Friday, September 17, 2010

Performance # 1 - Public space really?

Response from Kate Nankervis
Co-Founder of Intersection Project

Public space really?

Intersection Project's Performance #1 launched on Saturday September 11, at 1pm. 25 performers (dancers, actors, clowns, visual artists) gathered on the traffic median between Union Station and Royal York Hotel to perform the 1 hour spontaneous public performance.

Front street was buzzing with all types of people with one thing in common; they were in the same place at the same time, AND they caught a glimpse of Intersection Project. (ok, two things in common)

It was the many pedestrians who were open to engage in the work in their own special way that was so awesome for me. Some highlights were a twentysomething man and his dog who joined in a group walking section where the whole group formed a line and traced a serpent pathway the length of the median. Another man and his 2 children walked through the space at least twice. The group got a "nice bum" compliment in a tight knit group formation from a passing car. Several people took photographs, approached performers with question about the project and asked about the sidewalk chalked blog address. One lady sat for almost the full hour of performance on a cement block in front of Union Station.

The best reaction for me was actually in rehearsal when a Union Station security guard approached us, asked us if we could not practice in front of the entrance ramp. His comment was something like "what you guys are doing is really beautiful but you're blocking an important entrance ramp... but you are all really beautiful I've been watching from above." It might be a highlight for me because my biggest concern for our first performance was security. Not if the 25 performers were at risk or if our dance might pose a safety issue or risk to anyone, but in fact the security personnel who are hired to keep our "public spaces" safe. In a similar event to Intersection Project which we did last May at Union Station and Habourfront Centre, both locations which are presented to the public as being "public", but in fact were not up to having dance apart of their site. Not only were we asked to stop dancing and leave, we were also treated very dis respectively. What happened on May 1st is of the past, but from this event fueled some important question Intersection Project wanted to pose during our 10 month project.
What is a public space?
Why are we not welcomed in these "public spaces" as a mass group doing gestures and movements no different than those of the people who are walking by.... we walk, we run, we sit, we look around, we smile at each other; is it because we do it in a large group together in slow motion that we propose a threat or an uncomfortable situation?
Is seeing a crafted group movement such an unfamiliar scene that public, security personnel and institutions do not know how to respond therefore respond in a protective, assertive, may I even say aggressive manor towards a peaceful collection of bodies dancing?

What do you think? What is a public space? How do you wish for people to respond to dance or performance in public spaces?

Kate.

2 comments:

  1. First.
    People seem to be scared of things that are different. A group of people doing the same thing in public is different and therefore scary. I think things like the Intersection Project make dance more visible, and so slowly (hopefully!) groups of people doing the same thing in public will not be so different, and not so scary.

    Second.
    When security guards and police start to understand that groups of people can get together not for the purpose of violence, but the simple joy of movement (or solidarity or community), then public space might become more public. Groups are scary because if they turn violent, they can obviously overpower the few. Artists are not scary rebels. We are not the Black Bloc. Artists want to spread joy, not fear. We want to join up in laughter, not in arms. The news doesn't always have to be about fear and war and depression – why can't it be about beauty?

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  2. Every time you work in a "public" space each time is a new experiment.

    Each time a group or an individual prepares or improvises something to share in public, it immediately alters the context of the work. Once it is out of the studio, it becomes a new animal. This is because each time you visit a site, it is different- the social codes, the weather, the physical environment, the mood of the day, your body, your "audience" and all of their influencing factors, etc etc forever.

    I think having expectations about what you will "achieve" during the action can stifle the potential of the work. To ignore such an integral aspect of the work (WHERE you are) by expecting that it holds the same 'conditions' as a studio or theatre is not seeing site-specificity for what it can be.

    To comment on the "public space" aspect of your question- I think in this case it has less to do with WHAT we do in space but rather WHERE it is situated. The security guards you were in contact with are hired by the city or by private sectors- reminding us that PLACES ARE OWNED. This is something to take into consideration. The social codes of that place exist (if that factor is something wish to change, talk with your city counsellors or even better organize in your neighbourhoods where the real power is). If you consider deeply the space you are as an integral element of the project, then your security guard could be considered as a choreographer/active element of the piece, someone who is making choices and actively altering how you move and interact with the space.

    As for the public audience who witnessed the work, big groups ARE scary due to the atmosphere that history and recent events have incubated. People are affected by world events and thus a group doing something "out of the ordinary" has real connotations for real people (because in public, ANYONE is your audience- not just people who seek out an experience by going to the theatre). The more work made and performed in public, the easier it will be for audiences to digest and understand it. Without the 'contract' of the theatre, the audience is ill-equipped on how to behave. Which can be a powerful and amazing aspect for performance to use to its advantage

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