Muon S (Anna Gaïotti et Jean Bender)

Amplified tap shoes and a modular synthesizer: Anna Gaïotti and Jean Bender engage in a physical, noise-driven musical dialogue through their instruments and their bodies, blurring the line between what is seen and what is heard.

This experimental work—both complementary and frictional, created in situ—seeks to question the presence and physicality of the body in sound, and the gesture that transforms and mutates with and within the sound of the electronic instrument. Rejecting the juxtaposition of differences, sound and the moving body do not simply coexist in a theatrical form. Dance is not subservient to the music, nor does it illustrate it—and vice versa. The quality they pursue is that of a fusion of sonic gestures into a single, unified physical intensity.

Anna performs wearing tap shoes amplified by dynamic microphones; the signals and sounds produced by her dance are integrated and processed through a modular synthesizer, to be replayed—or disrupted—by Jean. She generates her dance by listening to her instrument and the floor; she strikes, hits, scratches, rubs, slides, and uses every surface of the metal taps and leather of the shoe. She plays rhythms and noises that she amplifies and diminishes, expressing the solid and hollow densities of the ground that both attracts and repels her. Her surging accelerations—taken beyond measure—create the sensation of a floor that at times gives way and at others exerts force.

From her sonic movement, Jean creates and manipulates, through various electronic modules, fragmented or ambient soundscapes, integrating or disintegrating dynamics. He brings out variable textures—rhythmic and arrhythmic—ranging from concrete sounds to their explosive expansion into noise.

Their shared movement emerges from the confrontation between bodily energy and sonic energy, continually increasing in velocity, hypnotic force, and saturation, giving the sensation of a space-time that can warp. The experience is immersive, intimate, and abrasive.

Noise is experienced both within the space of their relationship and within the spaces where they perform, ranging from experimental music stages to atypical sites (convents, quarries, underground spaces, kiosks, wastelands, construction sites). These environments open new perspectives while also introducing risk for both music and dance.

Their ability to be, among other things, “all-terrain” gives rise to sudden, autonomous (battery-powered) performances underground and within the murmurs of urban spaces—an impulse where taming acoustics and surfaces remains central to making music.