Arranged, composed, and mastered by Kadet

Human Measure on Bandcamp

HUMAN MEASURE, composed by Kadet for performance artist Cassils’ first foray into contemporary dance, features 17 trans and nonbinary vocalists in one of the first ever choral pieces composed for trans and nonbinary voices. Cassils and Kadet made the decision early on to preserve human elements of the 17 vocalists such as breaths and pauses in the final piece, which creates an intimacy and power that speaks to the message of embodiment in “Human Measure.” Structurally based on Yves Klein’s Monotone Symphony that features a live orchestra playing the D major chord continuously, each vocalist for Human Measure was assigned a note across 7 octaves in the key of D Major. Using minimal effects of reverb and EQ, Kadet looped and layered these recordings to emphasize a progressive transformation across defiance and resistance to survival and triumph. The score aims to present the individual life force and collective power of the trans and nonbinary community.

About “Human Measure” by Cassils: Against an unprecedented backdrop of anti-trans legislation in the U.S., Cassils and a team of trans and nonbinary dancers straddle contemporary dance and the history of photography. With movement rooted in kinesiology, martial arts, sports science, and personal safety protocols, “Human Measure” reinterprets Yves Klein’s Anthropometries paintings of the early 1960s. Whereas Klein used nude female models as passive “human paintbrushes,” daubed in his trademark International Klein Blue, the performers in “Human Measure” wield the double-edged sword of representation in a collective process of empowered labor. Performed in low levels of red light found in photographic darkrooms, Human Measure sears afterimages into the audience’s retina with a massive flashing light box, culminating in the active development of one of the world’s largest cyanotypes, on stage in real time. With choreography by Jasmine Albuquerque, lighting design by Christopher Kuhl, and a score by Kadet Kuhne, Cassils’ first foray into contemporary dance asks, how do we manifest empowerment, sensuality and self actualization in a society that actively tries to erase us?

c & p Kadet Kuhne and Cassils 2023. Score features 17 trans and nonbinary vocalists spanning multiple continents: Leslie Allison, Ben Barwick, Lucas Bouk, Caleb Craig, Noah D, Aron Dahl, C Han, Parker Heyford, Sof Kreidstein, Oliver Lyric, Valeria Radchenko, Lou Sheppard, Emma Tome, Tobaron Waxman, Vanessa Wheeler, Socks Whitmore, Sasha Wilde, Torii Wolf. Album photography by Alejandro Santiago. Thanks to Jeremiah Moore for mastering the 5.1 mix, and Producers Diana Wyenn and Gina Young for their support in the US Premiere at REDCAT, LA.