Parlour Games at The Tank Dec 4 and 5

December 4 and 5, 2009
Parlour Games
Choreography by Tze Chun
Original Score by Chris Becker
@The Tank
354 West 45th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues)
December 4 and 5, 2009
9:30 pm
Admission: $12

Parlour Games is a collaboration between myself and choreographer Tze Chun. The choreography is inspired in part by Victorian era parlour games as well the architecture and environment of late 19th century / early 20th century New York City.

The music for Parlour Games is mainly piano with the harmonic, rhythmic (definitely rhythmic), and melodic language coming from some of my favorite composers - Debussy, Satie, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Scott Joplin, even a little bit of Mahler. The score is prerecorded, and features my good friend Daniel Kelly on the keys. While some of the performances are straight forward, others have been processed and edited to create some truly crazy cut-up textures. The challenge for me was to create a consistent thread throughout the pieces - a vibe that evokes the Victorian era and parlour games that inspired Tze's choreography.

I've also utilized a lot of Foley-like sounds (my own recordings) including the creaking stairs and slamming doors of a six unit turn of the century building as a part of the mix.

Hope some of you can come check this out. Have a great holiday.