about the sounds of nature or animals—rather a
joy in the sounds well captured and a wonderful
musical score to work with.
All sound and vibration has a frequency in itself that has meaning. Tapping into those meanings and their concomitant vibratory effects
was part of the building process in making the
ballet. The allegiance with the sounds was the
same as working with nature.
JF: Bernie has made the argument that conventional recordings of nature have been reductionist, in other words, isolated recordings
of animals. He has stated that sound in nature
is more like an orchestra. How did you convey
that idea in Biophony?
AK: Your aim is not to ‘imitate’ the look of
nature or mimic its appearance, but to locate its
essence and manner of operation. To mimic it
would be the failed portrait where the features
are similar but the essence and true look of the
subject is not captured. The result is one-toned
sentimentality.
JF: As someone trained in the sciences, I initially found it difficult to draw the lines that
connect the performing arts and science. How
would you address that issue, or do you have
any advice for someone coming from the sciences who wants to approach the performing
arts?
AK: Ballet (western classical dance) is a science of movement based on the same laws from
AK: Everything that exits is governed by laws.
nature that informed Copernicus and Ptolemy
Too often people think that art is the realm of
before him. The tutu is a symbol of the radius
whim and self-expression. While in actuality, art that circles the nucleus of the five-pointed star
makers are fanatically obsessed with accuracy in of the physical body, with its head, two arms,
form, idea, statement, and feeling. ‘Self expresand legs. There is a science to producing dancsion’ is too close to what art historian Ananda
ers.
Coomaraswamy calls ‘emotional excretions’.
Artists are involved with the communication
India is the only continent where religion
of ideas and making those