THE MUSEUM OF NARROW PLACES
COLLECTIVE SPACE: Act I
The Museum begins in one collective space. This rooms works best as a gallery rather than a theatre, so there is permission for the spectators to move in relation to the action. There are three performers who are already engaged in dancing as the audience enters as a group. The first section in this collective space has an aspect of literacy; the performers use the choreographed dancing, scripted theatre and tightly scored improvisation to lay out the context of the work. The dancing is highly physical, informed by contact improvisation and contemporary dance theatre. The trio plays explicitly with limitations and permission with the audience—inviting the audience to move if they’d like, to sit, to get a solo dedicated to them, to get out of the way- so they become drenched in the rules and context of the work. This section ends by gently instructing the spectators about the Solo section; the performers invite each spectator to GET A KEY. There are 12 keys hanging on the wall.
Each “key” has a title and directions to another space in the building that houses a performer behind a closed door. These performers have created 7 minute solos that they perform for one or at most 4 spectators at a time. Each spectator (or small grouping) takes her key and leaves the collective space to go on a self guided adventure to her first solo performance (in a narrow space).
SOLOS—LITTLE WONDERS: Act II
The second part of the evening is devoted to the process of one spectator receiving one solo from one performer. The mission is for the spectator to re-experience a familiar environment with a new sense palette as she navigates herself to the solo site.
After witnessing her solo, she brings the key back to the collective space and exchanges it for another key, then follows the directions on the new key to the new narrow space to see the next solo. Inevitably, each spectator receives only a few of the solos offered that evening. There is en element of serendipity and limitation built in, so that each spectator finds out about what she did not see/experience in discussion with fellow spectators later. Or she can come back another night. In the course of one evening, spectators will be able to see four or five of the approximately 12 solos, each in its own contained narrow space.
CLOSING AND COOKIES: Act III
After each performer has performed her solo four times, she returns to the collective space for a CLOSURE AND COOKIES. This is the first time all the performers have gathered together in the common space so the spectators can see every performer--many of whom they have not yet seen at all. Each performer simultaneously performs a hint of their solo to one spectator specifically. They collectively do this three times. The piece doesn’t have a discreet ending. There is a reversal of provocative questions to the audience, conversation ensues, and an offering of cookies and seltzer to shift the space into shared feasting.
PRE SHOW EVENTS: EVIDENCE SOLOS
A set of solos can occur in the two weeks before the performance, based on the Evidence solo project. Evidence is a series of solos I’ve been designing for almost ten years, developed most thoroughly in the summer of 2010 as an aspect of the MFA showcase. These solos are site-specific, and are created for one specific spectator. They are created based on a questionnaire of information that the spectator provides the performer (See link for questionnaire and sample solos). The performer/artist creates and performs this distinct solo for him or her in a location decided upon by the performer. In some cases, a solo made for Spectator A will be performed for Spectator B, in order for Spectator B to experience a solo performed directly to her but not specifically about her. This aspect of the project continues research on devotion in performance, as well as the exploration of a limited palette. Evidence solos performed before the mainstage event cultivates an experience of devotion and an encounter with the research platforms that the group work contains. This experience of intimacy and permission given the spectator during Evidence is part of the performance ecology that she brings with her, thus co-creating the environment with her own experience of agency.
Evidence was originally conceived in 2007 and has been in developed and performed by me and groupings of colleagues many times since then. During the summer of 2010, as an essential part of my MFA research, I invited 6 MFA artists to participate in a rehearsal training to frame the tools and ideas that help a performer/artist gain access to create with an eye toward devotion and legibility. I took them through a workshop and development experience over the six weeks, culminating in each artist giving a solo performance to one spectator as part of the platform of UWM’s Dancemakers show on July 30, 31, 2010. Though Evidence was officially part of the concert concept, the pieces were created over the six weeks by the individual MFA candidates and performed during the week preceding the show; they were done in locations all over Milwaukee, at times known only to the performer and the spectator. These were publically offered as an ancillary part of Dancemakers through a community web offering given to the UWM community. One solo performance was open to the community’s viewing, though the intention remained that it was a solo for one spectator (Kate, a UWM alumni), about the material she revealed in her questionnaire. Kate was willing to share the work with the community while understanding that it was still essentially for her alone, given/performed by me.
COLLECTIVE SPACE: Act I
The Museum begins in one collective space. This rooms works best as a gallery rather than a theatre, so there is permission for the spectators to move in relation to the action. There are three performers who are already engaged in dancing as the audience enters as a group. The first section in this collective space has an aspect of literacy; the performers use the choreographed dancing, scripted theatre and tightly scored improvisation to lay out the context of the work. The dancing is highly physical, informed by contact improvisation and contemporary dance theatre. The trio plays explicitly with limitations and permission with the audience—inviting the audience to move if they’d like, to sit, to get a solo dedicated to them, to get out of the way- so they become drenched in the rules and context of the work. This section ends by gently instructing the spectators about the Solo section; the performers invite each spectator to GET A KEY. There are 12 keys hanging on the wall.
Each “key” has a title and directions to another space in the building that houses a performer behind a closed door. These performers have created 7 minute solos that they perform for one or at most 4 spectators at a time. Each spectator (or small grouping) takes her key and leaves the collective space to go on a self guided adventure to her first solo performance (in a narrow space).
SOLOS—LITTLE WONDERS: Act II
The second part of the evening is devoted to the process of one spectator receiving one solo from one performer. The mission is for the spectator to re-experience a familiar environment with a new sense palette as she navigates herself to the solo site.
After witnessing her solo, she brings the key back to the collective space and exchanges it for another key, then follows the directions on the new key to the new narrow space to see the next solo. Inevitably, each spectator receives only a few of the solos offered that evening. There is en element of serendipity and limitation built in, so that each spectator finds out about what she did not see/experience in discussion with fellow spectators later. Or she can come back another night. In the course of one evening, spectators will be able to see four or five of the approximately 12 solos, each in its own contained narrow space.
CLOSING AND COOKIES: Act III
After each performer has performed her solo four times, she returns to the collective space for a CLOSURE AND COOKIES. This is the first time all the performers have gathered together in the common space so the spectators can see every performer--many of whom they have not yet seen at all. Each performer simultaneously performs a hint of their solo to one spectator specifically. They collectively do this three times. The piece doesn’t have a discreet ending. There is a reversal of provocative questions to the audience, conversation ensues, and an offering of cookies and seltzer to shift the space into shared feasting.
PRE SHOW EVENTS: EVIDENCE SOLOS
A set of solos can occur in the two weeks before the performance, based on the Evidence solo project. Evidence is a series of solos I’ve been designing for almost ten years, developed most thoroughly in the summer of 2010 as an aspect of the MFA showcase. These solos are site-specific, and are created for one specific spectator. They are created based on a questionnaire of information that the spectator provides the performer (See link for questionnaire and sample solos). The performer/artist creates and performs this distinct solo for him or her in a location decided upon by the performer. In some cases, a solo made for Spectator A will be performed for Spectator B, in order for Spectator B to experience a solo performed directly to her but not specifically about her. This aspect of the project continues research on devotion in performance, as well as the exploration of a limited palette. Evidence solos performed before the mainstage event cultivates an experience of devotion and an encounter with the research platforms that the group work contains. This experience of intimacy and permission given the spectator during Evidence is part of the performance ecology that she brings with her, thus co-creating the environment with her own experience of agency.
Evidence was originally conceived in 2007 and has been in developed and performed by me and groupings of colleagues many times since then. During the summer of 2010, as an essential part of my MFA research, I invited 6 MFA artists to participate in a rehearsal training to frame the tools and ideas that help a performer/artist gain access to create with an eye toward devotion and legibility. I took them through a workshop and development experience over the six weeks, culminating in each artist giving a solo performance to one spectator as part of the platform of UWM’s Dancemakers show on July 30, 31, 2010. Though Evidence was officially part of the concert concept, the pieces were created over the six weeks by the individual MFA candidates and performed during the week preceding the show; they were done in locations all over Milwaukee, at times known only to the performer and the spectator. These were publically offered as an ancillary part of Dancemakers through a community web offering given to the UWM community. One solo performance was open to the community’s viewing, though the intention remained that it was a solo for one spectator (Kate, a UWM alumni), about the material she revealed in her questionnaire. Kate was willing to share the work with the community while understanding that it was still essentially for her alone, given/performed by me.