Rondo Variation Project
Rondo Variation: Animating Bruce Beasley’s Ring Sculptures
2016
Rondo Variation started when Professor Shannon Jackson (who was serving as the Associate Vice Chancellor of Berkeley Arts + Design) introduced renowned American sculptor Bruce Beasley to choreographer and TDPS professor Lisa Wymore. Bruce had the idea to animate his Rondo sculptures using sensor technology so that they could become extensions of the dancers’ bodies, full of tension and emotions. As the dancers move, accelerometers within iPods serve as body sensors, sending data to a central computer that maps their motion onto animated rings, which are projected onto the back wall of the stage. In addition, off-stage operators track each dancer’s spatial location in real time. Ursula Kwong Brown’s (Graduate Student of Music at UC Berkeley) original score is performed by cellist Joanne de Mars, and the sound is processed and manipulated live to enhance the bodily sensation of connectivity and real-time responsiveness. The costumes, by TDPS costume director and designer Wendy Sparks Rehl, flutter and move, enhancing the vibrancy of the human body in motion against the chrome-like rings.
Sculptor/Collaborator/Originator of the Preliminary Concept – Bruce Beasley
Choreographer/Collaborator – Lisa Wymore
Assistant Choreographer – Sheldon Smith
Stage Manager – Bona Choi
Composer – Ursula Kwong Brown Scenic Design – Justine Law
Cellist – Joanne de Mars
Costume Design – Wendy Sparks Rehl
Undergraduate Research Apprentice – Annelise Meyer
Lighting Design – Jack Carpenter
Dancers - Heather Brown, Hesed Kim, Danyel Mann, José Nuño, Tiffany Sumita, Hillary Tang