Home 1. Introduction 2. Markers 3. Archive 4. Audible Markers 5. Visible Markers 6. Notational Markers 7. Conclusion
6.1. On Ballet mécanique 6.2. The Rests 6.3. Performing with Ballet Zürich 6.4. Markers
Antheil integrates silence as a musical element that impacts the structural and expressive dynamics of the piece. During Ballet mécanique, as at a rock concert, we revel in the disconnections of the thundering backdrop, and the noisy silence. The silences are separative in the sense that they physically interrupt and destabilize the notes. This does not mean that they are the structure. But they emphatically influence the perception of the structure. The way these silences are presented and perceived can be significantly influenced by embodied markers—visual or physical cues from the performers that highlight and contextualize these moments of silence.
Visual Markers: The mechanical instruments themselves, such as player pianos and percussion instruments, along with the anti-traditional, Dadaist objects (airplane propellers, sirens, and electric bells), serve as physical, theatrical markers that underscore the silences. When these instruments abruptly cease making sound, their visual presence continues to resonate with the audience, enhancing the impact of the silence that follows. The sudden absence of mechanical noise makes the silence more profound, with the visual reminder of the instrument’s capacity for noise serving to heighten the sensory contrast, just as in Dead Territory’s performance of 4’33”.
Performer Interactions: The actions and reactions of the performers during the moments of silence act as embodied markers. In our Zürich workshops, we started with the assumption that a performer might abruptly halt their movement, freeze in place, or execute a dramatic cessation of activity that coincides with the onset of silence. But soon, we moved on to a more complex interpretation, which emphasized the agitation of the silences. Actions occurred, dancers collapsed, and the pianist froze in increasingly dramatic poses. Such visual cues can significantly shape the audience’s experience and interpretation of these silent intervals, making them more deliberate and integral to the performance.
Choreographic Elements: In staged performances of Ballet mécanique, choreography and stage direction can play a crucial role in marking silence. The way performers move or do not move, the lighting changes, the positioning of performers on stage, and the video projections all act as markers that signal and frame both the sounds and the silences, especially guiding the audience’s attention to the long and frenetic rests as a potent element of the composition. Although my choreographic choices were limited by the piano, the choreographer chose a large white dinner jacket for me, which “amplified” my gestures, but also favored storytelling over abstraction. Inadvertent sounds: the noise of the dancer’s toes brushing the floor, their breathing, the rustles of their costumes, the pounding of their feet during the energetic sections—all of these created a soundscape that was audible on stage and in the front rows.
My experience of the performance was imbued with these “extra” sounds, meaning that, for the artists and anyone near the stage, silence was impossible. Silence as “not”: the silences resonate not as interludes but as profound embodiments of non-existence—what Lachenmann describes as a “fortissimo of agitated perception.” Yet, where Lachenmann sees a charging of human perception, Antheil’s approach engenders a distinct disconnection, a deliberate suspension of playing and performing. I have argued in this chapter that these silences, far from incidental, are voids deliberately structured within the insane noise and agitated clamor of the composition. They articulate a “not” that is about absence, negating not just sound but the very presence and continuity of the musical narrative. In this stark negation, Antheil compels the audience to confront non-being, non-playing—a radical quiet that amplifies the chaotic roar that precedes and follows. The embodied silences in Antheil’s score, marked by the dancers’ frenetic stillness or sudden collapses, do not merely punctuate; they enable time’s flow, creating a disconnection where each eighth note rest serves a pulsating purpose.
These visual and audible markers do more than signal a change in sound; they enrich the audience’s engagement, allowing the silences to communicate as powerfully as the sounds. They transform the silence from an absence of noise into a dynamic noise of another kind—the noise left behind by the notes, a noisy silence, Zyl’s black noise. In Antheil’s sphere, silence emerges not as a connector but as a profound disruptor, a radical element that roars.