Actually, I have exactly the same problem: and I'm a musician. There's
something about the performance of most music on stage which I find
frustrating. Perhaps I want there to either be a more ambitious
performance/visual aspect, or there to be none at all so that I can
mentally provide my own.
> Perhaps musicians feel the same about pure dance? Perhaps
> not.
By "pure dance" do you mean dance without music?
I've seen a few pieces like this, and I have no problem with them,
assuming that the choreography is strong enough to work without the
music to provide imagery or context. In fact, in some ways, score-less
dance is quite refreshing, in the same way that I find visual modern
art in a peaceful gallery to be refreshing, and more inspirational to
be as a composer than listening to music. One needs the mental space
in order to create.
> I
> don't see why you can't have a performance without music... but I
> don't see how you'd get away from rhythm!
I don't see why not. Dance generally has an underlying pulse as a
structure, but I don't think pulse and rhythm are the same thing, and
I don't even see that a pulse has to be regular. (But then, I'm not a
choreographer...)
--
Nick Rothwell, CASSIEL contemporary dance projects
http://www.cassiel.com music synthesis and control
years, passing by, VCO, VCF, and again, and again