Photos by RJ Muna
RAWdance's 10th anniversary summer performances at Z Space on July 25-27 will feature two world premieres by company founders/co-directors Wendy Rein and Ryan T. Smithof: Turing’s Apple, set to a commissioned score by Voices of Light composer Richard Einhorn, and Burn In, inspired by Rorschach imagery and the world of film noir. The program also includes works by guest artists Gretchen Garnett & Dancers and Tanya Bello's Project B.
Turing’s Apple is a work inspired by the dramatic life and groundbreaking intellectual contributions of British mathematician Alan Turing. As "Britain’s greatest code breaker" during World War II, Turing’s role in the field of cryptography is a point of shared interest for Smith and Rein as well as composer Einhorn. The work is an exploration of complex patterns, both acoustic and kinesthetic, as well as the tragic story of a man who dared to tell the truth about his homosexuality at a time when same-sex acts were criminal. Convicted on charges of indecency, and barred from his cryptographic consultancy with British Intelligence, Turing is believed to have committed suicide by eating a poisoned apple.
Einhorn has written opera, orchestral and chamber music, song cycles, film music, and dance scores. His best known work is his score for Carl Dreyer's film The Passion of Joan of Arc. Among his many projects is the acclaimed Red Angels, written for New York City Ballet, with choreography by Ulysses Dove. Einhorn says of the RAWdance project:
I’ve found that algorithms, left to their own devices, often yield boring music, so in composing the music for Turing's Apple I’ve aimed to give the impression of rigorous patterning that one gets from algorithms — with the emphasis on impression. Turing’s many achievements — not least of all his thought experiment which laid the foundation for the modern computer — have been an inspiration to me in working on this piece.
Asked about working with the composer, Rein says:
Richard came to the project earlier than any other composer we've worked with before. He was the one who turned us on to Turing. Turing's Apple has offered the most truly collaborative relationship we’ve had with any composer — even as it’s been our first cross-country collaboration.
Smith adds:
Richard creates music which is made for movement. His music, one might say, is inherently kinesthetic. As the title of our premiere with Richard would suggest, apples figure prominently, and over the course of our rehearsal period we’ve left a stash of half-eaten apples at every studio we've hit. By the time we’re done with them, no one would want to eat them. We've also learned a few trade secrets along the way. Number one: Avoid Granny Smiths as a prop because they're just too slippery. Number two: It's impossible to feel sexy with an apple in your mouth. Sometimes you’ve got to fake it.