ArtAV has supplied a state of the art media server for Wayne McGregor’s ‘Dyad 1909’. The system is based on Qlab software running on a super fast SSD fuelled MacPro. Running custom plugins developed in-house, the system perfectly synchronises three screens of video with multiple tracks of studio quality audio.
Here’s some info behind the performance… Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev (1872-1929) was not a dancer or choreographer, yet his lifelong passion for art led him to found Les Ballets Russes, an ensemble of dancers, composers, designers and artists who came together in the spirit of his famous challenge ‘Surprise me!’ His outlook revolutionised the modern balletic canon and his legacy resonates across all art forms. Sadler’s Wells in London has presented four of their associate choreographers with the challenge of creating pieces that have some connection with the Les Ballets Russes period, and the collaborative spirit Diaghilev encouraged. In The Spirit of Diaghilev is an innovative rediscovery via works presented by Wayne McGregor, Russel Maliphant, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Javier de Frutos.
Dyad 1909 by McGregor is a ballet inspired by the scientific, social, political and technological perspective of 1909-29, a period rich in experimentation. Here, dancers use minimalist movements mixed with flowing a-syncopated touches, while enhancing the ambiguity and asexuality of the bodies. Composer Ólafur Arnalds provides an emotional score to this astonishing piece, mixing classical symphonies with avant-garde electronic recordings.