circle dash: an animated musical adventure game

previews

Danny Clay explains Circle Dash. (This video is from the premiere of Level One of Circle Dash for Noe Music in October 2020).

From Level One of Circle Dash

Danny Clay

Danny Clay is a composer and teaching artist whose work is deeply rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and the sheer joy of making things with people of all ages and levels of artistic experience.

Working closely with artists, students, and community members alike, he builds worlds of inquiry, play, and perpetual discovery that integrate elements of sound, movement, theater, and visual design. Children's games, speculative systems, cognitive puzzles, invented notation, found objects, imaginary archives, repurposed media, micro-improvisations, and happy accidents all make frequent appearances in his projects.

Recent collaborators include Kronos Quartet, Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, Volti, the San Francisco Girls Chorus, Wu Man, Sarah Cahill, Phyllis Chen, and printmaker Jon Fischer. His work has been performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (SFCMP), Ensemble Dal Niente, and has been presented by the deYoung Museum, San Francisco Performances, the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts at the Minnesota Street Project, the Grey Area Foundation for the Arts, the Meaney Center for the Arts in Seattle, and university programs throughout the United States. Learn more about Danny at www.dclaymusic.com.

The music

Danny Clay Circle Dash

Note on Opportunity for Public Premiere

Danny Clay’s Circle Dash has been premiered in part, but is currently available to be booked for a full world premiere.

about

Duration: 45 minutes

An interactive, family-friendly performance for all ages, this program combines musical performance with visual art in a game-like format that allows viewers to join in on the music making.

Using graphic notation, a unique way of writing sounds in the form of artistic images, Circle Dash consists of a series of animated “video scores” conceived by composer and educator Danny Clay that lead participants on a journey through a variety of musical landscapes.

Audience members are invited to perform along with Delphi Trio from home using objects around their home - no musical experience necessary! Along the way, audience members will learn about the basic building blocks of musical composition and explore the process of interpreting and performing music in a hands-on, interactive way.

Circle Dash is a Delphi commission and an ongoing project.

Formats

• Live

  • live performance with projected video

• Virtual

  • pre-recorded performance with optional live element