Variations on a theme: virtuosity
The Gold Saucer, Vancouver 2017 / Photo credit: Analissa Longoriayour lunch, a colour, french toast, your phone number, gelato repurposed. it’s not a fridge, it’s a fucking fridge.
Some of these movements are Layla’s. For these (and many other things) I thank her.
Goran Bogdanovski, Tamar Honig, Joao Rios. Thank you, too.
Performed by Matilda Cobanli on May 9, 2017 at Josef Eckart Theatre at SEAD, Salzburg.
Performed by Layla Marcelle on June 20, 2017 at The Gold Saucer in Vancouver, BC.
JUN 19TH, 12:07PM
-there's a bit of a feeling that you're playing that game where you are playing that game where you are trying to make someone laugh and they are trying to make you laugh and the first one to laugh loses. Meaning, you can waver and smile a bit if you lose the deadpan/straight face but seeing you try to get it back becomes really funny (or at least feels really funny) because it's a bit competitive in a way. Or there are stakes? You're dancing very seriously and it's the best dancing maybe ever but you're dancing it at someone's bar mitzvah or something and that's the only place in which you can pull out these moves. I don't know if that makes sense, but there's a definite feeling that the context doesn't fit the dance or vice versa.
-you don't really consider or acknowledge the audience until after you've placed the pepper in the fridge and you've made it to your starting position. You look down at your feet and check your parallel, stand straight and take a breath before you start. It's very serious and deliberate.
-hand boob eye moment: eyes closed when you're touching and then open when you release and then close again when you touch.
-your gaze stays facing front the whole first section except to adjust your pant leg (if you do), so reaching for foot without looking. (It's more awkward)
-you keep this staring contest with the audience even as you're sitting down awkwardly
-make eye contact with 3 people as you pan right, then 3 more as you pan back to where you started
-eyes and connection to the audience drops entirely as you head to the fridge (you're on a mission and you've kind of set your resolve)
^ pt 1
-after you eat the pepper your focus is down for your walk back to the front and stays down (kind of sheepish/a bit pissed but determined until your arms go into the first frozen arm swing (time arms and the head turn)).
-you try to keep your head fixed and your eyes on the audience (only your arms should move) but maybe you fail (and maybe you suffer so much the arms drop as well?) but you try to get it back. Don't be afraid to really suffer if that's what you're living.
-your gaze drops in the walk around and then back to the audience for the last freeze.
-you turn to the corner for the last movement section. You place your feet, but then turn to look at the audience before you adjust to the wider position, then turn your head back to the corner until you get to the hand switch (you can choose if looking to the front for the thrusting feels right for you. I liked switching my hands looking at the audience and then turning to the corner for the thrusting).
-look back to the front after you push yourself back to parallel, then turn your back on the audience to go finish the pepper.
Sometimes I wanted to look back at them after finishing it (or while eating the rest -with intense eye contact). Up to you in the moment
For the fridge opening when you first eat the pepper: once you've opened it, put your hands on your knees and ponder the contents of the fridge for a second, despite there only being one item inside. As though you have so many options and can't decide what you want. Once you take the pepper and take a bite take the time to really chew while facing the back. Take another bite and return on the diagonal (keep chewing for a while.)
-there's a bit of a feeling that you're playing that game where you are playing that game where you are trying to make someone laugh and they are trying to make you laugh and the first one to laugh loses. Meaning, you can waver and smile a bit if you lose the deadpan/straight face but seeing you try to get it back becomes really funny (or at least feels really funny) because it's a bit competitive in a way. Or there are stakes? You're dancing very seriously and it's the best dancing maybe ever but you're dancing it at someone's bar mitzvah or something and that's the only place in which you can pull out these moves. I don't know if that makes sense, but there's a definite feeling that the context doesn't fit the dance or vice versa.
-you don't really consider or acknowledge the audience until after you've placed the pepper in the fridge and you've made it to your starting position. You look down at your feet and check your parallel, stand straight and take a breath before you start. It's very serious and deliberate.
-hand boob eye moment: eyes closed when you're touching and then open when you release and then close again when you touch.
-your gaze stays facing front the whole first section except to adjust your pant leg (if you do), so reaching for foot without looking. (It's more awkward)
-you keep this staring contest with the audience even as you're sitting down awkwardly
-make eye contact with 3 people as you pan right, then 3 more as you pan back to where you started
-eyes and connection to the audience drops entirely as you head to the fridge (you're on a mission and you've kind of set your resolve)
^ pt 1
-after you eat the pepper your focus is down for your walk back to the front and stays down (kind of sheepish/a bit pissed but determined until your arms go into the first frozen arm swing (time arms and the head turn)).
-you try to keep your head fixed and your eyes on the audience (only your arms should move) but maybe you fail (and maybe you suffer so much the arms drop as well?) but you try to get it back. Don't be afraid to really suffer if that's what you're living.
-your gaze drops in the walk around and then back to the audience for the last freeze.
-you turn to the corner for the last movement section. You place your feet, but then turn to look at the audience before you adjust to the wider position, then turn your head back to the corner until you get to the hand switch (you can choose if looking to the front for the thrusting feels right for you. I liked switching my hands looking at the audience and then turning to the corner for the thrusting).
-look back to the front after you push yourself back to parallel, then turn your back on the audience to go finish the pepper.
Sometimes I wanted to look back at them after finishing it (or while eating the rest -with intense eye contact). Up to you in the moment
For the fridge opening when you first eat the pepper: once you've opened it, put your hands on your knees and ponder the contents of the fridge for a second, despite there only being one item inside. As though you have so many options and can't decide what you want. Once you take the pepper and take a bite take the time to really chew while facing the back. Take another bite and return on the diagonal (keep chewing for a while.)