This record has its origins in Cindy Van Acker’s Shadowpieces project, a repertoire of a dozen solos choreographed for and with performers including Louis Schild. Each solo is rooted in an intimate dialogue between sound and body. Schild’s solo is unique in that it is choreographed to an instrument (electric bass), creating its own soundtrack and triggering an unusual interdependence between movement and sound.
Casting & credits
Choreography Cindy Van Acker with the dancers Interpretation Louis Schild Sound recording Gaspard Pahud Mix and mastering Antoine Etter Text Thibault Walter Graphic design Rebecca Metzger & Pauline Piguet Typography Raoul Audouin, Velvetyne Type Foundry Silkscreens Atelier Obscur Production Cie Greffe Support Ville de Genève, République et Canton de Genève, Pro-Helvetia Swiss Arts council, Loterie Romande Fonds Regio Films, Ernst Göhner Stiftung
Book launch 7 December 2022 at Cave 12, Geneva
About
Louis Schild’s Shadowpiece 0 premiered at La Bâtie Festival in Geneva in 2019, along with four other solos, including Shadowpiece IV performed by Maya Masse to Johann Sebastian Bach’s Art of the Fugue. Before the performances, Masse usually rehearsed her steps on Place Sturm, where the performance took place, with her headphones screwed on so as not to disturb the peace and quiet. Schild attended the rehearsals on several occasions and found himself closing his eyes to enjoy the sound of the dancer’s steps on the gravel. Bach had never sounded like this! The idea of recording the sound of the dancer’s steps was born at that moment, with the desire to explore the articulation between elements in the score, sound, and movement in a different way than in Shadowpiece 0.
The recording was made at Studio Phonotope in Renens, in collaboration with Thibault Walter, with the main challenge being to find the best way of recording the two solos, bearing in mind that they would end up on the same record, one being the reverse side of the other.
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