in 2019 i had a loose narrative idea for a new dance piece. these were the threads of thought:
narrative: two travelers (astronauts/space explorers/travelers) who woke up in a strange place not knowing where they are or how they got there
underlying theme of desire (working definition: a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen). I was interested in exploring desire as the two characters have to relearn who they are and why they made certain decisions in life that have led them to where they are now
movement aesthetic: rigid/robotic sequence with progressively more moments of melting, serving as a metaphor or symbol of the professional training and ingrained regimented routines/behaviours with moments of desire erupting. In this way, i visualized the physicality of desire to connect with a sense of longing but didn’t have much more than that
i approached Will to co-create this work. we had one rehearsal before covid
a year later we picked up on it again, doing a lot of talking and writing about the story and getting into some movement rehearsals in our houses on zoom. this first bit of creation resulted in a video experiment of structured improvisation sections and focuses on the mental and emotional journey when in a hibernation pod. we had determined that this pods existed in some vessel that was traveling through space.
below are some clips of the experiment, Will dancing as i provide some direction and work the camera. this footage also began to serve as the basis for a dance film and possible projected materials for a live show. opening up lots of doors to different possibilities.
i then saw Hercinia Art Collective’s call for works for a show titled PEEP in June 2021, and applied. i have had the awesome opportunity of working with Hercinia previously and was so stoked to work with them again and in the concept of the PEEP show; performing in a 6x6 ft box. (p.s. if that is not the correct way to use a semicolon i don’t fucking care. just in case you were wondering) #lingusticstudent
so we went back into “the studio” aka our homes+zoom to building a duet with many of the same concepts we were playing with before.
writing sessions were a key component to this process as a strategy to determine what the narrative of the work is, how much of a narrative to develop bts and how much is necessary to convey to the audience, etc. (more) importantly, these sessions served as a task and method to engage in imagination of what could be as well as the values that fuel those creative imaginings. to drill down to details brings an appreciation of knowing what is happening, what everything looks like, what this history of these travelers and their people/society is. it helps me to bring the imagined world into a more tangible focus which makes me really excited to make+move.
some of this text fed into our first performance, but as you will see was not continued into the second. this was in part to have a focused and simplified approach to the second show. although writing continued, will and i changed the way we were writing to a broken telephone approach through an shared online document. the doc would be passed back and forth and there were really few rules and what could be contributed to the doc.
95% of the rehearsal and preparation for this show was done over zoom. i found it to be very difficult. regardless, it was amazing to have an opportunity to create and present work and i had a huge drive to begin to get back into it. when i watch the video below, i see the discomfort of creating in isolation and the evidence of lack of practice in both my body and in performance. but i don’t really care. i also see myself investing once again in art making and the value of being in and living through challenges regardless of scope.
Hercinia revived PEEP for a second edition in October 2021, and at this point Will and i were able to begin to move together.
although the video below only shows a small segment of our rehearsal, through this process i built a five minute solo for myself that i did not hate. this was/is radical. at this point i’m not sure if this solo will continue to live with ‘lost’ and continue to be expanded in the context of this work, or have another life, but it actually feels like something i’d like to continue. self-solos are not typically my thing.
the show came along. as a creator and performer i felt more confident and interested in this performance, but of course, it could not have happened with the performance before it.
the narrative built off the last.
PEEP 1>>> experience in + waking up from hibernation chamber
PEEP 2>>> 4 months later, still lost, still lacking memories
images by Vennie Tu
this process is paused for the time being.