MICHI is a duet performance with dancer Kiori Kawai. The piece tells a manifold story of life. It is a story of ignorance & suppression, of force & resistance, but also the potential of freedom & redemption. It’s our personal stories and also our collective narrative. Perhaps in this commons, we might meet.
MICHI (道) means “path” in Japanese. The performance explores how individually, socially, culturally, and as a species, we navigate all the divergent and collective possibilities of coexisting together. How do we deal with our differences? Can we forge a path beyond our patterns? How do we find and walk our own path within the limitations of the body and the environment?
In the peformance, sound initiates movement, movement initiates visuals, visuals initiate sound, and vice versa through an improvisatory setting. A depth camera tracks Kawai’s movements from above and projected visuals on the ground are aligned with where she is dancing. I improvise on different instruments on stage during the show. I created all the visuals, composed the music, and developed the computer vision system, matching the camera with the projector. I've opened sourced the computer vision system with notes on the implementation and how it works.
What is on my path, what is on your path, what is on our path? Whatever it is, this is a way of processing.
Scene list:
1. 日常 - Nichijō (daily life); 2. 無知 - Muchi (ignorance); 3. 鬼 - Oni (agony); 4. 行 - Gyō (practice); 5. 森羅万象 - Shinrabanshō (all nature)
Credits: Code, music, visuals: Aaron Sherwood; Choreography/dance: Kiori Kawai
Crew: Lighting: Jonathan Pettigrew; Video: Claire Carroll; Vision mixer and photos: Harshini Karunaratne; Stage and Rigging: Gareth Roberts; Sound Engineer: Subin Thompson
Developed in part with support from: New York University Abu Dhabi Arts Center, Abu Dhabi, UAE; Catwalk Institute, Catskill, NY, USA
