MÖBIUS MORPHOSIS

Each Olympic Games brings with it a Cultural Olympiad, during which the host country showcases the best of its contemporary arts scene. In July 2024, at Paris’ Pantheon, a troupe of 35 acrobats and 26 dancers performed Möbius Morphosis, a choreographed exploration of the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, inspired by the natural phenomena of flocking and schooling. For his score, composer JB Dunckel, one half of the French pop music duo Air, mixed choir, electronics and percussion to conjure a panoply of textures and moods. “The ballet itself is highly acrobatic. It’s a constant effort to defy gravity, with dancers soaring into the air and forming pyramids,” Dunckel tells Apple Music Classical. “So, given the highly acrobatic nature of the dance, I aimed to avoid creating a circus-like sound. Instead, I focused on dark, wild rhythms to maintain an intense tempo.” Inspired by the choral works of Eric Whitacre and the brooding soundtracks to the movies Dune and Blade Runner, Dunckel sought to create a contrast between the spirituality of the voices and the visceral sounds of digital percussion. “The choir represents a pure soul, while the percussion symbolises demons,” he says. “They coexist in our real world, embodying the duality of good and bad, of right versus evil temptations.” Steering clear of a techno or pop aesthetic, Dunckel imagined how ancient drums might have sounded: “The rhythms needed to have a somewhat religious tone,” he says, “but not for something joyful—rather, something dangerous.” You can hear that meeting of dark and light in the opening track, “Corps Échangés”, where ethereal voices and primeval rhythms coalesce—contrasting yet complementing one another. The gentler “Ballade de Géants” feels improvisatory in style, its ebb and flow mirroring the ordered chaos of the natural world. Dunckel also draws our attention to “Dieu Léger” with its choral textures accompanied by a catchy keyboard arpeggio played on a PPG Wave 2.2 synthesiser. We end where we began, with “Poids Céleste”, Dunckel’s unique and compelling blend of choir and drums marching on as if into eternity.