CILPA & DZINĒJS

-Can you tell us how the idea for this project came about? What inspired you to develop Loop & Engine together?

OSKAR: The idea for conducting the artistic research for this project first came to me shortly after graduating from contemporary dance studies - my first source of inspiration was the concept of an infinite engine. I wanted to find out how a human can compare himself to one. There were also just my thoughts in general about my artistic practice in the future, and if maybe there's some framework I could develop in order to give it some structure. After spending around half a year in the artistic process on my own and trying out various aspects of how the idea of an infinite engine translates into the life of a person, I finally got it all boiled down to what the structure of a person is in the everyday and the routine of a single day, because our lives entail various repetitive cycles, much like an engine. Then I understood that it's only a matter of pinpointing what these cycles consist of. Actually, Leo was my first choice for whom to approach for collaboration in developing this idea further. This is in part because I’ve worked with him previously before during dance studies and also on my diploma work. The interplay between movement and sound is something that I am quite interested in generally. After bouncing ideas off each other, we knew we wanted to create sound that would accompany the cyclical nature of this piece.

LEO: That, funnily enough, turned out to be an amen break. The pieces we had done before also had Eurorack patches built for the specific needs of the performances, but they were more abstract – this time we wanted rhythm and realised, that the most appropriate setup would be a live breakbeat Eurorack system – short samples, sliced breaks, multiple FX sends and a very involved, responsive play style that would match the energy of the movement.

I have always been fascinated by contemporary dance, but a weakness of many performances is that they are usually accompanied by soundtracks which are pre-produced and rigid – the movement is structured around the sound. Modular synthesizers, however, allow for manipulating a wide range of parameters live and allow for more dynamic interplay between the two. They are organic, even organismic by nature.

Oskar Moore performing a fragment of his bachelor’s diploma work piece “CERTAINTY” during SummerLab Skopje 2023 - Public Negative Spaces in Skopje, North Macedonia

-What happens, when contemporary dance meets modular music?

OSKAR: I think the type of complexity that contemporary dance offers, in comparison to classical dance, for example, is on another level. It is a lot more open and dynamic. In dance, the main vessel of expression is the human body, which is something inherently completely organic. Contemporary dance focuses even more on the vessel than other forms of dance. Matching another art medium with this organic complexity can be difficult, and so, as Leo mentioned before, modular synthesis is in its own way organic and holds a lot of space for abstraction. Eurorack is tactile and can be manipulated there on the spot, allowing for situational adaptation via intuitive controls. More broadly, it opens up the possibility for creating a wonderful, sensual dynamic for an audience to experience when both of these rather complicated yet open forms of expression meet. I believe that they create a third medium as they connect, a third form of expression that approaches several senses at the same time. I think there's a lot this interplay can offer, both conceptually and also on a sensual level.

LEO: It allows for a significant degree of improvisation. My solo performances, while following certain structures, rely a lot on improvisation – a sort of high-risk comfort zone. Matching this with dance is an intuitive process. Of course, matching sounds precisely with movements can be done the risk of Mickey Mouse'ing, but the results are often aesthetically pleasing – I always thought of my role in this as an accompanist, but instead of a piano and a choir, we have a modular synth and a dancer.

Leo Novus (left), Oskar Moore (right)

-What was the biggest technical challenge when working on this project?

LEO: I mostly play live techno – straight and syncopated rhythms anywhere between 110 and 140 BPM with layers of ambient field-recorded samples, tribal horns and the like. My comfort zone is in meditative, gradually changing shades that this style allows for. Other contemporary dance collaboration pieces I have worked on have up until now been with either very slow or no rhythmic patterns with emphasis on texture and ambience – perhaps with some melodic sequencing here and there. Loop & Engine is an exploration into live breakbeats – higher speed, more dynamic changes, less room for error and for me, a completely new workflow.

OSKAR: In terms of movement, I'd say the main challenge was in retaining my humanity in building this huge mechanism of the routine and how to maintain it, both during and outside of rehearsals. Practicing and trying out various aspects of the movements is something that I did both in and outside of the rehearsal space, which required a high level of immersion – a challenge both physically and mentally. Maintaining awareness of even the smallest movements during my daily life in this period was necessary to create the material for this piece. I'm really happy with the result and it's also nice to discover that both of us actually quite enjoy playing around with this new sound space we've created together.

-Why do you feel this piece is relevant at this moment? What makes it meaningful in today’s context?

OSKAR: This evaluates routine as a concept and reflects the lack of control that we often experience in our routines. We're currently in a world that is oversaturated with various stimuli - whether you're at home or outside on the street, there's constant stimuli that require significant amounts of time and energy, and I feel that each generation now, once they enter adulthood after finishing studies, have increasingly more choices to make, as there are increasingly more things that can consume our attention. We are spoiled for choice but limited by time. This piece conducts a study on how to build routines that still hold space for the flow of life. I'd say that Loop & Engine, in a way, is an attempt to make sense of the world as it is today and instead of confrontation, it seeks flow and buoyancy amidst shifting tides.

LEO: Our attempt is also to do this with a bit of humour – this hour-long performance entails the perpetual insanity of sliced breakbeat loops and samples being mangled live while running at 160 BPM – the feeling this gives is a sort of breakneck acceleration, as is characteristic of the genre. Unlike most computer-programmed DnB, however, it is completely live and quite raw. The piece isn’t political and it seeks to convey a feeling – the sound matches the flow of the movement, the feeling of perpetual routine, a sort of grappling with this state and an exploration of what it means to be light on one’s feet. There are no seats in the hall either – the audience is encouraged to occupy the space around us as they please and perhaps, to move along in ways they find comfortable. In a way, the performance might also work as an initiation into dance music for those reluctant or unfamiliar with the individual freedom of moving to a rhythm. The loop and engine are a sort of singularity, much like a dancer and the dance. As the legendary Latvian choreographer Vija Vētra put it – how can you tell the dancer from the dace? The dance is the dancer, the dancer is the dance.

Peforming an adaptation of Oskar Moore’s bachelor’s piece “CERTAINTY” called “Evaluation”. The piece was performed in collaboration with Latvian scenographer Adriāns Toms Kulpe (left) as part of “Kefīrstudio” group exhibition in March 2024 at KKC bar in Riga, Latvia.