Music at Noon with Electric Sky Blue

Nov. 1, 2023

November 28, 2023 at Noon
Theatre Auditorium
Reserve Tickets

Performer

Program

Electric Sky Blue (2022-2023) by Badie Khaleghian

Prelude
I. Born In Autumn
II. Places Far Away
III. It Sits With The Morning
IV. Child-Like Delight
V. The Gray, The Stormy, The Deep Rumbling
VI. Dark Midnight, With All Its Shadows
VII. An Intoxicating Beat You Can’t Help But Dance To
VIII. Round, Plump, Malleable
IX. Bold Yet Graceful
X. Its Truest Form

About:

Electric Sky Blue (2022) is a collaborative exploration of immersive and interactive sound, color, and movement, crafted exclusively for Caroline. It is a multi-sensory experience that allows both performer and audience to engage with the artwork on a multi-dimensional level. A year was spent researching and workshopping, developing algorithms to translate Caroline's movements, both on and off the piano, into sound and visuals.

Electric Sky Blue integrates various media to create a comprehensive work of art that surpasses the limitations of individual mediums. The interactive visuals within the performance are intricately linked to both the dance movements and piano playing. Through an interplay of motion-capturing and amplitude-following technologies, Caroline's choreography and piano performance are transformed into an immersive visual experience.

The genesis of the work's structure stems from Caroline's poetic reflection on the color, electric sky blue. This poem serves as the foundation of the piece, which unfolds across ten scenes, each of which is based on a line of Owen’s poetry. The performance abstractly follows the surface narrative of the poem while simultaneously tracing a broader journey of transformation, beginning with the themes of birth and innocence and progressing through anxiety and struggle to culminate in a powerful sense of newfound resilience and authenticity.

The Poem

Born in Autumn, in the crisp air of mid-October,

It takes you to places far away, with cypress trees and gravel paths along hillsides, with medieval towns across the valley. Places that have stood still for centuries, with grasses blowing in the quiet all around.

It sits with the morning, still in its freshness and full of possibility for what a day could hold.

It longs for life, for adventure, for full breaths deep inside your lungs.

For running and jumping into a pile of crunchy leaves, with a child-like delight.

It hides the gray, the stormy, the deep rumbling that is still there.

It is not like the dark midnight, with all its shadows and anxiousness.

It nods along to a song of exuberant joy, with an intoxicating beat you can’t help but dance to.

Constantly shifting and morphing, round, plump, malleable.

It moves with leaps––bold yet graceful.

It befriends the rustling leaves in the trees, with the branches that frame it and bring out its electricity, its truest form, its most vibrant hue.