Zed Naught's Blog

ST. LOUIS, MO - August 3, 2010 - HEARding Cats Collective, St. Louis' new presenter and producer of "strange and wonderful" arts events has received a generous grant from DowntownNow! to create innovative arts programming at the Old Post Office Plaza (9th St. and Locust).  Entitled Daedalus Cacophonus, the event will take place Friday, September 10, 2010 at 6 pm, and feature an evolving percussive landscape led by Artistic Director Rich O'Donnell (SLSO principal percussionist, retired), dancers from Ashleyliane Dance Company, a variety of local poets (Anna Lum, Brett Underwood), and New York jazz saxophonist Joe McPhee.  The event is free and open to the public.
 
In homage to Daedalus, an ancient Greek craftsman so skilled that his sculptures "seemed to move about," HEARding Cats Collective will assemble a team of local professional musicians, poets, and dancers for a mesmerizing 75 minute multimedia cultural journey. The music will inspire dancers and audience alike to move about the Old Post Office Plaza - just like one of Daedalus' creations.
 
Daedalus Cacophonuswill create a free-flowing rhythmic dialogue between musicians, poets, dancers, and audience. The core musical element of the piece is an ensemble of 5 percussionists (O'Donnell, Papa Wright, Craig Williams, Matt Henry, and Thomas Zirkle) belting out world rhythms on bass and hand drums; meanwhile troupes of dancers, dressed statuesque in togas will groove to the beats; other sections will feature quieter duo and solo sections combining poetry with improvised saxophone (McPhee); and later, mallet percussion with splash cymbals and water gongs - making use of the basin at the plaza. The entire performance will be scored (timeline of individual sections broken out by sequential minute cues), so that each member's unique contribution is a coordinated piece of the whole, interwoven with the other performers' sections to create a complete narrative
 
Like many of the events HEARding Cats already has planned for 2010, Daedalus Cacophonus will draw artistic talent from a variety of age, gender, and ethnic backgrounds. Performers will range in age from 20s to 70s, both male and female, and include Caucasian, African American, and Asian individuals. This diversity of cultural influences and talent pool is the ideal way to highlight St. Louis' role in the regional and national art scenes.

For more info, please visit the links above, or www.heardingcatscollective.org...