Percussion and Polyrhythms With Susie Ibarra

December 5th, 2017

Dancer Yanan Yu peforms during Susie Ibarra's Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Performers Yanan Yu and Souleymane Badolo dance during Susie Ibarra's performance of Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Souleymane Badolo dances during Susie Ibarra's performance of Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

A performer uses interpretive dance to explore sound during Susie Ibarra's performance of Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Performers dances while Susie Ibarra plays her percussion performance piece Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms on stage at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Susie Ibarra takes the spotlight during her performance of Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

Asia Society's Rachel Cooper, director of global performing arts and special cultural initiatives at Asia Society, leads a conversation with Susie Ibarra following her performance of Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York on December 2, 2017. (Ellen Wallop/Asia Society)

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Last week, composer/drummer Susie Ibarra presented a work-in-progress showing of Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms, a new work she is creating. Fragility is commissioned by Asia Society and developed in partnership with Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.

Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms explores the dimensions of rhythm through music, dance, physics, and technology. The evening started with a duet by Souleymane Badolo and Yanan Yu who danced within an eight-channel surround sound installation. In the next section, Souleymane Badolo introduced the custom built motion capture software in a dance that triggered the musical score, followed by a duet with Ibarra on a live trap set. The final section involved the audience and was led by choreographer Susan Sgorbati, in a structured group improvisation to “play” the motion capture technology. The artists joined a Q & A following the presentation, joined by the technology team sound engineer and sound design by Justin Frye, interactive programming by Tommy Martinez and Greg Fox, and scientist Bernard Grossman.

Fragility: An Exploration of Polyrhythms will have its world premiere in June 2018 by Asia Society’s Creative Common Ground, an initiative supported by a three-year grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.