the commons choir
I music direct, compose and perform with The Commons Choir: a core and variable cast of roughly 30 singers, actors, dancers, poets, musicians, composers and people, is the performative aspect of the Prosodic Body, a new field of research founded by Daria Fain and Robert Kocik, that explores language as sound, embodiment and utmost expression. Tone, intention, rhythm, gesture, the tacit, hesitation, interaction evocation and even cosmogenesis are all acts of prosody. The Prosodic Body is a practice that manifests in various areas: principally performance, architecture, health, education and socioeconomic justice.
mayday heyday parfait
A new investigative musical by The Commons Choir
“Isn’t it imperative/ to cross the sea/ to cross the street/ this time around/ to go straight to the wound/ and do not touch” (from the libretto)
The Commons Choir’s newest work, mayday heyday parfait, sets humanity’s troubles and highest aspirations to song, dance, and poetry, exploring the human capacity for empathy across difference. A diverse cast of 30 weaves a multi-layered narrative of complex musical harmonies and highly personal movement – from the violence of history that brought us to where we are now, to a way forward where individuals follow their own paths and yet still feel their connection to others. Like the title whimsically references: MAYDAY (distress signal, call for help) HEYDAY (period of great success) PARFAIT (French: perfect; layered concoction), our stories and our histories are irreducible and interdependent. Our collective force may be strong if we can find a way to undiscover ourselves and meet again.
The multi-year process culminated in a premiere performance and exhibition at BRIC Arts Media in Brooklyn, NY on November 9, 2017. The work is at the intersection of movement, voice, political economy and theater.
A new investigative musical by The Commons Choir
“Isn’t it imperative/ to cross the sea/ to cross the street/ this time around/ to go straight to the wound/ and do not touch” (from the libretto)
The Commons Choir’s newest work, mayday heyday parfait, sets humanity’s troubles and highest aspirations to song, dance, and poetry, exploring the human capacity for empathy across difference. A diverse cast of 30 weaves a multi-layered narrative of complex musical harmonies and highly personal movement – from the violence of history that brought us to where we are now, to a way forward where individuals follow their own paths and yet still feel their connection to others. Like the title whimsically references: MAYDAY (distress signal, call for help) HEYDAY (period of great success) PARFAIT (French: perfect; layered concoction), our stories and our histories are irreducible and interdependent. Our collective force may be strong if we can find a way to undiscover ourselves and meet again.
The multi-year process culminated in a premiere performance and exhibition at BRIC Arts Media in Brooklyn, NY on November 9, 2017. The work is at the intersection of movement, voice, political economy and theater.
We are at once deeply committed to the cultural cruciality of poets and performers. We call this social aspect of our work 'commoning'. One branch of our commoning work is our COMMONS CHOIR, started in 2008. The choir draws upon the breadth of our prosody research to create performances that carry socially-charged issues. Typically, surrounding our choir events, we organize symposiums, talks and teach-ins covering matters such as economic justice, income distribution, biochemistry as endogenous alchemy, universal entitlement, usury laws, plebiscite, artificial scarcity, gratitude, levity, accumulation, the history of privatization and choreoprosodia (the full fusion of poetry and movement).
The Commons Choir has created a versatile repertoire amounting to 4 hours of material that includes:
The Commons Choir has created a versatile repertoire amounting to 4 hours of material that includes:
- Pure movement/vocal sequences related to energy centers and neuro-hormonal secretions and various biological functions
- Poetic speeches and dialogues that address current social, political and economic crises
- Songs
- The Commons Choir can perform from 10 minutes to 4 hours.
- The Commons Choir can perform with 2 to 30 performers.
- The Commons Choir can perform anywhere from the street to small theater, to hospitals, hospices or large theaters.
- The Commons Choir creates work internationally with local chorus performers and asks questions relevant to their environment.
- The Commons Choir gives workshops and lecture/demonstrations.
- For more information about funding and institutional support go to Daria Faïn's website.