Two Paths (2014)
for two percussionists

Two Paths for two percussionists from Caroline Louise Miller on Vimeo. Shot by filmmaker Lyndsay Bloom and oceanographer Caitlin Whalen.

Premiered by Christopher Clarino and Fiona Digney, January 2015 at Conrad Prebys Music Center, UC San Diego.

Two Paths for two percussionists consists of two parts: Inside, which occurs behind the two tables at the back of the stage (see photograph); and Outside, where the percussionists crawl, blindfolded, through an environment of materials on the floor, navigating the paths of instruments and textures through touch and improvising through sonic cues and echolocation. Inside deals with Solidarity, as the two performers gradually begin to communicate, forming a language by playing on each other's sticks. Their metaphorical solidarity enables them to "break out" of this first environment by knocking the tin cans all over the floor in a coordinated way. Outside deals with non-metaphorical vulnerability. This section is, ideally, completely unrehearsed (only studied), so that the performers have an authentic experience of vulnerability as they move around the stage blindfolded. They go on separate paths, listening across the space for each other; eventually their paths converge at a large gong, on which they find each other's hands in literal solidarity.