EARTH

A SERIES ON OUR HOME AND OUR FUTURE

COMMISSIONED BY ERYC TAYLOR DANCE COMPANY

MADE POSSIBLE IN PART WITH PUBLIC FUNDS FROM CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT, SUPPORTED BY THE NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE NEW YORK STATE COUNCIL ON THE ARTS, WITH THE SUPPORT OF GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO AND ADMINISTERED BY LOWER MANHATTAN CULTURAL COUNCIL.

The sixth of seven sections of Eryc Taylor’s epic modern dance E A R T H project, Mother Earth Sends Warnings was conceived as the musical and choreographic climax. I knew composing this piece would be both exciting and BIG. The seed, however, was a memory of a tiny moment. My brother and I were hiking on a Boy Scout outing through Point Reyes National Seashore. Sun beamed through redwood trees. A stream trickled next to the path. Then my twin brother interrupted this beauty by ghetto-blasting The Scorpions and Metallica. Grating. Inharmonious. The antithesis of Mother Nature - but thematically perfect for Mother Earth Sends Warnings. So grunge guitar, fast repetitive notes, electronic instruments, and rapid rhythmic shifts made their way to the fore. Also I wanted to capture the suspense, chaos, and massiveness of earthquakes resulting in an approaching tsunami. Alex Tenreiro Theis exquisitely danced the role of Mother Nature in the previous five sections. To give all the rage of this piece some contrasting emotional context, I tried to give Alex a solo that distills the sadness of Mother Nature lamenting her need to destroy her own sons and daughters.

Funded by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Marta Heflin Foundation.

The subject of Part Four of Eryc Taylor’s epic E A R T H project is the rise of human civilization. After I pinpointed that the commonality of all successful ancient and modern civilizations is the ability of humans to sacrifice personal needs for the greater good, I launched this piece with a noble French Horn solo. Paralleling the gradual development of civility within culture, this melody gradually adopts a stricter meter as order is cemented, growing contrapuntally. In the middle segment, I contrasted the nobility with a march of progress, marked by a strident feeling of inevitability, even at the expense of human rights and nature. To reflect civilization, I deliberately grounded this music in classical tonality, abandoning modern academic dictates of musical “modality” - or lack of it.

Funded by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Marta Heflin Foundation.

Eryc Taylor Dance commissioned Earth is Created as the second of seven parts in his E A R T H project. Without the resources to pay for a full orchestra and recording studio, Earth Creation became my first composition produced in a digital medium. I wanted dancers and listeners to experience the contrast between the cataclysmic collisions that formed Earth and the serenity of a landscape relatively stable enough for mammals to evolve.

Funded by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Marta Heflin Foundation.

Katy Beth Barber photographed 4 days of protest in New York City, sparked by the murder of George Floyd. I was floored by her photography. I contacted her to see if she'd allow me to edit them into a video accompanied by 6 minutes of the most stirring music I feel I composed in 2019. Please watch and share our message of urgency, change, compassion, and action: https://youtu.be/IZhn3-4VA7Y

Photography by Katy Beth Barber
www.KBARBERPHOTOGRAPHY.com
All Rights Reserved.

Video edited by Daniel Tobias.

UNCHARTED TERRITORIES

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