On Monday evenings, a small band of Portland dance artists (Kathleen Keogh, Noelle Stiles and Daniel Addy) join me in the neighborhood to stage small interventions - “quiet happenings” as it were, throughout the property. Essentially research for a larger dance event that will happen in July/2008, these little performances pose questions or offer images about how this neighborhood might be animated or inhabited as it develops - how do certain spaces want to be used? where might people gather that is not intended by the architecture or design?; what will a bustling street life feel like?
Our process is simple. A few days before our appointed gathering time, I send a specific performance score via email, indicating where to meet, any special objects or clothes to bring, any movement or directives I want them to prepare, etc…When we gather, we review the score, change into our costumes, run the score for about an hour and then review the results. As these are not formal “dances” in a sense that someone might identify them in virtuosic terms, onlookers are invited to create a new context for what they are viewing. Often things of great beauty result, whether that be an image, an unexpected conversation or a new relationship. Several of our early scores are listed below.
#1 - A Park is a Place to Picnic: Dress fancy, wear all white and a sun hat; bring a book you are currently reading. Meet at Bella Espresso at 4:30p; we will picnic from 5-6p in the middle of the park. I will bring: kites, a croquet set, an over-sized white picnic blanket; picnic staples. SCORE: approach the park from 4 sides walking slowly; set-up picnic in suspended time; choose 4 moments in our hour of talking, playing, eating, reading where you take prolonged stillnesses (at least 3 minutes). Consider the tableau nature of our image as you choose those moments. At 6p, leave one at a time, book in hand. LKJ packs up solo and departs.
#3 - The River’s Edge is a Place to Dance: We will teach each other to waltz at the river’s edge. I will bring gowns; wear comfortable shoes. Please come prepared with one task that you will ask us to perform as a group that will serve as a complete break from the dancing image, i.e. pick a small bouquet of flowers from the wild plants along the greenway and offer them to a passer-by. We will meet at Bella Espresso at 4:30p. SCORE: We will walk in duets, arm-in-arm, down Pennoyer to the river. We will take turns sitting and waltzing; anyone can call “wait” to instigate a stillness to hold any image/”go” to return us to motion. I will ask each of us in turn to share the instructions for the tasks. We perform them exactly as described. To complete the score, we will exit back up Pennoyer in slightly reduced walking speed, arm-in-arm.
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