UNCHARTED TERRITORY
MUSIC IN 6 MOVEMENTS FOR Dancers in Isolation
COMPOSED BY DANIEL TOBIAS
Commissioned by Eryc Taylor Dance Company
“Uncharted Territory: Music in 6 Movements for Dancers in Isolation” chronicles the private pandemic experiences of six dancers from Eryc Taylor Dance, an NYC based modern dance company.
Celebrating 10 years of collaboration, Eryc Taylor interviews Daniel Tobias about their latest work: "Uncharted Territory: Music in 6 Movements for Dancers in Isolation."
NOTE FROM THE COMPOSER:
“When the world is in crisis, artists must get to work. Our job is to drill through oppression and barriers. While so many artists fled New York City due to the Global Pandemic for lack of projects, funding, venues, and audiences, Eryc Taylor realized how very important it was to keep the creative fires burning for those who chose to remain. He commissioned me to create a landscape of music that could tell artists’ intimate stories in a vast emotional landscape. My husband was one of the first to get infected by the virus back in March of 2020, which was the scariest, most excruciating three weeks of our lives - so I was already emotionally primed for this subject. Fueled by the intensity of a subject immersed in the crescendoing crisis, the music wrapped its notes around one deeply moving oxymoron: "globally intimate." I was energized by the layering of digital instrumentation over symphonic orchestration. This was the right approach, not only to protect the safety of musicians from Covid 19, but to reflect the true state of art in New York City which has always straddled the comfort of the familiar and the thrill of exploring new territory.” - Daniel Tobias
MOVEMENT 1: “Contagion Variations”
Eryc: A New York City dancer reacts to watching the novel corona virus spread sickness and death across the globe, into his neighborhood, and through the door of his own apartment.
Section A: The Spread (Digital)
Section B: Panic (Moderato for Orchestra)
Section C: Grief (Adagio for Clarinet, French Horn, Strings)
Section D: Vigilance (Digital)
MOVEMENT 2: “Dark City”
Alex: A single dancer alone in a vast, cold city heroically pushes through her depression to try and survive the Global Pandemic.
MOVEMENT 3: “Path”
Chris: “Path” is the dangerous line a dancer traverses as he wrestles with the ego-feeding excitement and ecstasy of intimate encounters with strangers vs. mandated and necessary social distancing.
MOVEMENT 4: “Distancia”
Taylor: A dancer comes to feel how profoundly dear her distant loved ones are to her only after she is forced out of the torrent of NYC and into stillness by an extended pandemic quarantine.
MOVEMENT 5: “Bahay ni Lola (Grandmother’s House)”
AJ: Forced to ride out the pandemic in the house of his deceased Filipino grandparents, a dancer comes to terms with his estrangement from his family. In the courtyard with wild abandon he summons the ghosts of all the life that once filled this house. “Bahay ni Lola” is a tribute to Harana, a traditional Pinoy style of serenade.
MOVEMENT 6: “Nurse’s Rhapsody for Piano and Strings”
Nicole: As Covid 19 patients overwhelm hospitals, a severely buttoned-down nurse resurrects her neglected passion for dancing in the secrecy of her basement in order to release the emotions compacted inside from the day’s sickness and death.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - COPYRIGHT 2020 © DANIEL TOBIAS
Raised in Berkeley, CA, Daniel graduated from The University of California, Berkeley, and studied under the kind and encouraging eyes of the late Professor Stanley Wolfe at The Juilliard School of Music from 1997-2000. Daniel lives just two blocks west of Times Square, New York City, with his husband of twenty years. He was a Lamda Award Finalist for his debut novel “The Next” under the pen name Rafe Haze, and is celebrating 10 years of collaboration with Eryc Taylor Dance. Daniel and his twin brother Peter are a peculiar blend of Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, and Anglo descent - but at heart will always be the Wild Berkeley Boys of Tilden Park.