Sound of Light
SOL (Sound of Light) is a live, immersive “improv machine” where sound, light, movement and technology fuse into an 80-minute interactive stage performance. Led by grammy-nominated musician Ben Wendel and director Ruben Van Leer, the project turns solo saxophone, dance, lasers and mapped visuals into a visceral exploration of body, memory, and trauma.
“Jazz is a constant search for new forms of conversation. Sound of Light marks a sold-out premiere and live stream of a unique interactive stage work, developed within our in-house REFLEX residency program in Amsterdam.”
where light listens and sound remembers
SOL (Sound of Light) is a live, immersive stage work by Ben Wendel and Ruben Van Leer, created together with choreographer Lukáš Timulak, scenographer Tiemen Rapati, audiovisual artist Wes Broersen and dancer Alice Godfrey. At its core lies a custom-built real-time system that binds saxophone, movement, light and projected space into a single responsive organism. Nothing is pre-fixed: every breath, step and sonic impulse reshapes the mapped environment as it unfolds.
Laser lines trace the space like fragile threads of connection, opening pathways between bodies, sound and memory. Other moments they harden into grids, borders, walls... These shifting geometries echo our contemporary condition: a world where fixation on refinement promises connection yet often constrains the body, compresses attention, and reorganises memory. In SOL, technology does not dominate the performers; it exposes the tension between agency and control, between freedom and structure, between woman and man, between what is sensed and what is measured…
Jazz improvisation becomes spatial architecture. Dance becomes a form of listening. Light oscillates between particle and wave, material and meaning. As sound bends light and movement reshapes music, the audience is invited to read between the lines; to feel how inner states surface physically, how memory resonates before it is heard, and how presence emerges in space when systems are allowed to play.
“Each movement of the musical performance serves as a dynamic backdrop for South African dancer Alice Godfrey; theatrical and gracious, she offers a literal embodiment of Wendel’s compositions.”
“Directed by Ruben Van Leer, this contemporary choreography is complemented by superb graphic elements, which provide powerful visualizations of the mysterious interactions between movement, sound and light.”
credits
| Starring: |
Ben Wendel – Saxophone, Effects & Composition Alice Godfrey – Dance |
| Direction: | Ruben Van Leer |
| Choreography: | Lukas Timulak (Make Move Think) |
| Scenography: | Tiemen Rapati |
| Light & Sound: | Wes Broersen |
| Filmed at: | The Bimhuis – Amsterdam |
| Costumes: | Annemarije Van Harten |
| Executive Producer: | Ruben Van Leer |
| Produced by: |
Truth.io Bimhuis Productions Ben Wendel |
| Music: | Original Music Suite “SOL” – composed by Ben Wendel |
| Support: |
The Creative Industries Fund NL AFK |
| Context: |
SOL was created in the Bimhuis Productions Reflex Series, supported by Ammodo |
| Video Team | |
| Directors: | Nathan Benisty & Ruben Van Leer |
| DOP: | Benoit Feller |
| Technical Mgr: | Gilles Tantot |
| Camera: |
Théo Barletta Rémi Cizeron Jasper de Kloet Lenny Lu |
| Editing: | Nathan Benisty |
| Colour: | Greg Rodriguez |
| Mixing: | Ben Wendel |
| Add. Mixing: | Todd Burke (Listening Room LA) |
| Produced by: | Libelo Productions & Truth.io |
| Producer: | Valentine Wurtz |
| With Support: | Centre National du Cinéma et de l'Image Animée (CNC) |
filmmaker & media-artist
