Wayne Siegel: Shiva’s Dance (2023), for big band, Indian flute and motion-tracking system
Blood, Sweat, Drum + Bass Big Band, Shashank Subramanyam, Indian flutes, Wayne Siegel, motion-tracking system
Shiva’s Dance was originally composed as a concerto for motion-tracking system and sinfonietta commissioned by the Athelas Sinfonietta with support from the Danish Arts Foundation and premiered in 2020. In 2023 a new version was commissioned by the Blood Sweat Drum + Bass big band. This version is a double concerto for motion-tracking system, Indian flutes and big band. It was premiered at the Aarhus Jazz Festival in July 2023. In 2024 a studio recording was produced and released by Jaeger Community Music on January 24, 2025.
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The title refers to the cosmic dance of the Hindu god Shiva, which can be seen as an allegory of the cycles of creation and destruction, birth and death. In Shiva’s Dance, the composition and score for the ensemble is entirely fixed (with the exception of a short, improvised trombone solo). But the part for Indian flute and the part for motion-tracking system are improvised within a tightly structured framework.
The Indian flute was played by the accomplished flute player Shashank Subramanyam. The motion-tracking system is a musical interface of my own invention. The electronic sounds are controlled by my hands moving in front of my laptop, allowing me to freely interact with the ensemble. The image from my laptop webcam is divided into a matrix of twelve rectangles. The amount of movement within each rectangle is calculated in software. I can control twelve sounds individually and dynamically: the more I move in each rectangle the more sound is heard. If I do not move, there is no sound.
The form of the piece is cyclical, fluctuating between meditative sections, where the soloist and ensemble form a single entity, and contrasting, agitated sections with exchanges between the ensemble and the soloist.