On Strings (2024) is a performative sound installation created by choreographer Alicia Soto in collaboration with musician Abdellah M. Hassak. The work proposes an immersive and participatory experience in which contemporary dance and electronic music engage in a live dialogue with the audience. Breaking the fourth wall, the performance invites attendees to participate physically and verbally, generating a collective and unique creation at each performance.
“The project is part of Alicia Soto’s research cycle on contemplation and has been developed in artistic residencies in Portugal and Spain 2024-2025”
On Strings It is a multidisciplinary performance that combines contemporary dance with live electronic music to create an immersive and participatory stage space. Inspired by the metaphor of knots and ropes as symbols of tension and connection, the work presents an open dialogue between two performers—a dancer and a musician—and the audience, who are invited to move from contemplation to active participation.
Through immersive sound design and deconstructed choreography, the performance breaks the fourth wall and transforms the space into a shared territory where the spectator can express themselves with their body, voice and movement, becoming part of the work in real time.
Developed within a research cycle on contemplation by the artist Alicia Soto and the musician Abdellah M. Hassak, On Strings It has evolved through artistic residencies in Portugal and Spain, consolidating itself as an innovative and emotional proposal that seeks
awaken creativity and human connection.
“Among knots, ropes and enveloping sounds, 'Sobre Cuerdas' transforms the stage into a living territory where dance, music and audience intertwine in real time.“
Direction and choreography: Alice Soto
Musical composition: Abdellah M. Hassak
Dancer: Alice Soto
Sound space: Abdellah M. Hassak
Dramaturgy: Alicia Soto and Julio Martín da Fonseca
Photograph: Luis A. Barajas
Duration: Between 90 minutes
Sobre cuerdas is developed within the framework of an artistic research process initiated by Alicia Soto in 2024.
During this process, the work has benefited from the collaboration of several musicians who have contributed different sensibilities to the project, including the Portuguese pianist Elena Reis and the guitarist João Lima. In the current phase, the creation is being developed in collaboration with the musician Abdellah M. Hassak.
The process has been carried out through artistic residencies in spaces that have enriched the work from a scenic, technical and conceptual perspective:
In each of these residencies, the work has taken shape, opening itself to dialogue with different cultural contexts and diverse audiences. The performance is thus constructed as a piece alive and constantly transforming, which is redefined in each encounter.
So far there are no new sessions planned
