Near Lifetimes, a choreography for audience, encourages all in attendance to ambulate, navigate, straight-up move and merrily-go-round, tune in or out, or see and (possibly) be seen. Conglomerate, follow, find comfort, or be still. Stand, sit, lie, float, fly. This place isn't without you and you and it.
AUdience-Performer Response 1
"...so so so much space to move in, to be invited in, to respond with awe or action, to relax and/or be drawn in, to be surprised by someone something, seeing and experiencing in 3D, 4D, multiverses colliding...visual images were delicate, space, dark space, shooting starts and bursting moons, the magic of doors were opened...a place for every body, a place we all could live in, where all is possible, where you are tickled into play. It was the best "audience" can be involved experience I have had...i never performed but i was always in it."
AUdience-performer response 2
"I did not want to leave. I did not want to get out of it. It was raw but not forceful. It was bold but not aggressive. It was quiet but not without meaning.
It felt like I was listening to myself after a very long time. Like I tuned into some radio station which was simple, unadulterated me.
It was art all right. It required solving no problems, thinking no nothings, it was feeling, moving, seeing or not seeing, lying down and appreciating the chance to do all that and more. With no answers to give. "
Ease of lines formed in unadorned ways. Tentative space held in coolness, calm. Diagonals discovered (or not). An invitation to do something hard in such a softening space. Looking in and being looked into/through someone else’s eyes. The subdued clarity and shifts of moon’s face, of sun’s eyes. Small stones, longlines ascending into black ceiling. Knotted ropes held fast and lying coiled or stretched into floor space. Firmament without starts open up as I settle into the floor. Small activities in relationships both coincidental and controlled. The quiet of the sound score vibrating the spaces between people and things, between my own breath and the firing of synapse’s choice making. The hums, vibrating strings, pulses and far off echo of tones finding me like ships find lighthouse and don’t find rocks.
Audience-Performer Response
AUdience-performer Response 3
"I saw physical elements that invited me as the audience to move through time, considering history, future, and present realities. I saw elements that invited me to move through different realities; imaginal, literal and virtual. Always, a gentle invitation without strong expectations. I felt gently guided to engage with the space...This performance was “audience-centered.” The space was created for the audience to have their experience. They were the center of this performance and could make decisions about their experience."
AUdience-performer Response 4
"As spectators, we don't usually see a performance from the performers perspective. It was fun to be a "performer"; even much more so because it was spontaneous, without a rehearsal even! ...it was fun to be able to participate and perform with complete strangers. Isn't that something that we do anyways, in the normal, everyday routine of our lives? We interact with strangers all the time. Why not put that in a context where we can interact on an artistic level instead of a personal level?"
photos by Manuel Rotenberg