I’ve been seeing videos pop up all over Facebook (even one using the remix of a song I play on by my band The Great Um) involving the rapper/producer Spekulation and the UAI dance production, Enemy Within. So, to get some clarification of this cool project, I decided to ask Spek One Super Important Question.

Jake Uitti: What is UAI’s dance production Enemy Within and how did you get involved?

Spek: Enemy Within is a 20-minute film, produced by Preston Miller and United Artist Initiative, featuring four of the country’s most accomplished dancers from a variety of styles, collaborating with one another to tell a story about overcoming insecurity…it’s also the dopest project I’ve ever worked on, hands down.  The dancers include Tiler Peck (principal dancer at the New York City Ballet), Matthew Rushing (rehearsal director for Alvin Ailey), Marquese Scott (the world’s top dubstep and street dancer), and Samantha Figgins (Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York).  It is a groundbreaking piece of work that mixes genres and styles, both in dance and music, to a degree I’ve never seen before.  In fact, when I was first contacted about scoring the film, I was so blown away by the quality of the cast and concept that I sent the producer several emails to confirm that he had contacted the right person.

You can’t really blame me for doubting it at first…I’d never met the filmmakers (I still haven’t, come to think of it), and up to that point in my career I had only made rap records and worked on a couple small dance pieces commissioned by local companies here in Seattle.  But the internet is an amazing place, and throughout the years a few people involved in the film had heard my work, most notably my remix projects for The Jason Parker Quartet and Serendip Dance Company, and agreed that I was the man for the job.  Knowing what a monumental task it was going to be, I immediately got in touch with my usual collaborator, Nate Omdal, a classically trained composer and instrumentalist, and we worked together to score the film.

Because the film so unabashedly seeks to bridge styles of dance, Nate and I wanted to do something equally ambitious with the music, bringing together classical compositions with hiphop and modern electronic production.  Nate spent a couple weeks writing a handful of pieces for a small string and piano ensemble, which we recorded at Cornish College on a sunny afternoon this past Spring with Josh Rawlings, Begin Scarseth and Maria Scherer-Wilson.  Then I took those recordings and went to work in the studio using my sampler, drum machine and a few synthesizers to craft the final sound.  In the end we were left with six songs that remain cohesive throughout, but also represent an entire spectrum of inspirations and genres we borrowed from.  We’re incredibly proud of the music we created for this project, but we’re even more excited about refining and pushing our creative process to a level we never expected was possible.

I just saw the final cut of the film yesterday, and the experience was as humbling as it was amazing.  Seeing world-class dancers moving to the sounds we created puts music making into an entirely different context for me and reveals so much potential for the future.

For more information visit UAI’s Facebook page. Or watch these videos (all music by Spek):