Spotlight: BEAT BLOCKS at the RWA
BEAT BLOCKS is a haptic dance floor that transforms sound frequencies into powerful vibrations felt through the whole body.
Currently installed in our main gallery, it features a curated soundtrack for the exhibition mixed by d4rling FM, with contributions from Josephine Gyasi and DJ Devolicious.
We caught up with BEAT BLOCKS founder Rowan James to learn more about the project, the importance of inclusive art, and how dance can create joy and connection.
“My love of live music, combined with my passion for challenging ableism and promoting inclusion, is what drives the project,” shares BEAT BLOCKS founder Rowan James.
An ‘unlikely’ tech founder, Rowan cheerfully describes himself as being ‘the most luddite person I know’. He goes on to share that conversations about inclusion and disability have been part of his life for as long as he can remember.
As a child, Rowan was ‘Statemented’ (a legal document that outlines the specialist provisions and support a child may need to access education) and, since experiencing minor brain damage during an operation as a young baby, has lived with mild spastic diplegia (a form of cerebral palsy) and pseudobulbar palsy.
“The challenges weren’t formally diagnosed until I was 18,” shares Rowan. Even then, as an adult, Rowan found that he “felt as though I had a ‘dirty secret’- the label of being disabled - that I tried to brush off.”
His outlet became performance poetry, and in 2015 Rowan left his job to create his first show, “Easy for You to Say.” It was here Rowan realised that “he could design theatre and performance spaces that embed inclusion from the very beginning”.
Due to his brain injury, Rowan shared that he has ‘always been rhythmically challenged’. However, he discovered that he found it much easier to move and speak in time with music using ‘vibration feedback’. He shared that it was frustrating, as while he could recognise songs through vibration alone, once the drums kicked in, everything else was drowned out.
It was this frustration that inspired the initial idea for Beat Blocks, with Rowan sharing that he wanted to design a dance floor that “could deliver a detailed, rich range of vibrations that accurately reflect the nuances of music.”
That early experience of music, movement and vibration continues to shape BEAT BLOCKS today. Rowan’s love of theatre and performance inspired him to make the technology portable and adaptable, so it can respond to different environments and audiences.
For Rowan, bringing BEAT BLOCKS into the RWA has opened up a different kind of opportunity. “The opportunity to put BEAT BLOCKS in such a historic building has been fantastic,” he shares.
As the team often works with live music venues, Dance Out has enabled BEAT BLOCKS to be experienced by a wider range of visitors in a gallery setting.
One particularly memorable moment came during a visit from a Bristol-based SEN+D school. The BEAT BLOCKS team described “watching the students throwing shapes on the haptic floor at 10am on a Monday morning” as “a great start to the week”. The session ended with a collective singalong to Whitney Houston, “which left some of our team members with tears in their eyes”.
Reflecting on BEAT BLOCKS being part of Dance Out, the RWA’s first exhibition to place dance at its core, Rowan says the project has reinforced what he values most about live music and movement. “I think we are really lucky to work in the live music industry, as we get to witness first-hand the connective power of dance. Whether it is a professional dancer moving their body in a truly breathtaking way, or a group of friends shuffling around a dark nightclub floor, dance appears to universally bring joy to humanity.”
BEAT BLOCKS is installed as part of Dance Out which is open until 9 Aug at the RWA