Orchesography

version for violin and piano
(see also version for bitKlavier)
duration: 8’

purchase score

About the work

1. An open Step outwards
2. Sink and Rise in moving
3. The Presence of the Body

About the work

Long ago I came across a digitized version of a manuscript called “Orchesography. or, the Art of Dancing,” by John Weaver, published in 1706. Orchesography is a word for dance notation and according to the manuscript, “the whole Art” of dancing “is explain’d; with compleat Tables of all Steps us’d in Dancing, and Rules for the Motions of the Arms.” I found the language in the manuscript both precise and poetically evocative of specific ways that a body can move. Music is usually connected to motion for me, and as I read through the manuscript, musical ideas started popping. Each movement: An open Step outwards, Sink and Rise in moving, and The Presence of the Body, takes its title from Weaver’s text and aims to give a sense of embodied motion and sensation.