Fugue in the Key of Falling

Valtteri Alanen – Sound/Object/Performance

What did Vesna Vulović go through, enclosed in the baggage compartment of the flight JAT 367, when the machine plunged from 3000 meters in the air into a North-Bohemian field? Imagine the incessant turning of a spinning top. A motion that seems to continue on till eternity, until the combined forces of gravity and friction slowly make it come to a halt. It is in a state of extremely slow falling. First upright in the air, then horizontally on the ground. Despite numerous interviews following her miraculous survival, we might never know. But we can always spin a top, and let it spin until the end, again and again and again.

Fugue in the Key of Falling is a sound-object theatre fugue for one performer, five spinning tops, dead flowers, other foley objects and sound-equipment. By playing with microsounds, aleatoric gestures and experimental storytelling, the piece lays bare the inevitable consequences of interacting with gravity.

Pictures by Aděla Vodičková, Drawing by Valtteri Alanen

Sound-Object Theatre
premiere: DAMU, spring 2021
Composer, performer: Valtteri Alanen
Team: Eglė Šimėnaitė, En Ping Yu, Levin Eichert
Mentor: Sodja Lotker

Performed also in: MA DOT Showcase, Divadlo DISK Řetížek, Prague CZ November 2022 / Ääniä Tehtaalta -konsertti, Tehdas Teatteri, Turku FIN January 2023 / Private events 2023