THESE HORSES
INTERVAL (A Piece for Voice and Lightswitch)
DANCER IN THE DARK
Interactive performance for 2 audience members and 1 performer: 7 minutes.
In a completely dark room, two
audience members, equipped with digital flash cameras, take photos to
locate a lone dancer.
Driven by a frenetic seven-minute dance track, the performance is viewed
as a series of split-second flashes, creating, haphazard images of the
dancer.
The music for the piece works against the structure of the modern pop song, its relentless jive beat and dissonant saxophone running for seven minutes without climax or pause. The jive was created for These Horses by Verity Susman of the band Electrelane.
Over the top of the music a pre-recorded voice calls commands to the dancer. Ranging from clear instructions, ‘the boogaloo’, imagined situations, ‘you’re in the forest, you’re by the side of the road, you’re at a party in someone’s living room’, and encouragements, ‘Come on! This one’s for everyone here. You can do it now’, the calls form a rolling associative text and act as a score for the performance. The text gives cues to the dancer and frames the invisible action, offering interpretive possibilities for the audience.
“While total darkness expands the space for imagination and creativity, the imperative and somehow aggressive incitations go counter to the conceit of dance as a set of spontaneous gestures, towards an exploration of the transposition of social and cultural codes in the way we fashion our own movements.” Silvia Squaldini, curator on These Horses.
After each performance participants are invited to view the pictures they have taken.
SPEAKERS - Performance, photography and the loud page.
