Helena Rodrigues

Sound=Space Opera: choreographing life within an interactive musical environment

Abstract This paper aims to describe the different stages of the artistic project SOUND=SPACE Opera, held at Casa da Música, Porto, Portugal and presented during the festival Ao Alcance de Todos (Accessible to All) during 15–19 April, 2008. A series of creative workshops using an interactive musical environment, created by Rolf Gehlhaar in 1984, were run for several weeks with a group of six adolescents with special needs, mainly suffering from Down Syndrome. The translation of their day-by-day experiences into sounds and movements resulted in two final performances which were the public surface of a very empowering and rewarding process that intended to improve the quality of life of those who participated.