Sun Spring
Sun Spring. 12’.
As an installation, can be looped in perpetuity.
Concept, Music & Direction by John Aylward.
Violinist, Jordan Hadrill
Assistant Director & Costumes, Alexandra Posen
Wardrobe, JoAnna Pope and Cassandra Holden
Aerial Arts Crew: Henry Wheaton, Margaret Butterfield, Ryan Freeze
Stage Manager, Isaac Rubin
Hair and Makeup, Ashe Parker
Platform, Sean Ryan
Director of Photography, Gyani Pradhan Wong Ah Sui
Lighting, Henry Vumbaca
Filmed at The Workroom, Northampton, MA.
Sun Spring is the second in a series of works for instrument and video.
The work is a triptych for three individuated performers. Gestures between the trio reflect and mirror but also differentiate. The exploration of separateness and otherness is tied to developmental patterns across five seamless movements. The three characters are intertwined and in a dynamic relationship.
Like Moondial, Sun Spring is an exploration of how music can be mapped onto ritual. The performance art aspect of these works is derived from mythological sources and the performance practice itself is again inspired by older forms from the Renaissance, Baroque and Medieval eras: the same eras that produced the stringed instruments at the heart of the series.
I explore how the violin can be construed as an outgrowth of all physical gestures of the three bodies. With the addition of height, the characters can play with rotating, elevating, expanding, and collapsing. The introduction of movement through space is a major departure from Moondial but I see it also as a natural outgrowth. In the reflection field of Moondial, the stasis of the performer is important. Now, the sense of reflection is used as a point of departure that allows for all manner of combination and separation.
The piece was workshopped in September, 2025 and February 2026 and then filmed June 22 - 24, 2026. Photos are from the February workshop and June filming.
Behind the Scenes
