The AirDancer

This short film explores the creative development process around the AirDancer Project which bought together Dr Melinda Smith, a dancer with disability, with Dr Alon Ilsar, a composer and instrument designer. Together they adapted a gestural controller designed by Ilsar to support Smith's music making needs to create the AirSticks 2.0. This instrument can be worn in performance and translates movement into sound. In this film, Smith, Ilsar and their creative team reflect on the ways that the AirSticks 2.0 allow Smith, who has never had access to a musical instrument she can use before, to create her own soundscape in real-time during performance. The team also reflects on the ways in which Smith's experience and knowledge as a dancer with disability subverted expectations of the ways in which the AirSticks 2.0 can be used. Smith, who regularly uses electronic communication devices to speak, quickly developed her own AirSticks technique, using them to not only create music, but to recreate the spoken word and create bespoke poetry performances.