Resonance as a Body

Application summary

Resonance as a Body is an interdisciplinary performance and sound project centered on the hammered dulcimer—an instrument tied to my own history and to the working-class immigrant roots of the American Midwest. While in residence, I will explore the dulcimer as both a sonic object and a metaphor for non-binary embodiment: its strings vibrate long after being struck, unable to be dampened—an excess that mirrors the blurring of fixed categories. My work will involve improvising on the dulcimer, capturing and manipulating those recordings with my laptop, and experimenting with resonating transducers to turn the dulcimer and nearby objects into larger vibrating bodies. I will also take field recordings and use a geophone to “listen” to the landscape, creating a dialogue between sound, place, and identity. This project is not about traditional composition or performance, but about slowness, listening, and transformation. In the quiet of the Saari Residence, I aim to develop new scores, recordings, and performance gestures—material that bridges music, experimental theater, and embodied research. Ultimately, I hope to create a new kind of performance: one that resonates physically and metaphorically, across bodies, histories, and land.