Dancing to the Resonance of Bartok

August 1, 2011 at 6:02 AM

On August 4, 2011, my friends violinist Jon Kahananui and choreographer Samuel Hanson will put on a one-time original event at the Salt Lake Public Library in downtown, Salt Lake City, Utah. I play the violin, by the way.

Jon will begin the program with Ysaye's Violin Sonata. I will then play the first two movements of Bruch's Violin Concerto in G minor with my very first violin teacher, who also happens to be an excellent piano accompanist. His name is Kelly Richardson. Jon and I have worked together in numerous other events in the past.

Instead of playing the 3rd movement of the concerto, though, Jon and I are going to start playing Bela Bartok's Pillow Dance. Jon is going to stand in the middle of the hall and I 'm going to play the 1st violin part memorized. I'll be dancing around in a circle about him, and then we will end together (we know each other's playing pretty well, and I love any reason to move around with my violin like I did when I played the fiddler in Fiddler on the Roof productions!)

We have a selection of the 44 Bartok Duets that Sam has choreographed dancing into it. The modern dance applied to the live music reminds was inspired by many things including my studies of the Bauhaus and Visual Culture in Germany. I tried to write a paper once about how performance existed in the Bauhaus once, but ran out of time and wrote about Paul Klee instead. But, somewhere I came across information about Bartok and that he performed -- I still have unanswered questions, but at this point I need to perform and do what we are doing, and then find out more information about Bartok during this time period.

Anyhow, here are the selected pieces that we are doing. We are taking of advantage of the last few days and looking for more ways to add depth and audience involvement to this friendly and fun event. If you happen to be in the area, please feel free to drop in!

Slowakisches Lied/Slovakian Song/Tót Nóta

Rumänischier Dreh-Tanz/Rumanian Whirling Dance/Forgatós

Sommer-Sonnwendlied/Midsummer Night Song/Szentivánéji

Zähllied/Enumerating Song/Számláló Nóta

Ungarisches Lied 2/Hungarian Song 2/Magyar Nóta 2

Heu-Erntelied/Hay Song/Szémagüjtéskor

Scherzo

Gram/Sorrow/Bánkodás

Ruthenisches Lied/Ruthenian Song/Rutén Néta

Arbschied Von Der Braut/Bride’s Farewell/Menyasszonybúcsúztató

Ruthenische Kolomejka/Ruthenian Kolomeika/Rutén Kolomejka

Wiegenlied/Cradle Song/Gyermekrengetéskor