Alison O’Daniel, Centennial Marching Band Forwards, Backwards, Pause, Silent

Alison O’Daniel: Centennial Marching Band Forwards, Backwards, Pause, Silent from ALAC on Vimeo.

In conjunction with Art Los Angeles Contemporary, JOAN will present Alison O’Daniel’s Centennial Marching Band Forwards, Backwards, Pause, Silent, a collaborative performance piece with the Compton-based Centennial High School Marching Band. O’Daniel and the band will perform a song that will be constructed and deconstructed in real-time based on marching formations, speed, and the space constraints of ALAC.

This performance is part of O’Daniel’s on-going project The Tuba Thieves, a response to a rash of tuba thefts that have occurred in high schools across greater Los Angeles. Over the past few years, she has documented the work of several marching bands including their performances and practice sessions. These videos attempt to re-staging the thefts and collaboratively craft an expanded narrative based on stories, anecdotes, and evidence from the different high schools. O’Daniel’s works in film, sculpture, and performance, as well as creating abstracted sensorial experiences, such as peeling apart cinema and harmonic structures to provide a more nuanced reception of the auditory experience.

 

Header photo: Still from The Tuba Thieves, HD video, directed by Alison O’Daniel, cinematography by Meena Singh.