Twine (2015)

For solo viola (and solo dancer)
Choreography by Manuel Vignoulle
Duration: 6 minutes
Commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance

World premiere: February 18-19, 2016
GK ArtsCenter, Brooklyn
Celia Hatton, viola; Megan Jones, dancer

This work is available for retail purchase from Theodore Front Musical Literature.
This work is available for institutional purchase from Harrassowitz (OttoEditions) and Theodore Front Musical Literature.

Program note: This collaboration with choreographer Manuel Vignoulle was part of The Portrait Project, by Periapsis Music and Dance. It explored the possibilities of one dancer and one musician together on stage, and in Twine the musician was our violist, Celia Hatton. From the first meeting, I knew that Manuel wanted the image of the violist lifted on the dancer’s shoulders, but it wasn’t until we brought everybody into the studio that we’d see what would be possible. Quite a lot, as it turned out! Musically, the composition of this piece was extremely intuitive and flowed naturally from a few initial ideas. Manuel’s movement has a liquidity and a virtuosity that I tried to channel into this work, and we seemed to both delight in a certain eeriness that emerged.

Behind the scenes: