Ego Echo Installation – beta test from Jacob Niedzwiecki on Vimeo.

Ego Echo is a responsive installation work. Inspired by classical trompe l’oeil perspective and audio samplers & loop pedals, it acts as a mirror, reflecting a room and the people in it and capturing and sequencing movement.

This video is from the work’s beta test at the end of my one-week residency at the 2011 Dance: Made in Canada festival. The construction & visuals are preliminary; the focus was on testing and experimenting with the core concepts. More than sixty people participated in the beta, putting the work through its paces and helping to refine the creative focus and technical mechanics of the piece. The video was shot using a GoPro Hero camera to show a first-person perspective of the work.

Ego Echo was coded in Processing with a Kinect, using SimpleOpenNI and GLGraphics. Music is Lou Reed’s “All Tomorrow’s Parties“ from Animal Serenade, which was pretty much on a loop as I was coding.

Thanks to all our audience members and testers; the fine gents who built the libraries above; Andrew Pimento and Niko Beaubien for their help with setup & strike; Greg Witz at Witz Education for his help; Stuart Baulch for being a great host; Jeff Morris for his excellent ideas and advice; everyone else who helped out; and Yvonne Ng and Janelle Rainville at Dance: Made in Canada for supporting the work.

Bastard Fugue fuses live performance and projection to explore fugal composition with a single dancer. The Bach fugue, originally composed for organ, is stripped of melody and becomes a propulsive rhythmic fundament for a powerful performance. Some preliminary special thanks:

• Naishi (Kamen) Wang of Toronto Dance Theatre for his valuable participation in the creation process;
• The National Ballet School and the National Ballet of Canada for donating rehearsal space;
• Malgorzata Nowacka for the opportunity to show this work;
• Jeff Morris and Robert Stephen for participating in the technical workshop which spawned some of the ideas explored in this work.

Chiba City Variations is a suite of four solos set to various poems written and read by Christian Bök. Each solo was inspired by a character from the works of William Gibson. The work was performed in June 2004 in the show No Refunds, a showing of new work by young choreographers at the Betty Oliphant Theatre. The performers were Courtney Gibbs (not in video), Jenna Savella, Luke Garwood, and Robert Stephen.

Two Heterosexual Etudes

Set to three pieces from György Kurtág’s Signs, Games, and Messages. Two three-minute relationship studies, one of a father and daughter, one of a husband and wife; the title is meant to be a bit of a footnote as James Kudelka’s Fifteen Heterosexual Duets, while not the inspiration for the piece, served as a model with which to wrestle, argue, and occasionally agree. Created for Ballet Jörgen as part of their Solos, Duets, and Trios program. Performed in-studio at George Brown College in April 2009 by Tara Butler, Cristina Graziano, and Preston McBain. Archival video.

Capriol Suite

Set to two dances from Peter Warlock’s suite of the same name. One duet for a young couple, and one solo for a character dancer. Performed by Mark Dennis & Nikki Holck and Victoria Betram in June 2008 as part of the National Ballet of Canada’s Choreographic Explorations in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre of the Four Seasons Centre. Archival video.

Sanglôts

Set to the song of the same title from Poulenc’s song cycle Banalités, based on poems by Guillaume Apollinaire. Duet, part of a planned setting of the entire cycle. Performed by Isabella Gasparini and Rodrigo Gonzales in July 2004 as part of of the National Ballet School’s Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Workshop. Archival video.

Private Words

Set to the intermezzo from Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tiresias. Relationship sketch. Performed by Jordana Daumec and François Robichaud in July 2003 as part of the National Ballet School’s Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Workshop. No video.

La dame de Monte Carlo

Set to Poulenc’s solo operetta of the same name. A sort of danced monologue. Performed by Mariline Goodhue and Scott Maybank in June 2003 as part of Gorgeous Little Things, a showing of new work by young choreographers at the Betty Oliphant Theatre in Toronto. Archival video.