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