Students from both the Jacobs School of Music and the IU Department of Theatre, Drama and Contemporary Dance performed original choreography and music, according to a release from the music school.
The event was free, having been supported by the IU Student Association, and instead of an admission fee, nonperishable food donations were accepted. All donations were given to the Hoosier Hills Community Food Bank.
After a night of “speed dating,” choreographers and composers were paired together. The night was supervised by Nick Morandi, Corey Rubin, Louis Goldford and Ian Clarke, all of whom are a part of the Student Composer Association. They helped pair students together based off of similar artistic visions, according to the release. Dance and composition faculty also aided in the pairing process.
One pairing was composer Kim Osberg and choreographer Nick Heinzen. Together they created a piece entitled “(Re)place: Paper or plastic” that uses amplified trash as percussion instruments, according to the release.
“It was a slowly evolving storm of creative fusion that finally came together only in this last month,” Osberg said in the release. “Through this process, it becomes abundantly clear that working with a choreographer is really (just) working with another composer; they organize their medium in time, space and gestures, just like musical composers do. Realizing that has opened my world to a host of other collaborative ideas and has made me a better collaborator in general.”
The student event first started in 1999 as a way for composers and guitarists to collaborate to create new works and techniques, according to the release. Jacobs School Admissions Director and guitarist Espen Jensen and guitarist Nick Ciraldo, along with composers Forest Pierce and Justin Merritt, established the event.
Soon they were collaborating with viola, organ and harp musicians, according to the release.
Professor of Composition and Jacobs Center for Electronic and Computer Music Director Jeffrey Hass advised the participating students in composition alongside Department of Theater, Drama, and Contemporary Dance faculty member Selene Carter for the choreographers.
Hass said in the release the program is a success in intercampus ?collaboration.
“It is an experience which takes the students out of their comfort zones and leads to an understanding of the process of artistic sharing, both in formulating and negotiating creative ideas that they would not necessarily have in their own programs alone,” Hass said in the ?release.
Kathrine Schulze
