We exhibited the performance at 'Booijmans op Zuid' in Rotterdam south which is the dependence of the critically acclaimed Booijmans and at 'Huidenclub' at Rotterdam west.
'Decomposing the Tower of Babel' derived from our notion that language lacks the ability to fully feel in with someone, to feel a strong connection and to feel a tight form of togetherness.
'Decomposing the Tower of Babel' is an experiment to feel this connection again through kinaesthetic practices; so, through watching someone dance.
But what happens if the person who you are watching is anticipating on you as the one watching?
We translate what the audience is going through, by connecting the heartbeat and the movement made by the audience to music, which in their turn the dancers dance to.
This creates a loop between the heartbeat of the participant, the dancer dancing to the music that is created from this heartbeat, the heartbeat of the participant changing from watching the dance, the music changing and the dancer changing their dance again.
The participant wears a heartbeat sensor around their finger, which is connected to an ESP and sends a pulse signal to Ableton
Ableton translates this signal to the BPM of the session and a few variables of arpeggiators and synths.
We collaborated with two dancers that are specialised in hip-hop and freestyle.
This worked well for us because, we needed dancers that could anticipate fast to changes in the music.
The end product left an engaging and intimate atmosphere where viewers almost always stayed for a couple of more performances to see how the next one would be different.
