Working Methods, by Steph Yates, is a geometric ballet in the sky to be performed by 100 drones lit up at night in choreography to the otherworldly, experimental music of Daphne Oram. Simple geometric shapes, made up of fixed lines and moving lines, dance in series as patterns of shifting form to 10 excerpts of Oram’s electronic compositions.
Daphne Oram (1925-2003) was a composer and pioneering force in electronic music. She designed and built the Oramics machine for creating “drawn sound” and founded the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
Working Methods was performed September 25, 2021 at LUMEN LITE in Waterloo, ON with the tech support of North Star Fireworks. Yates is grateful to The Daphne Oram Trust for granting her the use Oram’s music for this work.