UC Berkeley

This paper is an account of the creative process that resulted in the dissertation for a PhD in music composition, in tensions, for dancer, cello, and motion-sensitive live electronics. The commentary is provided as a supplement to the performance that forms the primary work carried out for the dissertation. in tensions, written in collaboration with cellist Polina Streltsova and dancer Marie Albert in Paris as part of the Cursus program at the Institute for Research and Collaboration in Acoustics/Music, is an audio-visual performance that explores interdisciplinary interaction in analog and digital realms. The work interrogates the relationships between the two performers, their environment, and their roles in the performance space. The work’s invention used a variety of tools crafted to facilitate the creation of performative material, as well as digital solutions for composing electroacoustic sounds that aim to communicate the fusion of these materials in real time. This dissertation will analyze the methods and performance practices that drove the collaboration, the structure of the work, and the materials that comprise the work’s electroacoustic elements. Audio-visual documentation of the performance can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PVBuPrA0pA