by Buddies
on February 17th, 2012
in Uncategorized
From Rhubarb Intern Kari Pederson
It’s Week 2 and the orders keep rolling in. Last Saturday, we watched as Eroca Nichols and her crew of dancers filled performance orders that had been taken in the
Made to Order café, as well as some that were taken here, on the blog.
After seeing
Yellow Towel for the first time last night, I knew I needed to take dance artist,
Dana Michel’s performance order. Yellow Towel sits somewhere between performance art and dance, murmurs and muscles. You can’t miss it – it’s the first show of the evening, 8pm in the Cabaret. Curious? Check out Michel’s order from below.
Following Yellow Towel is
affliction, a dance performance presented in association with
Cahoots Theatre Company. Created by Thomas Morgan Jones, affliction is a physical exploration of Multiple Sclerosis danced by Jones, and Clare Preuss.
PERFORMANCE ORDER FORM – Dana Michel
What do you want the dance/performance to be about?
Short answer:
About how I don’t have silky smooth hair.
Long answer:
The piece is about hair. About how my hair is not blonde hair, how this has caused much angst. Having black-lady hair is DRAMATIC. I’m over it now, I think. But it’s a funny matter, a serious matter, a somehow heart-breaking matter, and a matter that I feel I need to discuss. Yup. I’m going to do some unearthing in terms of this whole Caribbean woman raised in North-America has done a number on me. Everything in life is doing numbers on us all the time, and this is the facet that I’m obsessed with at the moment.
Describe the movement and sound of the dance/performance.
Disjointed, awkward, shy, preposterous, lazy, cracked out, dissonant, uncontrolled yet restrained, stereotypical. Frog, transformers, Deep South, Kawasaki, ggggguuuuurrrrrrrrrrll. groan.
What should it look like?
Easy, honest, barren, warm, casual, stark, simple.
Costumes?
White mesh tank top, yellow tights, black baseball cap, extensions.
Site/Setting?
Close to you.
Lighting?
Maybe the same lighting you would have in a cooking class in your neighbourhood.
Any thoughts on Music (a particular piece of music, or genre)?
What one would expect!
Is there a mood or theme you would like the piece to communicate/explore?
Comedic outsiderness. supposed margianalism and disability.
How many performers?
Just the one!
Any other ideas or thoughts to share?
“My hair is not white hair. This is obvious & stupid and used to hurt me. My hair is not white hair or Chinese hair or Mexican hair or even horse hair & this used to piss me off. Now I like my hair. Except when I see na na’s hair. Then I like my hair and her hair – but her hair more than my hair.”
Who are you?
My name is dana michel.
What do you do?
I think you’re asking about my choreographic and performative pursuits.
Age?
35
