Bemused tourists looked on as seven 鈥榓udio ballerinas鈥� in solar-powered
tutus danced down the steps of the Sydney Opera House earlier this month.
Each ballerina carries her own orchestra: the skirt contains radio receivers,
microphones pick up sounds from around the dancers and the samplers mix
them in with music from the radio receivers to produce a one-off concert.
The transparent plastic audio tutus draw 20 watts of power from solar
cells or batteries. They are the handiwork of German 鈥榮ound artist鈥� Benoit
Maubrey who orchestrated the performance as part of an international symposium
on electronic art. Maubrey鈥檚 other works include an 鈥榓udio steelworker鈥�,
an 鈥榓udio cyclist鈥�, and an 鈥榓udio herd鈥� in which people wearing synthetic
animal furs and skins play the calls of monkeys, frogs and birds while strolling
through a park.
