CADENZA

I worked on CADENZA, a performance installation choreographed and directed by Dani Kyengo O’Neill. The project draws on the musical idea of a cadenza as an improvised, unrhythmic passage, using the violin as a central tool to explore feminised noise, fragmentation, and the notion of the “bounded” body through film, composition, and sonic performance.

My role focused on sound design and audio production for the video score. I developed a layered sonic work that blends recorded violin, Foley, and sound effects, which I then deconstructed through granular processing, pitch manipulation, and randomised sample triggering. This process introduced instability and rupture into the score, allowing sound to drift between structure and collapse.

The resulting soundscape supported the installation’s immersive environment, shaping how audiences moved through and experienced the space. Across Act 1: The Grief Dance and Act 2: The Red Dance, the sound articulated tensions between time, tempo, and temporality, engaging themes of grief, groove, eros, dissonance, and descent. Rather than functioning as accompaniment, the audio operated as an active force within the work, amplifying the emotional and physical intensity of the performance while remaining open, fractured, and responsive.