gaining some momentum now...taking a stand with lapstances

I was contemplating how I want to use lapdancing as a vehicle for my own views, voice, dignity, and worth. I am considering something I call 'lapstance' where the person in the chair who is awaiting a lapdance actually has to use their own corporeal agency. We will engage in a mutual standing upon one another's lap. First I discard my high heels, and gingerly make my way onto standing on their lap. This isn't as quick as it sounds, it takes some precise timing and placement in order to minimise pain and discomfort...Actually it can be quite pleasurable, like a deep tissue massage if done properly. I return then to my seat (adjacent to them) and put my heels back on. I invite the person sitting next to me to do the same and to stand upon my lap. I assure them they will not injure me, and hope that they don't.....it's a tangible sharing of the body, and of power, of pain, of pleasure...lots of things. I'm sure this will expand....In the following video clip, just imagine the pillow as a person (though it being a pillow is quite amusing in and of itself)....I will lay a cloth over the person's lap before standing...but will not put one over my legs.

Lapdance Series Rehearsal Footage 2

Interesting rehearsal yesterday with nefeli. It's difficult without a body, so Nefeli was

kind enough to lend me her body to try a few things on. A man was sitting next to us (we were at the Royal Festival Hall) and he got up and left after seeing some of the imagery. Later on he came over and asked what I was doing. He told me I looked cheap. The women that do those things have no dignity, they make money, but they have no self value and worth. He said no one likes that kind of thing, and the people that do are 'boozers'. Well, I said a lot of men may disagree with you. Also, what right does he have to place his views and words into the voices of these women whom he has had no contact with? He insisted I do something original. Obviously he didn't get the entire point of this project as trying to re-write the lapdance conventions into my own creative framing. He pretty much proved the very reason I am investigating this. I think there is a lot of controversy about the 'morality', dignity, and rights of both giver and receiver of lapdances. It's only taboo or cheap because we have learned it to be that way. Still constructing, re-constructing, de-constructing, and trying to figure out what the best context to perform this will be. Knowing how he reacted, I think perhaps I may need to discard my idea of having lapdances performed in a bar or club, I think this only feeds into the common way of seeing or experiencing them. It may actually need a theatrical venue to accomplish a new way of experiencing the lap dance. I think as this rehearsal footage shows, it can simply be fun and funny also. It's kind of a unique thing to have two bodies in such close proximity (especially when the strangeness of the situation turns into laughter)...there's a lightness that I am seeking to explore more in this work.....Enjoy.

Lapdance Series Rehearsal Footage 1

I have started working on a new piece/event which will include 24 lap dance experiences. I want to demonstrate that a lap dance can be more than grinding myself into your groin; it can be intimate in ways you have maybe never considered. 

Sample a small taste with this first film.

Successful Performance Event! Many Pictures...

It has taken me a long time to follow up on the performance that occurred May 1, 2010 because I was so exhausted, thrilled, still processing, and excited to develop in the future. The evening could not have gone any better. People wrote amazing comments about the piece for example : 'unlike anything I have ever experienced' or 'looking forward to the next one'.... I have an entire visitor's book with comments that truly demonstrated that the point came across: performance need not happen in a stage or in a formal context to change, move, or inspire people.

I felt overly pleased after the show, and also inspired to continue working with the position and the concept. Please enjoy some of the photography documenting the event. Click on this link or just go to the new May 1st page on the right margin of this blog:
MAY 1st Photos (by Oz Owen and Graham Bradley)

I hope to have a film up shortly.

Please join us in Berlin at Schwelle 7 to perform this piece on OCT 26, 27, 28, 2010. More information to follow....If you are interested in upcoming events please let me know.