dance #178, prelude to the solstice IV: spinal cochlea

Wednesday June 17, 2009

Prelude to the Solstice IV: Spinal cochlea

8:30 p.m. Frank Russo presents at a roundtable after the Sound in Silence performance at the Theatre Centre. He has developed the Emoti-Chair, a technology that enables the deaf to feel music through their bodies by arraying cochlear-like speakers along the “feeler’s” spine. He shows a film of an older deaf man sitting in the chair and “hearing” music for the first time in years. The large, ample-bellied man starts to dance in the chair.  As he feels the music through his spine, his excitability gets transduced through his tissues. Glee on his face, his body giggling, jiggling and punctuating rhythms. His hands and arms alight on the beats. His affects get transduced through the bodies of others watching the video. This may be the most beautiful dance I’ve seen in years. I feel an upwelling of emotion and amazement.

Alice drinks water and wanders the hall while I draw. Rain fell abundantly today.

I post the drawing two days later.

~ by nmyers on June 19, 2009.