March Performance Group

TICKETS for THIRST (feb 16-18, feb 23-25)

2012-01-22T23:49:00.000-08:00

6 Additional THIRSTS

2012-01-22T23:35:00.001-08:00

Very excited to announce that EXPERIMENTA will be presenting the performance evening THIRST on February 16th-18th and February 23rd-25th @ 9pm...Cash accepted at the door and reservations can be made by emailing marchperformancegroup@gmail.com.

THIRST

2012-01-04T18:42:00.001-08:00

Composer: Kaja Bjorntvedt; Performers: Jade Yung, Muriel Hofmann, Patricia Chiu, Giselle Liu, and Evelyn Wan; Fashion Designer: Natta Thapparat; Experimenta Director: Gina Wong; and a Guest Director, warmly invite you to a private engagement on February 14th at 8PM at EXPERIMENTA located at No. 89-95 Hollywood Road Lower Ground Floor (Shop B), Central, Hong Kong (www.experimenta.hk for directions)

THIRST is an event incorporating film, live performance, original music, multiple selves, and delightful liquid concoctions. The evening acts as an opening for a week long cinematic exhibition by a group of women creating performance and film work in Hong Kong at Experimenta. Bring yourself and your ego or bring yourself and your partner to celebrate this Valentines Day in an unforgettable way.

what people say about us

2011-10-26T05:21:00.000-07:00

Just a few reminders:

“In An Evening of Meat they have put together a stunning concept piece that keeps you firmly on a hook for the entire night.” – Tuppence Magazine, An Evening of Meat, March 2011

“I went to bed in THAT WORLD that night. They took me to a journey... The choreography was challenging and arresting.” - http://okimuk.com/ a beautiful mess, old vic tunnels, August 2010

Time Out says: “The March Performance Group is an exciting dance collective, which powerfully explores themes like death, femininity, sex, beauty and exhaustion. Their provocative work can be seen this weekend at ‘At Evening of Meat’ at Dalston’s Old Cholmeley Boys Club. Book now and prepare to be moved.”

Long Distance Relationships: London to ** with Love

2011-09-29T00:51:00.001-07:00

It is so difficult to be far away from the people that I collaborate best with. I was very much affected by the performance we did together on September 7th. I have only just now had the appropriate moment to respond to the performance. I was in my living room in ** at 1:30am after that same day being on a train from Ningbo China to Shanghai and then a flight from Shanghai (delayed) to **. I was physically exhausted. When I started to prepare my mind and body for the performance, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't know if I would remain tired, if this would show through the screen, or if I was to feel like I was even actually in a performance. In the end, I was in a trance, doing things to the screen and in response to what I perceived from the bodies on the screen. I really felt an intimacy that I didn't think one could feel without being physically proximate. The experience was powerful and emotional. I felt invigorated and inspired. Truly it did not feel as though an hour had elapsed, I think I could have performed all night. Interestingly, I really started playing to the screen with my face or minute details of my body so that perhaps on the projected screen in London I really was a disembodied presence in every sense of the phrase. I felt like I was sharing different parts of myself freely, even disclosing secrets to strangers. Perhaps the best part of the performance for me is that I couldn't genuinely gauge the audience's reaction; all my movements and impulses were coming from an authentic place. It is refreshing to exist as if no audience will judge your actions or your non-action. My collaborators, Laura Cherry and Treacle Holasz (who were gratefully dressed in fashions by Ziad Ghanem), unfortunately had a much different experience with the audience which was in fact very critically and verbally judging them for the duration of 2 hours. It truly makes me wonder about the purpose of performance; the role of the audience; and whether we can make work that both addresses and dismisses outside participants. I hope to develop this work and explore more questions about presence, absence, liveness, and performance states that feel like trances. In the meantime, check out the new gallery of photos (photographer Nick Gough).

I'm also proud to announce we will be working with Experimenta Gallery in Hong Kong for a show on February 14, 2012. Check out their website: http://www.experimenta.hk/blog/

Live Absence, Recorded Presence

2011-09-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

MPG members Laura Cherry and Treacle Holasz will be performing a trio with Kate March on September 7th 2011 as part of Debut Contemporary's First Wednesday Series. Ms. March will be performing from **. As the group shifts and explores new ways to indulge in presence through digital media and cinematic dialogues several questions emerge. Can you feel someone's presence through absence? In this increasingly globalized world, how do we begin to value our absence of presence in order to maintain and develop meaningful connections between bodies? Does our physical proximity matter? Can you be remotely interested...

Press Release
How are you watching this? Me? Us? What is happening in your head? What emotion, what memory is this movement stirring in your mind? This performance explores how one perceives live performance and what it really means to be live. This is a physical theatre - dance piece choreographed by Kate March, and her dancers Laura Cherry & Treacle from The March Performance Group. The work has been created through a new question & answer style of multi-media choreography. Kate is working closely with the theme of Live & Life in ** posting videos of her movement online to her dancers in London who create movement directly from Kate's films & send back their filmed movement response. The choreography process & conversation is documented thoroughly due to the nature in which we're working. This enables the work to be more influenced by the thinking process behind the movement itself. The company are pioneering multi-media choreography embracing the technological advancements available to the dance & theatre world.
The group will also be collavorating with fashion designers Rosie Alia and Ziad Ghanem on the night

Taipei

2011-08-02T20:21:00.000-07:00

After a move to hong kong in June, I find myself now in Taipei helping to manage and observe 10 choreographers create 10 minute dances over the course of 3 weeks. Watching the performers and the choreographers work together to establish a meaningful connection and a special bond that will be translated into a piece, makes me very much long for my colleagues in London. If we were all together for 3 weeks everyday in a new context and new culture, what could we create together? What will are next theme be? After working together in June and July through cinematic and digital dialogues, the group performed a new section of a developing work, flesh and bones, and reworked our first piece, Phoenix. The feedback was very positive, and interesting to read as I have yet to see anything more than still photographs of the work we developed with our new process. Many people related the essence of the work to Greek tragedy and a few people mentioned the poet Lorca who I have been inspired by in past work in relation to his concept of duende. Perhaps we should revisit this concept together over the course of the next few months. Most importantly, being here in Taipei and considering my very new personal/ professional circumstances I have been contemplating and trying to articulate the value of absence rather than presence in human existence. We place so much effort and emphasis on presence and physical proximity that we tend to forget that such focus is only made on this because of the possibility and the reality of absence in our lives...especially in an age of travel, but always in the human experience, it is because everything will at some point lose physical presence that it becomes tremendously fragile for us. How do we balance presence and absence or remote and proximate? How do we retain a value for flesh and bones and still embrace the bonds that exist without them? I look forward to stewing over these ideas and having them burst into future collaborations near and far....

Public House Performance and Summer Plans

2011-06-06T02:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago the march performance group performed in a shopping centre in Elephant and Castle. There was an empty shop which was transformed into a living room space. Audience members were invited into the space for a cup of tea or a drink and to enjoy either visual or performance art over 2 days. In addition, people passing by the shop could participate by viewing through the window (we had many people from all walks of life enjoying a moment to pause and question what it was they were seeing through the window). The group met twice before the performance to begin to work on a vocabulary for a developing piece entitled "flesh & bones" which we are aiming to perform in the autumn. As part of the new associate artist scheme that we are a part of at Middlesex University, the group will be rehearsing at Middlesex this summer to explore themes of separation/disconnection of different parts of the self, renovation, rebirth, and redefinition of self. Ultimately, we may question various notions of presence and absence (in high heels of course). Please view this video for a partial glimpse into the Public House performance which will indeed contribute to ideas for the new project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKa0qOfvE6k

Please

An Evening of Surprises

2011-03-25T02:38:00.000-07:00

March 19th proved to be a triumph of a show. With an audience of over 90 people, the Old Boys Club was full to the brim with interesting and compelling characters. The atmosphere was intriguing and each corner of the room was filled with mystery, ambiguity, light, dark, death, and joy. I felt that each of the performers had their most shining performances both on and off of the table. The tremendous support in set design, costume, and makeup prior to the show, really made everything run so smoothly. Throughout the course of the evening, people at the table and beyond were fed and their pangs of hunger were satiated in several different ways. I could feel a transformation in the room from reality into a surreal world by the end of the night. I think my character began to develop into a whimsical mistress who felt both delighted, in control, and also in a deep agony over the events she was witnessing- I felt very torn at times, and almost with an underpinning of a desire to bring people into the same feeling of conflicted-ness. I neither wanted people to be comfortable and entertained or overly analytical and searching for philosophical meanings. I just hope people were existing and being present in the experience which changes each time it happens. The unpredictability of the night alongside of the controlled structure and timeline are so compatible because it then brings a menu and a mea that adapts to the stomaches of that particular audience. So many moments surprised me and excited me--it is always a pleasure to receive such positive feedback following the show. I look forward to performing this and developing this carnivorous and enrapturing dinner party for many evenings in many places to come. Please see the gallery above for pictures of the night. We will be producing a film of the evening as well. Finally, we are hoping to have a cocktail performance in the months to come.....

March 19th Preparations

2011-03-04T02:57:00.000-08:00

Kate March and Laura Cherry held an 'On All Fours' workshop on behalf of March Performance Group yesterday for several 3rd Year students at Middlesex University. The students' work in the position was very sophisticated and demonstrated again, the variety of different ways people physically or emotionally react and perceive the position. I will be interested to explore some of the ideas that emerged from the workshop with the group. Following the workshop, most of the group got together for a rehearsal for the March 19th event. The development of the piece is very exciting as new roles have emerged from Berlin. It is a luxury to be able to develop a work and it is thrilling to fall in love with the piece as a whole each time we rehearse or perform it.

The French chef, Michael Rabinovtiz, has offered a delectable French menu including various canapes for the guest tickets (£15); 4 different quiche choices including Quiche Lorraine, Mozzarella/ Oven roasted cherry tomatoes/ & Basil- Asparagus/ Artichoke & Goat Cheese- Chorizzo/ Black Olives & Manchego Cheese, and finally, his acclaimed mouthwatering Beef Bourguignon as a main (£35 or £45 for premiere seating and service). A beautiful dessert is being designed by a guest baker and will dazzle all senses when it is seen and tasted. Wine will be offered throughout the meal. The After Event will be a convivial celebration of march performance group's favourite month: March, of course.

Valentines Footage

2011-02-22T03:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a small sampling of the going-ons of Valentines Day.

The light was not ideal for video (as it usually is not due to the use of candlelight), so one is unable to see the striking makeup design by Mona Ragheb. The music by The Loves, which was quite like a symbiotic relationship, emerges from the video. The set design cannot be truly appreciated through the video, but then again, that is the beauty and the frustration with live art-it is fleeting and transitory.

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7eAxAEo1V0

Bloody Valentines and March Performance

2011-02-21T04:38:00.000-08:00

The performance on Valentines Day 2011 at Le Regal in Farringdon, was an intimate affair. The night included delectable sponsorship from Vintage Patisserie and set design by Lizzy Charles and Daisy Beattie. An environment which included candles, rose petals, old love letters, hanging cow hearts, and an halved cow heart, filled the audience and performers with an essence of nearly spiritual, ritualistic, and sensual longing. The evening, which included content inspired by the notion of Geisha Ghosts trying to connect with a human audience/human patrons, seemed to fill the every senses as several host and guest relationships emerged. As a performer, I felt transported into another realm. My feelings and expressions fell across a dynamic spectrum of emotions ranging from jealousy, to companionship, to loneliness, to joy. Other performers seemed to find a range of distance and connection to the audience, whose interactions ranged from shared smiles to various facial and eye contact connections. The relationship between host and guest or performer and audience member (though I hesitate to say audience member, as they seemed fully participatory and the space would not have existed were it not for their existence in partnership with our own) is continuously being pushed, pulled, and negotiated especially with the close proximity and the ritual of eating and drinking and being in the presence of both strangers and acquaintances. This will be a performance I look forward to developing and doing again.

Please view some of the photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=326974&id=671180663

Finally, I'm very excited to announce the March Performance Group's next event. In declaring our new relationship to Middlesex University as Company in Residence, we will be holding a updated rendition of An Evening of Meat on March 19th at the Old Cholmeley Boys Club in Dalston at 7pm. Live music, new faces, and some exciting surprises in store for our guests. To avoid disappointment, pre-booking is required and is easy to accomplish through paypal on the left of this post. Excited to see you there. - mpg

2011- Hair

2011-01-14T08:57:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone!

We have lots of exciting plans for this year and hope to continue to develop our group on a local and international dimension. We are proud to announce that Middlesex University has invited us to become company in residence over the next 3 years. This relationship will enable several exciting things including the opportunity to rehearse intensively and have a base in which to call a supportive home. There will be an official announcement to follow in the next few weeks.

We look forward to developing a new work in the following months to be shown in March. Further updates will follow in the next week. For now, enjoy a new video introducing the new theme of hair.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqJaaajKDuE

Furniture and Food!

2010-12-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

Great feedback from Notting Hill's First Wednesday Programme.

Silvia Nayla was an incredible furniture store that allowed us to use

our bodies as furniture: decorative and useful. Then, Tiny Robot, was an interesting restaurant, and it was an absolutely fantastic challenge. Pictures to come.

Check out what people have said:

http://www.firstwednesdays.co.uk/

http://markdolman.blogspot.com/2010/12/performance-that-needs-to-be-seen.html

post-rosa

2010-11-23T02:16:00.000-08:00

The name rosa comes from sub-rosa which is latin for under the rose. Sub-Rosa refers to secret operations, links to confidentiality between people, and is overall, something occurring without public notice; essentially, underground going-ons. Though the experience on sunday was private it was also public; part of it was in confidence, and part of it was extremely exposed. For this reason, it was not necessarily sub-rosa; it was a rosa event.

We welcomed our guests to the Marble Hill Pub. Hopefully there, they felt warm, invited, included, anticipatory. Perhaps after feeling warm and comfortable they felt slightly restless, wanting to know what to expect and when to expect whatever it was that might happen. After they followed the performers outside to the park space, unexpectedly they formed sidelines like at a football game. They divided themselves, keeping us in the middle. From the photography, it seems people were making choices about where they wanted to stand, move to, and for the most part, they remained alone in their experience of ROSA. On one hand, how the spectators received the 'performance' was utterly individualised and non-demanding. The spectators had the control over where they placed their bodies, how close they chose to get to the performers, and whether they remained in the bleak cold observing aggression, play, animalistic behaviour, or comraderie. Though it may seem demanding for an audience to watch something outside in the cold, it was their choice to stay. It could also be seen as non-demanding in that there were no specific seating or standing placements, people had the choice to control their body's positioning. Interestingly, many children and dogs were very engaged in what was going on; the public paused to see what was happening. Most audience members braved the cold. Going back into the pub, like post-football or rugby game attendees, was a breath of comfort, a resort to warmth....

My experience was mainly positive. I felt like I could really manifest aggression in physical form without holding back; the contract we had between each other and our bodies was special. We knew nothing was personal; it was just an expression of athleticism and force that we don't often get to approach so wildly without holding back much. I felt proud of myself when I remained standing. Though there was a moment at the end when I was lying on the ground face down and felt Laura and Nefeli lying near me. I suddenly felt more non-living than I could have imagined. I really felt like I was in another dimension. In order to break the tension, my body started a fit of laughter; in essence, I was laughing at death.

Following the performance it struck me how morbid the imagery could be seen towards the end. We embraced being physical with the body; we mocked the violence of society; we displayed people bringing other people down (women bringing other women down); we demonstrated instances of force that may have been seen as extreme as rape; and we were footballers anticipating the ruggedness of the experience or the possibility of injury. But we were in black, covered in dirt, and some of us were immobile and relaxed/exhausted to the point of total stillness towards the end. It could have easily been seen as dead bodies. We were at the end, encircled by the audience; human curiousity is strong. The audience's bodies contained us; they contained our life and our death; ultimately, there is an underpinning for people controlling people; people trying to control (unsuccessfully) death.

My fascination with philosophies of life and death, particularly, existentialism in relation to Simone de Beauvoir and other French feminists, suffuses the performance work we do as a group. I could not ask for more courageous, talented, and powerful women to work with. Also, the spectators that came are becoming and growing as a community. In the future, I think we will play with having just two people, or perhaps having many people. What would happen if men were involved? What if we stayed in our dresses and stilettos? There are many future possibilities and more spaces to explore with these expressions of the fight for survival; the fight to remain in a pack; or just an instance of the 'fight' within.

Will post more pictures in the Rosa gallery very soon. Special thanks to Nick Gough, Oz Owen, and Graham Bradley for taking some fantastic photos. And also to Marc Chmielewski for filming the event.

Pre-Performance Ruminations

2010-11-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

It's gray, cold, and gloomy. My body peers out into what's left of the pre-dusk light. How often do we get the opportunity to exhaust and test our physical limitations? I run outside, ignoring the possibility that my muscles will tense from the undesirable conditions. I see my breath, I feel blood coursing to every inch of my body. I can make it go, I can push it, I can struggle, I can fight. But my body chooses when to stop. The control is limited and an illusion.

The past rehearsals have been physical and forceful with an underpinning of affectionate play. What has transformed humans into such sophisticated species; what has led to the harnessing of raw human emotions? Sometimes being cosmopolitan, graceful, and a sophisticate is also exhausting in itself. Is there a place where the exhaustion of the physical and the exhaustion of sophistication can collide? Given the chance, I would rip myself out of niceties and grace and choose a state of rawness and athleticism that pushed my body, and hence, myself, out of the duality of power and vulnerability or of being in control and being controlled. Sometimes when we embrace and allow for physical exertion, the need to control is released and body and mind can exist collaboratively. Though I do not support violence, I believe there are moments when physically demonstrating aggression are more productive than withholding; it is productive to push each other physically; to realise our competitive nature physically. Can we exist as poised, elegant, sophisticated and also passionate, messy, unpredictable beings? The space where both exist is the most exciting place to have presence in.

Sunday November 21, 2010 @ 2:30pm. The Lions and Lambs collide

her name was rosa.

2010-11-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

A tiny sneak peek at something about to happen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D3cghk1EK0

Post-Berlin....New Project

2010-11-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Berlin was an amazing and inspiring experience. Felix Ruckert was a great producer and artist to be in the company of while we were there. The response was overwhelming and I think people wanted to ask more questions than ever....We are hoping to bring this to Amsterdam next....

The new project is inspired by fight club...except we're making it our own.

November 21 @ 2:30 at an undisclosed location....

Some new phrase work/gestures I'm working with: (Click the link)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7cTdvLZGoQ

Berlin, Here we come...PR links....

2010-10-25T04:30:00.000-07:00

The Berlin PR so far!

October 27th and 28th @ 8:30PM

by Jeanne-Salome Rochat
dance, fashion, kink/erotica, performance
London-based choreographer KATE MARCH is bringing her combination of theatre, culinary arts and social criticism to Berlin for a two-night gig in Wedding. The girls dance on dining-room tables and offer food to the audience sitting around them as a way of examining, deconstructing and endlessly reclaiming a female body’s weird power.
On October 27-28. Details HERE!

http://sangbleu.com/2010/10/13/kate-march-at-schwelle7-berlin/

http://www.kulone.com/ALL/Event/1246165-GIRL-MEAT

http://www.exberliner.com/events/girl-meat

http://www.nachtausgabe.de/event/293428/GIRL_MEAT_Dinner_Performance_von_Kate_March_2728_O-Schwelle_7_Berlin-Wedding_Berlin-Wedding/2010-10-27/2030

http://www.tanznetz.de/en/termine.phtml?page=showdate&did=20524

http://www.stadtkind.de/event/293428.html

http://veranstaltungen.meinestadt.de/deutschland/event-detail/26935951

Berlin quickly approaches and other performance dates

2010-10-16T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. After several different ways to name the group, I have decided on the march performance group... Like the month of March, we consist of lions and lambs. We make live art and we construct experiences in which audiences become intimately engrossed. Our inaugural tour starts in Berlin at Schwelle 7 where we will show our evening of meat (or girl meat) produced by Felix Ruckert. It is on October 27th and October 28th, for more details please click on the following link: http://www.schwelle7.de/News.html.

We have some press from this performance, please look at the following links:

http://veranstaltungen.meinestadt.de/deutschland/event-detail/26935951

http://sangbleu.com/2010/10/13/kate-march-at-schwelle7-berlin/

Finally, the piece we are currently working on entitled sub-rosa, will be performed at the Old Vic Tunnels from December 9-11th starting late. More information to come on this performance event.

Openness

2010-09-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Check out the latest movement ideas by clicking here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EogZjqlaFlY

h.e.e.l.

2010-08-25T11:21:00.000-07:00

A project which is a series of live installations and then cinematic responses to each installation created by me. Here is my response to the first installment at the old vic tunnels this past saturday...Episode h (of heel)......

Follow the links: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhLman_pxi4

Enjoy. More to come!

More Still Pictures by Graham Bradley and Oz Owen

2010-08-24T13:23:00.001-07:00

UNDONE

Red Light Night! Success...Pictures to come....

2010-08-24T12:46:00.001-07:00

The Red Light Night performance at the Old Vic Tunnels was a great success....Pictures will be posted soon. Here is a snapshot...I think I will call the evening: undone.

Tunnels Preview 2

2010-08-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

Click to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDMAaReJJvY

The rehearsing continues.

tunnels preview

2010-08-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Mary Sherwin, Treacle Holasz, Laura Cherry are amazing collaborators who took risks today at our first Old Vic Tunnels rehearsals.

Click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZeZg77rRQA

on the wrong foot.

2010-08-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

Jessica Noe` and I are feeding off of each other's bodies....I just took a bite out of what she had ot offer from NYC. This is my response to her nourishment....

Click here to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABwH1xTrDaY

(posted on youtube because this site was being challenging!)

Fall for something fabulous

2010-07-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-18T06:47:00.002-07:00

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

2010-06-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

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...

2010-06-07T08:58:00.001-07:00

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.

Getting Closer to Performance

2010-04-16T00:57:00.000-07:00

As we approach the performance we have been trying the movement without as much clothing to see how it effects the execution of the choreography emotionally and physically. It seems to be liberating for the performers though perhaps a bit uncomfortable to outsiders who are in the studio watching our process...

New footage

2010-03-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm playing with the idea of choosing to be on all fours. The distinct decision to be in any position affords a certain level of power and agency. Nefeli's character in particular will choose very clearly that she wants to be on the table and she wants to play on all fours for some time. She wants to define what the position means to her rather than the position defining what/who she is. Enjoy.

Images

2010-03-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

These are the images that have been on my radar since the research began.

Research Continues...

2010-03-24T06:28:00.001-07:00

I wanted to share some of the responses I have gained about the position from people not directly related to the development of the piece. In addition I have added some images that I drew from in the beginning of the project. I have decided to look back at these images after not viewing them for about 6 weeks. Initially I saw them in only one perspective, but now it has become easier to see the imagery in multiple ways after assuming these positions throughout the choreographic process.

Sample of Public Responses:

1. "Animalistic (is that a word?) Ask a little kid to act like a dog, cat, bear, lion, etc... they're immediately on all fours. It's the closest way most people (dancers excluded) can emulate animals. And on a side note, being on all fours makes me hyper-aware of my core/center.... not wanting my gut to hang down like a cow. :) I do not feel sexy on all fours, but maybe thats not the case for other people." (woman)

2. "I think in many ways it's a vulnerable position. It's also very primitive and powerful at the same time!" (woman)

3. "Ditto, and because the powerful and vulnerable can exist simultaneously, also very mysterious and sexy." (man)

Sample of Performer Responses (all women):

1. "on all fours: submission."
2. "grounded, unwinding from tension, balance, steady"
3."submission, dominance, strength, hierarchy, relaxation, solid base"

For me personally, this position is still teetering between pain and pleasure.

deepening the idea of 'on all fours'

2010-03-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

more animalistic approach to the position. featuring nefeli tsiouti, laura cherry, marina pogiatzi

Rehearsals Continuing...

2010-03-05T11:18:00.000-08:00

More rehearsal footage (Performers continue to develop their solos or duet through recalling and developing improvisations from being on all fours and from the notion of being consumed-literally, eaten alive.) Some important words from Emilyn Claid's book Yes?No!Maybe....Seductive Ambiguity in Dance......"Seduction in performance becomes an interactive, interchangeable, pleasureable play of multiple meanings and identites between performers and spectators-a physical action of desiring."

"submit to pleasure as a statement of power.." (171)

I begin to really refine my research now as I ask: can the woman's body be submissive and dominant on all fours?
Other questions beginning to surface: What does the position 'on all fours' mean for a woman? How is it perceived in different situations, cultures etc.? Can this position be a source of power? Can being in a submissive position be a source of power? Are images of women, therefore, their bodies, being consumed by spectators?

women tabledancing

2010-02-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

Latest Footage: Share feedback please!

Ideas in a Nutshell Thus Far. February 17 2010

2010-02-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

Refinement Video 2

2010-02-17T03:02:00.000-08:00

Exploring movement ideas all derived from being on all fours.

Rehearsal Refinement #1

2010-02-15T03:28:00.001-08:00

Every rehearsal I will be compiling all of the movement into the most refined moments on film.
Here is what we did so far.

Venue

2010-02-15T03:22:00.000-08:00

This is the space for the dinner party, it's the banquet room at Candid Cafe near Angel.
Check out more about Candid Cafe at http://www.candidarts.com/

Taste and Consumption

2010-02-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's all about having, finding good taste. Beautiful, good, proper (with a little edge):

TaStE-----------
Taste as an aesthetic, sociological, economic and anthropological concept refers to a cultural patterns of choice and preference. While taste is often understood as a biological concept, it can also be reasonably studied as a social or cultural phenomenon. Taste is about drawing distinctions between things such as styles, manners, consumer goods and works of art. Social inquiry of taste is about the human ability to judge what is beautiful, good and proper.

Social and cultural phenomena concerning taste are closely associated to social relations and dynamics between people. The concept of social taste is therefore rarely separated from its accompanying sociological concepts. An understanding of taste as something that is expressed in actions between people helps to perceive many social phenomena, like fashion, that would otherwise be inconceivable.

Some judgements concerning taste may appear more legitimate than others, but most often there is not a single conception which would be shared by all members of society. People with their individual sensibilities are not very unique either. For instance, aesthetic preferences and attendance to various cultural events are associated with education and social origin. Different socioeconomic groups are likely to have different tastes, and it has been suggested that social class is one of the prominent factors structuring taste.

Pierre Bourdieu (1 August 1930 – 23 January 2002) was an acclaimed French sociologist.
Bourdieu pioneered investigative frameworks and terminologies such as cultural, social, and symbolic capital, and the concepts of habitus, field or location, and symbolic violence to reveal the dynamics of power relations in social life. His work emphasized the role of practice and embodiment or forms in social dynamics and worldview construction, often in opposition to universalized Western philosophical traditions. He built upon the theories of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, Georges Canguilhem, Karl Marx, Gaston Bachelard, Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, Erwin Panofsky, and Marcel Mauss. A notable influence on Bourdieu was Blaise Pascal, after whom Bourdieu titled his Pascalian Meditations.
He used methods drawn from a wide range of disciplines, particularly philosophy, sociology and anthropology. His best known book is Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, in which he argues that judgments of taste are related to social position. His argument is put forward by an original combination of social theory and data from surveys, photographs and interviews, in an attempt to reconcile difficulties such as how to understand the subject within objective structures. In the process, he tried to reconcile the influences of both external social structures and subjective experience on the individual (see structure and agency).

Tabledancing woman

2010-02-09T04:40:00.001-08:00

I'm considering covering more parts of the body than I anticipated, maybe the food just needs to be presented around the body, with only certain foods as decoration on the body to give an overall impression from the beginning of the dinner party.

phoenix dress rehearsal

2010-02-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

A Research Scheme

2010-02-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

Idea: Rework dinner and a show into interdependent entities rather than separate but related events.

Methodology:

Play in the studio and film in the studio with creating evocative movements in the smallest amount of space beginning in the 'table' position. Creating passionate and interesting movement that will draw people in as they engage in a highly socialised environment. Experiment on tables.

Interview potential audience members and create short pieces to try out the idea on several groups of people.

Attend Cabaret, Burlesque, and other typically performance/food or drink related events in London and other cities. For example, Afternoon Tease! is the original burlesque afternoon tea party. You sit down to a full spread of afternoon tea and are interrupted in the nicest possible way by stunning burlesque and cabaret performances. I hope to interview performers and audience members on their reactions, what draws them to these events.

Research nyotaimori, a Japanese tradition that refers to "female body presentation", often referred to as "body sushi," is the practice of serving sashimi or sushi from the body of a woman, typically naked...Interview people in this field about what the clientele is like and how they approach the body.

Work with a fashion designer to create costumes appropriate for placing food upon, while retaining a level of sensuality and mobility for the performers.

Engage with the pre-performance ritual of cleaning the body and preparing for long levels of stillness, perhaps through film.

Find collaborators in the catering business and a proper venue space.

More Research for ' moveable feasts'

2010-02-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

Imagery for next piece

2010-02-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Phoenix Rehearsal Pictures

2010-02-05T07:53:00.000-08:00