2/4 Day one of the
Performance workshop-
I think the warm up was an important part of today- we got to know a bit of each
other and get comfortable with what the idea of performing is. Surprisingly enough the class was really easy
to get along with, and doing the funny exercises and unrehearsed, unplanned
performances were pretty smooth and fun- I thought it would be kind of awkward
to do some stuff- especially with people I didn’t know. But actually all shyness was gone. Marisa said the same thing- she was usually
really shy but she felt totally comfortable there. I think it must have
something to do with the mindset coming into a room, a course, or a new set of
people.
2/5 Day two of
performance-
Today we broke into groups and everyone was able to execute their
ideas for performance with the help of three to four teammates. We got the gopro, which was handy, except
that the battery died during the first performance so I wasn’t actually able to
use it. Marisa wound in fabric with it
on her head, we wanted to see it spinning but it didn’t even capture that. Then we went to the Overgate area- stationed
into three spots like a triangle and everyone hit a contemporary dance pose-
while I went around and tried to discretely get photos and videos of them all.
People were really interested in what they were doing, though they really freaked some
people out! Marisa got yelled at “What are you doing you fucking weirdo?!” -
surprising because she was the only one who was actually in front of an art
gallery- a place most people expect wierdness! She held her pose which is awesome!
I saw one guy take a photo of Sarah, but other than that she just had a
few people looking at her. Katie was so
good!! Not only was she only in a tank top, (vest in british) but she also was
literally as still as a statue. No doubt because of her life model job- but
still amazing. I caught a lot of people looking at her- some for very extended
periods of time. I heard two
conversations- one was “ should we ask her if she is ok?” the other was “she’s
not even doing anything… “ definitely was not something people in Dundee were
used to seeing. I find this very funny- because that day there were so many
street performers! They all either had their guitar, or a microphone, one guy
was even dressed in a big suit- but not as many people- at least that I saw-
paid as much attention to them!
After I
got all my documentation and recollected all the girls- we went into the burgh
coffeehouse to warm up- decent coffee but kinda pricey, but very nice except
for the bathrooms (which weren’t terrible, but could use improvement). then we went into the white space to film Sarah’s work- three women in
white, red, or black, eating apples- she says it is feminist- I still have no
idea but that’s fine I am glad I was able to help out. The video was played backwards when
presented- a touch which was appreciated by all, I believe. Katie’s came last,
as she left early yesterday and didn’t know about the performace and so she
hadn’t had any ideas. First, we were
going to throw water at her and take advantage of the waterproof gopro, then
she decided on walking backwards up the stairs and down. This was harder than I thought- I definitely
could not go as fast as normal. But after filming that, something beautiful
happened- the stairwell we were in was light perfectly by the sunlight- casting
Sarah’s curvy silhouette onto the wall on our left- a perfect feminine image, and the
way the panes on the window are- each of our figures had a panel to frame our body figures. So we set the
tripod up and captured all of our body shadows in various posing and dancing in
panels- like Go go dancers. It was
actually kinda of fun and feminine-even if people were walking by! The best
part was that the camera came from a different angle than we were seeing, so the
videos looked very different than we expected it would, the shadows were
flopped in size and distance.
We
returned to the white space to meet up with the group again, and then to go out
and film Diedre’s performance by all of us.
This was a funeral procession of sorts, about the Scottish reformation.
The map of Scotland was carried in, followed by a casket of the Scottish flag
with whiskey, and then all of us carrying in Scottish drinks- IRN BRU, Whiskey,
Tennent’s beer cans, and multiple local ales and wines. The idea was fun and we all kind of walked
around, were very quiet and solemn and mostly in black, created X’s with our
bodies and our arms, and really just kind of experimented- then we were able to
open a few bottles and CHEERS- drink up to a good performance and the death of
Scotland- part of the culture, naturally.
Unfortunately the warehouse was very cold, so laying down only happened
once and I think Diedre wanted a bit more- but it got her a lot of footage and
performing and we all had fun and got free drinks, a successful day for
all!
2/6 Today was the last day in the performance
masterclass with Richard Layzell. We had a last performance, where we invited
people during lunch to come watch us- at that point we had no idea what we were
going to do. My group talked about
playing childrens game that never ended, like “duck, duck, goose” Quackdilyoso,
etc. We eventually decided that we would
play that the ground was lava- we could only navigate the room using furniture
and never touch the floor- if we did, we died.
I had a very dramatic death! There were a lot of things going on at
once, including really subtle ‘performances’ which can really be anything- like
talking to people in chinese who don’t understand and telling people to sit and
then telling them to move a few moments later.
Claire and Deidre had the floor while they played the mirror game we did at warm up- with their own twist of adding emotions and spoken word. We followed through to the white room for a
drum performance, with movement by two others- Claire was molding them and they
held the pose, while Jazz played the drum to amplify the emotion or heartbeat
and really touch on human emotion. We
went up to the architecture floor- and on either side of the balcony we had a
conversation across the air space between our audience below us and the sky
roof above us. For a final piece we
proceeded downstairs single file, walked around the green pits again. There were like 6 people in there, and we
made them so uncomfortable that they moved! Way better than people not paying
attention- all this while Jazz did his falling off the chair performance at the same
time. It was definitely interesting. We
watched all of our performances from yesterday too, everyone brought something
really different to the table which is excellent. Some performances were meant
to be viewed in video form, after, and some were meant to have an audience and
then documented. My biggest surprise was that there were performances which
viewed not as documented but as a video piece- this makes total sense to use
the group as actors but I never really thought of this as performance until
now.
Richard told us about
some of his past performances, including an alternate ego he used with the
initials BS- who was very loud and obnoxious and starting to join a
revolution. He also cleans different
things around the world and takes videos of it. People apparently don’t even
notice this- even if he is in a suit- because it is a normal thing,
non-destructive, and considered to be “Low”. In China, he even stood in the
subway where loads and loads of people were making foot traffic, and no one
even bumped into him. Crazy!
This was a very successful and fun course to take, we made great friendships and explored a variety of new things. I highly recommend Richard to anyone who gets the chance to work with him.
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