Behind Breakwall

#breakwallbodies

A new iteration of BREAKWALL will appear in ARTPRIZE 7, opening this week!  On the occasion of our West Michigan return, I am sharing a very short back story to the work. Sometimes, simple things are not so simple.

Breakwall describes embodied memories from my childhood in West Michigan, growing up one just sand dune away from the lake in Grand Haven. It also describes my chosen role as an artist.

A break wall is comprised of cut wood pilings driven deep into the sediment under the lake. Collectively, they form a barrier against erosion. I focus on the shared responsibility of each piling. Whereas individually, they would be unable to change the course of the tide, together they maintain a foundation (even if that so called foundation is actually an accumulation of shifting sands).

I have a visceral connection to the break walls of West Michigan: I enjoyed the beaches they protect and sensed their strength while jumping from one to the next, daring the waves to catch me.

I bring those sensations into this installation and performance piece. As with my larger art practice, Breakwall emphasizes individuality within an environment of collective action. During performances, dancers activate the space with their bodies as instruments. They build a symphony of sand and wood, processed through computational software and amplified back into the installation.The performers demonstrate how this rich visual environment is a place of opportunity.

Viewers are invited to explore the sonic experience through the interface of their own bodies. What does it feel like to be the lone sound in a landscape? How are leaders born? How are movements sustained?

Breakwall is a piece about patience. It lingers.

http://www.artprize.org/megan-pitcher/2015/breakwall

And Me In My Place : Wrapped Utility Boxes

“Citizens Art Box”

I cannot get over how perfect this call for work is, so I spent way to much time showing the Downtown Cleveland Alliance that they needed my work (our work) wrapping the utility boxes on Euclid Ave.

Submissions sometimes take hours to prepare and if you are not chosen, no one sees them. I can’t have that. Here you are world. Imagine my art in you:

WHED: Links Hall THAW

MegLouise presented a simple Adaptive/Responsive score for Links Hall’s annual fundraiser, THAW 2015!

We modified what has become known as the “controller” score to include subtle elements from the upcoming Waist Hifh & Elbow Deep production. One performer leads another around by the neck, expressing near full control. That connection is extended beyond the physical connection into manipulation of the performer through the use of a hand as a type of controller. The obedient dancer is eager to fulfill all lead actions. They move toward the hand, wherever it leads.

This updated excerpt of previous controller scores ended up having a strong similarity to techniques developed for Theater of the Oppressed (Columbian Hypnosis). [ http://youtu.be/B0r9MmTgsuk ]

   

     

Quick Choreo: Identity

 

WORKSHOP // MOVEMENT & CONVERSATION

Non-dancers participating in a survey course of dance history concepts are introduced to basic Labanotation and possibility. This is part of their “Dance & Identity” unit recognizing a shift from large group (cultural/national) identifiers toward individual identity.

Method: Introduction of notation system and basic symbols (high, mid, low, left side, right side, forward, backward, and combinations); Practice instant choreography methods using symbols and simple scores as prompts; Work in groups to develop a movement chorus based on a given score; Exclude any codified movements (*in this workshop students requested three exceptions: cartwheel, worm, arabesque).

Results: Some participants show hesitation in choosing their own movements. They say that it would be easier to be given movements to master. We discus the range of reasons why they feel more comfortable doing what they are told. We relate the conversation to modern dance icons including Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Ruth St. Denis. We consider the expectations of individual choreographers today.

 

Special thanks especially to Adelle Gribou, Cita Strauss, Madeleine Scott, and Mary Williford-Shade for sharing their generous approaches to LMA, notation, and movement development during my formative years.

Open Offer

Part of the Waist High & Elbow Deep ruptural bodies project #WHED

Score //
– initiate get to know ya chat. . . I have some things I’d like to share with you
– offer chocolate
– place body into desired location. . . Come (over here) by those already initiated
– introduce hug, extra long
– stay here while I invite a few others to join us
– repeat and end. . . thank you for sharing

Variations//
* encourage/allow conversation of “the initiated”
* possibly: give those waiting a task?

Goals //
– Carving intimate space from out of the public/social sphere
– Maintaining and reinforcing intimate personal space through intentionality and contact
– De-sexualizing the female body in public/social spaces
– Contextualizing the female performer
– Offering opportunity without dictating actions or reactions

Presented at Feverhead for Love, Magic exhibition and performance event; facilitated by Megan Pitcher & Lindsay Phillips

Extended Considerations //
http://saulezuk.com/Hug-performance
http://animaproductions.org/hug/about/project-history/

Stop Dancing

I remind everyone about the internal monologue during training. How we talk to ourselves in classes is important. I credit the astute Shelly Senter (my Alexander Instructor) for reminding me that how we talk to ourselves in life is important.  So then, here is my manifesto.  I want to change the conversation in my head and I want to move beyond the bounds I had previously allowed myself.

StopDancing.Manifesto

Google Search Gold #whed

When searching for Waist High & Elbow Deep on a simple google search, this popped up.  I’m so glad it did:

Don’t put the fork in the computer

Don’t put the fork in the computer

In my least terrifying but sufficiently annoyed voice I tell my two year old the above instructions. “Never, never, never put anything in those holes.” I force her to repeat it back to me in a way that assures me she understands. Ok. Momma will be done working in a minute.

Up comes the fork again straight for the USB port.

In a rush of *Are you expletive serious?* I shout her name and the fork recoils before damaging the target. The computer is set aside; the child is ordered to her room. The back of my head voice asks, Are you Serious? Because there is an online grant application due in something like thirty minutes. In computer/Internet worlds, that is actual crunch time, because who knows how that will go. Who knows if it will fail to load on the first try. These things can be testy.

But, no. I am sitting breathing long deep breaths on a small child’s couch in my small child’s room. I hold her hand; remind her to breath.

She breathes. I know very well that she was ready to do whatever I told her not to do because she was willing to do whatever it took to keep mommy from working in that moment. No, I cannot always drop everything to usher my love into dream land. But in that one moment, I thought, I cannot submit this stupid grant saying that my art will be a change agent in society if I cannot take ten minutes to be a change agent for my own child.

Right now. We don’t get to choose our moments.

Surrogacy

Scores for Living Room
One Director / Others participants

Required Prop: Largest available soft item (pillow, cushion, stuffed animal)

Intention: personify the plush item and have it take on your emotions/ experiences

Tone: this is SO close to a therapy session tool that I want to be very careful in development. . . let it be fun, easy, and humorous

WHAT TO DO: Work out the scenarios with your prop/puppet, it is not you doing these things (total displacement), have an almost apologetic air to it as if you can’t help what the prop is doing. Take turns being director and choose what scenario speaks to you:

– needs to cuddle, seeking contact
– getting someone out of your spot and/ or trying to
– being nosy getting into things (they shouldn’t?)
– being some other version of selfish or rude

PARTICIPANTS: Play out the scenario and try different possible reactions, allow it to be ridiculous and degrade into general silliness

On the backs of those less fortunate?

Score for Living Room
(One Director, Others Participants)
Director: Angela (1st), Meghan (2nd)

One person at a time, build the item listed below. Physically place and adjust your participants. You can use props (like a bowl on a table, a cushion on a sofa, etc). You can build one and then rearrange people to try another.

1. Sofa
2. Side table
3. Shelf
4. Rug
5. Closet
(Other – office setting? Kitchen? …)

Use nonverbal body language and talk as little as possible. Language when you must talk should include words like: build, support, help, need you, appreciate you, wow you are made for this, naturally good at this. The language should reinforce the idea that people are made to be used by you (The way that women are made to serve? Or the way a lover is supposed to please you? Or the way that laborers are praised for being great servants for capitalism, etc.)