movement: Alesya Dobysh, Simon Bus, Lea Ved, Ser Sebico
sound: Max Frimout, Liza Kuzyakova
light installation: Erik van de Wijdeven
set design: Ines Borovac
location: NP3 RE:Search:Gallery (Moving Futures festival)
date: November 12-14, 2024
made possible by: PLAN Brabant, DansBrabant, NP3, Moving Futures, Grand Theatre.
Motus Sonus: NP3
Motus Sonus is an interdisciplinary experimental project curated by Netherlands-based artists: dancer and choreographer Alesya Dobysh and music composer Max Frimout. Their research explores the interplay between movement, sound, and space. The work adapts its form based on the architectural and acoustic qualities of the performance location and the artists involved.
Alesya and Max collaborate with local and international multidisciplinary artists from diverse backgrounds—including performance art, sound art, and street and club dancing—to explore the intricate relationship between sonic and somatic experiences and its influence on the artistic research.
Motus Sonus transformed NP3 gallery with a two-day performance/installation. This event was part of the Moving Future festival and was presented in collaboration with NP3RE:Search:Gallery in Groningen.
Max Frimout (1999, Nuenen) is a musician from the Netherlands with a background in engineering physics. His methods for music production include the use of analog modular synthesis, field recording, composing with algorithms, digital processing of acoustical instruments and more. Max performs live textural works, techno sets using an all-modular setup, and blends experimental soundscapes with other artistic disciplines like dance and visual arts.
“As I write this, I’m in a void. A sealed, virtual space that I often inhabit. This space has become my escape from the daily acoustic reality. Here, I find rest. This rest I inhabit by inviting silence in every sounding scene. It's a deafening silence, so loud that only the lowest frequencies pass through from the outside. The noise canceling headphone. This anechoic space has become like the white walls of a gallery to me; it has become my acoustical ground zero. I used to protest against listening to music everywhere I went. I felt like I would miss out on what Böhme refers to as the "great concert of the world" by doing so. However, 20 mixing acoustic realities no longer feels like escapism to me. Instead of blocking out the sound around me, I now invite another space with an atmosphere that resonates with me more.”
Lea Ved (1991, Anaheim) is an independent choreographer and performer based in the Netherlands. Her choreographic work developed alongside a rich dance career — in reflection, deviation, and inquiry. Her creations are seeped between the detail of form and a cultivated improvisational practice.
“Working through and directing thoughts and ideas into embodied expression is my joy, where I lose myself in the pursuit. Dancing for me is like tapping into cause and ritual both rooted in ancient belonging and the present expression of the immediate now. A physical language has revealed itself through the years from this compass, and also through a layered background, a developing self-practice rooted in improvisation, and having had the opportunity to work and learn with many choreographers and movers of various backgrounds. This has allowed me to distill and confide in my value system in creation, in movement, and in dancing.”
Liza Kuzyakova (2000, Moscow) is a composer and artist, based in the Netherlands. Her sound practice weaves together electroacoustic composition, spatial sound, and experimental live performance, exploring perceptual tensions in listening practices: the relationship between materiality of physical objects, acoustic spaces, and the imaginative dimensions of sound. With influences from experimental theatre and a background in visual arts, Liza examines dynamic sonic environments, blending acoustical instrumentation with synthesised sound. Her musical output links dramatic spatial unfolding, rich in gestural and textural plasticity, with the fragile and subtler sounds.
“Throughout the past many years, I have found myself persistently drawn to all kinds of art forms, the more transitional, alienating, and surreal, the stronger my fascination manifested itself. My background in contemporary arts, where it all began, shaped the way I think of sound and compose, the inclination towards visual thought pertaining until today. Having discovered the world of sound, what drove my curiosity further was the vastness of approaches that sound entails and at the same time the fleetingness and ephemerality of its experience. That there is always more to it than we can outline, that it escapes defining, always touching on the elusive, the poetics.”
Simon Bus (1989, Hoensbroek) was already heavily impressed by the power moves of Kujo the Crazy Water Buffalo when he was 12 years old. He was a member of the Limburg breakdance crew Trashcan Heroes and was part of the (inter)national battle scene. The starting point for Simon's work is a fascination with the discomfort of everyday existence. The game between having control and yet losing it again is a recurring theme. His work is sharp, brutal and humorous. Simon turns dance forms inside out and upside down. Besides breakdance as the ultimate source of inspiration, Simon finds points of reference in Butoh and in the work of Albert Camus, Egon Schiele, Francis Bacon or David Lynch, for instance.
“At the age of 17 while performing I fell on the back of my head, knocking myself out resulting in an epileptic fit on the floor. I ended up with a heavy concussion, light and sound were unbearable for about two weeks. It was not much fun but it did ignite my growing fascination with more twisted, twitchy and uncontrollable movements which was in contrast with the control I was trying to achieve with my breakdance practice.”
Alesya Dobysh (1989, Kostroma) comes from the street and club scene, where she cultivated a passion for house dance - a club style that emphases the interplay of intricate footwork and fluid movement. One of her signature approaches involves deconstructing footwork-oriented techniques into an abstract language, which she then uses as a foundation for her choreographic works. Alesya is dedicated to experimenting with the fusion of subcultural elements and unconventional forms of expression, blending them with performance art, theatre, visual art, and sound art. By abstracting elements from their cultural background, she seeks to find the essence of movement, which she believes lies in the innate predisposition of physical body to the rhythm, pace, and internal musicality.
"In my dance, I feel like I'm searching for something beyond myself. It's frustrating, and at times I'm scared I'll never find it. Yet I'm completely addicted to this quest for expansion and freedom. Eventually, I stumble upon the limitlessness of my body and mind. This constant friction - and at times, struggle - is where I draw inspiration for my artistic research.”
Ser Sebico (1995, Paramaribo), also known as S.Maze, was born and raised in Suriname. He moved to the Netherlands at an early age and discovered his passion for dance and music. Ser's artistic approach involves synthesizing diverse styles and techniques. His movement vocabulary draws from hip hop, popping, and floor work, resulting in a distinctive experimental style. Inspired by a deep connection with breath and internal sensations, Ser's approach to movement produces performances that blend abstract concepts with emotional depth.
As a dancer, Ser also explored various genres and developed a love for electronic music, particularly inspired by artists like Mr. Carmack and Tsuruda, along with the rise of Trap music. These influences also helped him shape his abstract dance style, which later led him to explore dance theater, where he saw an opportunity to experiment further with sound. His growing interest in creating his own music for theater productions led him to explore ambient soundscapes and bass music, which he now combines to tell stories through his project: S.Maze and Ataraxy.