As director, composer, curator and performer, my aim for Dronechoir is to present a social performance experiment by presenting beautiful musical experiences that provide new or deeper connections between female musicians of different cultures, ethnicities, musical backgrounds and communities. Dronechoir performances require no fewer than four female (including female-leaning LGBTQQIP2SAA) vocalists who perform an unrehearsed a'capella piece that I’ve composed. Each singer is given musical and movement cues through earphones.

Although the base composition of the piece is a constant, Dronechoir continuously reshapes itself through space-specific movement directions that are fed to generous, adventurous vocalists of diverse backgrounds whose voices vary in volume, range and timbre — which is where the movement directions come into play, physically foregrounding specific singers at different points in the piece. As a result, the singers may move closer to members of the audience than expected, bringing depth to the listener’s experience by challenging comfort barriers and introducing a heightened sense of engagement with the performance.

But discomfort is also a factor for the performers: Dronechoir combines unfamiliar collaborators with an unrehearsed performance, and everyone is singing together for the first time with people they may never have met before. We're given the opportunity to become comfortable with our discomfort, settling into the unknown. Throughout the piece, the vocalists learn what their role is within the choir and composition. By committing to this unrehearsed performance they naturally demonstrate a sense of hope and support, acceptance with what is in the moment, love and respect to our audiences and each other.

Hey, Arone - Why so Femme-Specific?

Since the late 90’s, in my experience, I’ve consistently noted that most, if not all, aspects of the stage have lacked female input. There’s been the occasional coal-mine canary, but they were the outspoken women who defied tradition, despite an incredible pressure to perform better than their male counterparts while dodging rampant misogyny in the workplace. In ‘98 I performed at Lilith Fair in Mpls, and it was a huge deal that men weren’t headlining. They were certainly behind the faders, however! Only in the last decade has it become more popular, acceptable, and dare I say it, fashionable to have women front-and-center, onstage, back stage, engineering, producing, mastering, mixing or curating the music we see and hear. This project has been my attempt to flood the stage with talented and diverse femininity. Every effort is exponential.

Hey Arone - Are you going to include Men/Boys/Guys/Dudes/Masculine-leaning people?

Sometime! Yes. But my current aim is as I mentioned above, to flood the stage with diverse femininity in an attempt to tip the scales beyond the point where it is no longer a novelty to hear of an all-female cast.

Have any questions? write to me! onemissarone@gmail.com - I’ll ask your permission first, but I may be inclined to post your questions and my answers here as well, or perhaps on a future Freq-Ques page.

*Below Film of Dronechoir TRACE taken at 37d03d Festival in Berlin on October 1st, 2016 - FILM BY ILAN COHEN. PRODUCER petitesplanetes.bandcamp.com, blogotheque.net

Vocalists: Elena Pieper, Kate Stables, Kristín Anna Valtýsdóttir, Sarah Reuber, Jessica Stavely-Taylor, Camilla Stavely-Taylor, Gyda Valtysdottir, Henrike Rau, Pauline Delassus, Sabrina Nürnberger, Soema Montenegro, Marta (Curly), Nora Lessing, Shara Nova, Tabea Storz, Ulrike Küchler, Emily Stavely-Taylor, Anna Mareike Holtz, Lisa Hannigan, Miriam Laschinski, Rosalind Anna Leyden & Arone Dyer

*Below Instagram Video of Dronechoir SYLLABA taken at Revolve Gallery in Asheville, NC

Vocalists: Coco Nuco, Isabel Castellvi, Madelyn Ilana, Sol, CaroMia Tiller, Dominique Warfield, Claire Duncombe, Arone Dyer, Stephanie Morgan, Katie Richter, Charity Cimarron, Liz Lang, Isabelle Ennis, Lavender Blue, Grace Engel, Julia Christgau, Indy Srinath, Norma Thompson, Savannah Hatfield, Jazmin Rogers

*Below Audio of Dronechoir MIRACLE, performed for Ecstatic Music Festival on March 1st, 2018, in collaboration with video artist Bleue Liverpool and poet Mahogany L. Browne. Recorded Live at Kaufman Music Center, Engineer: Kenny Feldman

Poetry written and performed by Mahogany L. Browne, featuring Ramya Ramana & Imani Davis

Vocalists: Bahar Baharloo, Jen Goma, Scout Gillett, Emma Wiseman, Nandi Plunkett, Shanelle Gabriel, Phyllis Lee, Lindsey-Paige McCloy, Starr Busby, Alicia Walter, Lola Johnson, Ginger Dolden, Kate Steinberg, Rose Blanshei, Thimali Kodikara, Cassandra Jenkins, Catherine Brookman, Sarah Register & Arone Dyer