«PASSIO». Musical composition for marimba, dance, motion capture and live electronics produced at IRCAM-Centre Pompidou, Paris

Abstract

This interdisciplinary project was carried out at the IRCAM-Centre Pompidou in Paris as a collaboration between two creators: the choreographer Christine Gérard and the composer Alberto Carretero; as well as two performers: the dancer Aurélie Berland and the percussionist Linda Edsjö. It is a process based on joint choreographic and musical writing, inspired by the Laban notation for dance. From the concept of «passion», sound and gestural materials were sought that were appropriate to abstractly represent and dramatise this concept through a temporal and spatial itinerary based on the geometry of a cube. A light space was created on the stage and a sound space in the hall through a surround system of loudspeakers, in accordance with the architecture of the piece. Therefore, there is an interactive work using motion capture and recognition technologies through a camera with infrared sensors, capable of capturing a 3D image and tracking movement in the dark.

The electronic processing uses real-time sound synthesis and transformation techniques, such as physical models, Super phase vocoder (SuperVP), convolution-based spatialisation and reverberation models, harmonisers, sampling, filters and resonators, granulators, variable time delay lines or flanger.