Audio · John Beaulieu
Dakini Dances
Dakini Drawings — George Quasha
Dakini Piano — John Beaulieu
Dakini Dances is a collaboration between the Dakini drawings of George Quasha and the improvised piano of John Beaulieu. I approach George’s drawings as musical scores in which I allow each Dakini image to initiate a physical and musical encounter at the piano.
The performance is based upon an axial discipline in which I allow each arm, hand, and finger to move as independently as possible across the keyboard. Instead of consciously coordinating these movements into familiar musical patterns, I listen for the relationships that spontaneously arise among them.
Something unexpected happens. Independent movements begin to discover one another. Sounds begin to form relationships. What initially appears fragmented discovers a point of balance. I call this an axial harmony that but emerges as independent parts find ways of relating around an axial balance point.
George Quasha describes the larger practice of Axial Music as a form of spontaneous interpersonal composition that does not attempt to honor precedent or repeat previous patterns. Instead, the musicians radically follow the sounds actually arising within an intentional field. At its most successful, he proposes, the sound event seems to acquire a life independent of its performers and can produce an altered state of listening.
Throughout the improvisation, I experience the Dakini drawings as more than visual scores. Dakinis become a presence within the improvisational field. I merge with each Dakini then follow what emerges. The resulting sounds find an axial balance somewhere between drawing, gesture, independence, relationship, and spontaneous listening.
Watch the videos
Dakini Manifestation — Live Performance
Watch Dakini Manifestation — Live Performance
Dakini Drawings — Dakini Dances
Watch Dakini Drawings — Dakini Dances on Vimeo
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