Dan Bales is the artist behind Harmonic Drift, part-instrument ensemble, part-sound art installation that merges homemade instruments and found-object creations into a mesmerizing symphony, all underpinned by the tunings of Balinese gamelan. Dan wears multiple hats as an instrument builder, composer, musician, and percussionist. He is the former, longtime director of Gamelan X, a group known for their creative take on music for gamelan baleganjur, a form of processional Balinese music. His pieces have been performed with Gamelan Sekar Jaya and has collaborated with Balinese composers to create new works combining gamelan and electronics for the Bali Spirit Festival. In 2015, Dan was awarded a Burning Man Arts Honoraria for “Reflective Resonance,” a participatory sound art installation at Burning Man of homemade aluminum gongs, which are now part of the Harmonic Drift pantheon of instruments. Dan earned his BSS in Music Composition from Cornell College, where he studied composition with Dr. James Martin.
Katie Harrell is a performer, musician, and shadow puppet artist whose creative journey has been shaped by her deep immersion in Balinese traditional arts. Katie's artistic odyssey into shadow puppetry began as a Fulbright Researcher in Bali in 2015, immersed in the study of traditional Balinese vocal music, where she was introduced to the rich vocal music tradition of wayang kulit (Balinese shadow theater). She has studied with esteemed puppeteers, I Nyoman Sumandhi, and I Made Juanda and has performed wayang kulit as a shadow puppet master with Gamelan Sekar Jaya and as a vocal accompanist with Larry Reed of ShadowLight Productions. Katie is the lead artist and solo puppeteer of “Wayang Earth?!” She earned her MA in Music Composition from Mills College, where she studied Javanese gamelan with Daniel Schmidt, and composition with Zeena Parkins, Fred Frith, and Maggi Payne.