High Chaos in Mayfair (2015)
Composer’s Program Note:
High Chaos in Mayfair was written the fall of 2015 in New York City for Choreo-Comp Project at the Juilliard School. I feel extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work with with the wonderful choreographer, Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson on my first dance piece. After months of brainstorming and coming up with different ideas, we decided to explore the concept of beauty. People these days tend to focus only on the beauty that comes from outside, but neglect the inner beauty. Four dancers go through a journey and find out what being beautiful only outside means. The same gestures from the beginning transform into something creepy, unfulfilling, and rather disgusting, leaving them confused and empty.
The piece is divided into six short sections (played attacca). Each section provides a different atmosphere and mood to accompany the dance. Moreover, Mr. Guillemot-Rodgerson wanted to incorporate some vocal elements from the dancers. During the rehearsal period, I worked with the four dancers directly and designed the vocal effects to accommodate the score. Some of the vocal effects includes kissing sounds (“mwah”), clicking sounds with tongue (“tick”), clapping, finger snapping, tapping the stage with hands or feet, and humming. Since writing for dance was new to me, I had to pay attention to the elements that I was not as focused as before. This project has taught how important it is to realize the space and how it is going to be shown to the audiences. I learned to consider many different aspects, not just how the music will sound. I dedicate this score to the fantastic colleague Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson.
Choreographer’s Note:
High Chaos in Mayfair is a study in ignoring the world around you through a lens of vanity. We constantly look for relationships or ways to connect and solve the puzzles that are laid out in front of us, but this piece is about the four dancers’ obliviousness to the world around them. They are indifferent to the audience, and for the most part they ignore the musicians, and each other. I see the music as a somewhat divine driving force, it pushes these dancing individuals towards progress, and to keep exploring when they would otherwise rest in their content stasis, it constantly surprises them— the music is the only thing that they acknowledge and respond to in an emotional way. Thanks to the original dancers for contributing so much to the creative process and for inspiring the characters through your unique personalities. Thanks to Nicky for being such an influential creative force and for working so passionately to bring this dance to vibrant life with your music!
Program Note:
Venturing into an alternate world where exaggeration and absurdity can be the only expectations, High Chaos in Mayfair
explores the sheer joys of vainly over-indulging in oneself and believing that the world truly revolves around you. Ignorance is bliss, and individuals connect with each other without acknowledgment or even realization. Can complete self-indulgence and ignorance last forever, and what happens if this very basis of this world’s existence is disrupted?