This title is a translation of a phrase that appears in Ferdinand Leger’s 1924 silent film, Ballet Mechanique,
a DADA montage of machine motion, geometric shapes and sensuous images.
George Antheil’s score for three xylophones, four bass drums, and a
tam-tam (gong), two "live" pianists, seven or so electric bells, a
siren, three airplane propellers, and 16 synchronized player pianos was
never realized as originally scored during the composer’s lifetime. In
2001, seventy–seven years after its premiere, the film and music were
performed together for the first time. The choreography also quotes the
stylized movements of laborers sacrificed to the dystopic industrialized
incarnation of Moloch in Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction masterpiece,
Metropolis.
“…the music that was selected (Ballet Mechanique by George Antheil) was very interesting and exciting … the movement in that piece really complimented the music without illustrating it… a juxtaposition of hard and soft qualities inside of a music that was really driving, really grating on your ears at points.
– Caine Keenan, Ririe-Woodbury Dance
– Caine Keenan, Ririe-Woodbury Dance
