Finally, Something I Enjoyed

This last week, I decided to go to a dance rehearsal with my boyfriend. Once in the HHP building, though, we passed some of our other friends in a dance class. Being friends with the teacher, Caitlin Spencer, we asked what they were doing. [roller coaster] It sounded fun and I asked if I could go with them instead of going to the rehearsal. We ended up on College Ave. with a bucket of chalk. Within this last semester of IARC, this was the first time that it was nice and sunny outside at a time that I wasn't in studio. (usually, it is either, cold, windy, raining, or a combination of the three) Caitlin, the instructor, was developing a site specific performance, that was meant to engage the audience and the dancers [behind] in the space.

We started out writing down words or sentences describing feelings and instances about how people interact in an environment and the concept of a personal space affects proximity of people. [i feel uncomfortable] Then we took some of the strongest words and ideas and wrote them in chalk inside of the grey circle in front of Jackson Library. In the center of the circle, we colored the center stone to celebrate the point. [ahead]

For the performance, the audience gathered at the start of College Ave. across from the Music Building. One of the dancers, Dominique, was with them. [i-40] The rest of us were stationed at the opposite end of the walkway, near Spring Garden. On cue, Dominique began to draw a chalk-line down the center of College Ave. Unsure, the audience followed her. Simultaneously, we began to make our way towards the grey circle, drawing designs on the pavement on the way, all the while calling out words and quotes from our previous brainstorm. [don't make eye contact] The closer the audience got to us, still following a silent Dominique, the more aware they were of what we were saying as well as our movements.

When we all met at the center circle, we formed a ring around it, with the dancers facing the audience. [really] Dominique stepped into the circle, stepped on the center block and began circulating through the circle. The rest of us followed her example, stepping on the center block, all the while calling out words which the viewers could now see were written inside the circle. [strangers] Then we moved out of the circle and began to move throughout the audience- weaving in and out of their personal spaces. Then, we all lined up on on the chalk-line that was drawn by Dominique. [hold hands] As we moved down the line, we focused on repeating the words as we tried to erase the line with our feet and hands. The audience was left to follow us, watching as we erased the very path that they had originally followed to meet us. [erase]

This performance was very fun, interesting and informative. With it, we investigated how people are willing to follow someone simply because the assert some presence of authority, as did Dominique. People also will follow by example, such as the audience did when we created a ring around the circle. It was exhilarating focusing on how we perceive our personal spaces and how we behave in groups, especially when we have little or no instruction. [idk]

When we started the process, I was immediately reminded of the pathways, edges and boundaries project. We were supposed to study people in the parking lot environment and how they interacted with the space. The performance I did, though, was equally as informative, but instead of relying on the subject having to choose their own pathway, we actually applied our own visual cues for the subject to base their actions on.

It was a great experience for me and I took a lot of good inspiration from it that I can definitely apply to my designs. (and it was through the dance department, not iarc!) Experiences like this are often the best learning opportunities, especially when you don't know what exactly you're getting into.