Zugzwang

Purposeless exercises in the repetition room for a dancer and computer.

They were the three great refuseniks of the 20th century. And they were the three artists who contributed decisively to the 20^th-century aesthetic. Samuel Beckett, dramatist, John Cage, composer, and Marcel Duchamp artist. What three had in common was an interest in the game of chess, a passion reflected variously in their works. In his legendary book on chess, Duchamp revealed what was perhaphs the most intriguing aspect of the game for them: the symmetrical patterns of movement made by the two kings in the end game.

The dancer is White, the music computer is Black.

She is human, he is machine. Constant movement and yet a standoff. Both are seemingly moving within their own spheres, somewhere between Beckett-like disembodiment and Cage`s strict regulating templates. And yet both still perceive the other, waiting to pounce on the slightest infringement of the rules.