Abstract
This article outlines the forty-year history go Christopher Janney’s iconic performance work “HeartBeat.” Trained as an architect and jazz musician, Janney combines these two disciplines to create large interactive light/sound installations and performances. On the one hand, he attempts to make architecture more like music, more “alive” using real-time sensing devices as on his “Harmonic Convergence” installation on the Miami International Airport. On the other hand, he attempts to make music more like architecture, more physical more visual. In his “HeartBeat” performance, a dancer wears a heartbeat device that amplifies his/her heartbeat in “real time.” Over this pulse, live musicians play in both sync and counterpoint. Past performers include Sara Rudner, principal dancer with Twyla Tharp Dance and Mikhail Baryshnikov. This particular article focuses on the “HeartBeat” project and a performance at Loyola Marymount University’s Yoga Studes Conference in March, 2025. Using a dancer wearing a wireless telemetry heartbeat monitor together with live musicians, the performance explores the intersection of Indian philosophy and American musical traditions. The piece draws parallels between Indian ragas and American jazz, which are both rooted in structured improvisation. “All performers agree on certain structures and forms while, at the same time, remaining open to the present moment,“ Janney said. Principal performers include dancer/actress Mayuri Bhandari, table player Robin Sudakia, Christopher Janney and Stan Strickland on vocals and Joanne Lazzaro on Bansuri flute.
Recommended Citation
Janney, Christopher
(2025)
"40 Years Passing By In (A) “Heartbeat”,"
Monsoon: South Asian Studies Association Journal: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/monsoon-sasa-journal/vol3/iss1/2
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