Dance of the bars | Wood is music
To unite dance and music at the same time was the dream of Ania Losinger, a dancer and musician from Switzerland. Together with the Swiss instrument maker Hamper von Niedernhäusern, she fulfilled this dream and developed a new instrument, the Xala, which is unique worldwide.
The Xala, a kind of oversized xylophone that lies horiÂzontally on the floor, consists of sound bars and sound plates made of wood, aluminium, stone, glass or con crete and at the same time represents the dance floor on which Ania Losinger dances her performance.
It can be transportable or permanently installed and forms a multiÂlayered sound body. The first Xala was created in 1998/99; in the meantime there are three, which differ significantly in size and sound.
The Xala is played by the artist dancing with flamenco shoes and humanÂsized wooden sticks to make the sound plates resound. An acoustically and visually fascinating combination, danced sounds  sometimes spherical, sometimes very concrete.
Together with the composer, percussionist and mulÂtiÂinstrumentalist Mats Eser, the soundÂdance artist has been developing new sound universes characÂterised by strong rhythms since 2005. Both founded the quartet NEN [e]merging structures – hypnotic soundscapes and expanded the sound dimensions. With the 3rd Xala, which was specially developed by Losinger, Eser and von Niedernhäuser for a Xala pro duction for the Spanish Pavilion at the World Expo in Shanghai, the Xala became electroÂacoustic and maÂkes new sound spaces possible.
Ania Losinger and Mats Eser perform worldwide.
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