Choreographing Sound: Co-creating Music and Movement through Touch with the Magical Musical Mat

Rebecca S Abraham, and Albert Zhang

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

This paper presents insights and findings from an experimental dance workshop conducted with the Magical Musical Mat (MMM), an interactive instrument that amplifies physical touch with sound. The workshop, held as part of the exploratory phase for a larger performance project, aimed to explore the creative possibilities of the MMM in the context of dance performance. The workshop brought together two dancers versed in contact improvisation to collaboratively experiment with the MMM as both a musical instrument and a choreographic tool. The workshop highlighted the MMM's potential to facilitate expressive interactions between dancers, revealing possibilities for collaborative creativity in interdisciplinary contexts.

Citation:

Rebecca S Abraham, and Albert Zhang. 2024. Choreographing Sound: Co-creating Music and Movement through Touch with the Magical Musical Mat. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13904980

BibTeX Entry:

  @article{nime2024_94,
 abstract = {This paper presents insights and findings from an experimental dance workshop conducted with the Magical Musical Mat (MMM), an interactive instrument that amplifies physical touch with sound. The workshop, held as part of the exploratory phase for a larger performance project, aimed to explore the creative possibilities of the MMM in the context of dance performance. The workshop brought together two dancers versed in contact improvisation to collaboratively experiment with the MMM as both a musical instrument and a choreographic tool. The workshop highlighted the MMM's potential to facilitate expressive interactions between dancers, revealing possibilities for collaborative creativity in interdisciplinary contexts.},
 address = {Utrecht, Netherlands},
 articleno = {94},
 author = {Rebecca S Abraham and Albert Zhang},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.13904980},
 editor = {S M Astrid Bin and Courtney N. Reed},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {September},
 numpages = {4},
 pages = {635--638},
 presentation-video = {},
 title = {Choreographing Sound: Co-creating Music and Movement through Touch with the Magical Musical Mat},
 track = {Papers},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2024/nime2024_94.pdf},
 year = {2024}
}