Dance With Me | Soulé Déesse | Interdisciplinary artist

Dance with me (2013, 02:07 min) is an experimental video that pays homage to the silent film era, a time when emotions and narratives were conveyed through music, gestures, and visual storytelling. The absence of spoken dialogue intensifies the focus on the musical composition, which plays a crucial role in expressing the characters' emotions and guiding the viewer’s interpretation of the narrative. The video layers a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer with remixed footage of the iconic performer Joséphine Baker, alongside my own performance, creating a dialogue between past and present, reality and fiction.

The soundscape of Dance with me is inspired by lexigrams—symbols that represent words and emotions. This concept drives the piece’s exploration of how music can transcend its auditory form to embody language and emotion. To achieve this, I created an artificial language composed of unique sounds primarily derived from a vintage xylophone and a grand piano. Employing John Cage’s prepared piano techniques, I manipulated these instruments by inserting objects between the strings and attaching items to the xylophone keys. These modified sounds were then mapped to symbols based on the Latin alphabet, forming constructed sentences that align with the video’s emotional and narrative arc.

Reminiscent of silent films, the music in Dance with me does more than merely accompany the visuals; it is integral to the storytelling. Separate text frames appear throughout the video, providing context and guiding the viewer through the story, while the music complements the on-screen action. This synthesis of sound and image creates a rich, multi-sensory experience that invites viewers to engage with the piece on a deeper level, challenging them to consider the ways in which sound, performance, and visual art can interact in the absence of spoken words.

Material: painting and scratching on 8mm film, continuous loop; black, white, color, and experimental sounds transferred to HD video on a LED monitor in a wooden box.