Douglas Baker

Man with beard and glasses looking up against brick wall.

Douglas is a professional dance accompanist. He is currently employed at the University of Iowa Department of Dance and Community Dance School.

University of Iowa, BA in Piano and Japanese Language 2015

Artist Statement

Continuing the thread from the “Women: Hood II,” Satomi and I worked on incorporating the “Women: Hood III” interviews into music and sound. We did, however, want the atmosphere to go in a different direction, opting for a more rhythmic score which included voice clips from the interviews rather than just Satomi's voice. Once we decided on keywords - based on favorite sentences from each interview, we ordered them to create a loose narrative about self-discovery and community. I also took snippets from those sentences and translated the spoken rhythms into percussive instruments that I layered into the music.

The main section of DSMOVES’ “Positivity and Possibility” was co-choreographed between Satomi and myself, also drawing inspiration from the keywords. Since Satomi is a Zumba instructor, and made her section evocative of her Zumba classes, I made music that might include the sounds and rhythms that are often used in those classes (or at least in Satomi’s classes, haha).

A performance, DS MOVES

DSMOVES’ new performance consists of two parts: “In Tears” and “Positivity and Possibility.”

The prologue, “In Tears,” was crafted in relation to the current political climate of the United States and other countries worldwide. As of July 2024, the State of Iowa now enforces a 6-week abortion ban, severely limiting the bodily autonomy of women. This is just one example of how women’s bodies and women’s stories are still too often dismissed and ignored.

The following section, “Positivity and Possibility,” is the response to the eight interviewees. Douglas and Satomi selected words from each interviewee and recorded them in Satomi’s voice. At the same time, Douglas extracted the interviewees’ voices from the interviews and integrated them into a sound recording, for which he and she created choreography. The section concludes with an invitation to the audience to dance, demonstrating the importance of community, inclusivity, and togetherness. With Satomi’s Zumba instructor background, she employed movements that would encourage audience participation.

NOTES: DSMOVES is the alias of performance duo Douglas Baker and Satomi Kawai, established in 2019.