Volcanic Dance Beats

DANTE, the provider of high speed research and education networks in partnership with CityDance Ensemble, a Washington-based modern dance company joined forces to create a dance concert in order to raise awareness of climate change.The dance titled The Mountain, choreographed by Jason Garcia Ignacio, is based on the structure of melodies created out of seismic waves recorded from four volcanoes across three continents: Mount Etna in Italy, Mount Tungurahua in Ecuador, and the Mountains Pinatubo and Mayon in the Philippines. The waves were transformed into audible sound waves using a volcano sonification technique developed by DANTE engineer Domenico Vicinanza, who also composed the music used in the dance performance. The technique is currently being used in research to translate the patterns in a volcano's behaviour into sound waves to help predict volcanic eruptions.

Taking these seismic waves and applying them to the arts was a natural step for Vicinanza to help raise awareness of climate change. This project is a testament to how technology can bring a multitude of disciplines together to facilitate creative collaboration.