believe). So while it may not be noise or power electronics, there's plenty of cross-fertilization goin' on.

Hell, I remember the first real dance performance I went to, something like 20 years ago, which had the Canadian group La La La Human Steps doing an intense, acrobatic show to a soundtrack with the likes of E. Neubauten and Skinny Puppy. I remember being very impressed.

[ARKHE]

My girlfriend is performing tomorrow in Copenhagen with a choreography made to a track from KLHYST's only album, one of the more experimental ambient/drone pieces. Could definitely see choreographers using the desolate industrial harshness of certain power electronics for their works. Isn't it pretty common with art performances/actions to heavy industrial sounds? For example Martin Bladh, or KOEFF doing music for Hans Sternudd. Perhaps out of this topic?

[Human Larvae]

I saw this being introduced on Tv a while ago and found it very bizarre and mesmerizing. A dance group from Leipzig so it seems, with some spastically disabled members. The soundtrack is not really experimental, but it could be. I very much like the jolted movements, as they are authentic, and not just somebody trying to imitate something "creepy" or weird.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtiMPDyMXxY

[UGRA]

As for myself, I would love to see more stuff going on on this field.
We can not forget that every music is art (or, at least, it is artistic expression), even when it pretends to stand against it. So it should be just natural that any kind of music could be crossed with other arts.
The greatest challenge is to do it without being artsy or cheesy. That´s a risk, but it shouldn´t be an impediment. Also, there´s nothing wrong with a little pretension. I think it´s way better than deliberately choose mediocrity.
Anyway, before Throbbing Gristle there was COUM Transmissions. Somehow the approximation between experimental / noise / industrial music and body arts (specially performance) is in it´s own roots.

[manuel-ronf]

butoh works really good with dark sounds,
see this dvdr I am releasing soon by this Spanish project called SOIZU, merging Butoh and industrial music in perfomance
http://www.ronfrecords.com/releases/rnv001.php

[icepick method]

Etant Donnes did stuff like this. The dvd that came with the VOD boxset was almost all dance performance stuff.

[XE]

. It was perhaps Bizarre Uproar last autumn when there was the rat performances. Not really dance, but perhaps grotesque theatre? It added pretty intense atmosphere, which wouldn't be there with hearing just the music. And I'm sure, many would mock such performance be cliche and pointless - while experience proves otherwise.

[Cementimental]

I did some stuff last year as part of Monster Zero doing pretty much harsh noise with some more ambient parts with dance/performance and low-fi projected graphics, went pretty well, kind of total shoreditch trash art hipster style I'm sure some of you would thing but whatever. We even played at a psy-trance festival in portugal which was pretty absurd. A lot of people left pretty soon after we started but some were really into it. (possibly depending on how much of which drugs they'd taken) Also, our soundcheck REALLY offended the inventor of the Funktion One soundsystem, he had just finished giving a talk about audio fidelity and the wonders of analogue sounds and hippy rave party vibes and immediately afterwards I was blasting horrible noise from a bunch of behringer gear haha. Looked up and some old guy with a ponytail was yelling "WE DON'T WANT YOU HERE! YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM, NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION" until someone kind of ushered him away and calmed him down haha.