Sunrise video inside David Ravel's solo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoAiBbcKRUM


After entering the space, eating a small bowl of soup, and looking at the view, David was pointed to a small alter on which he was invited to watch this video.

Kayla's solo

I've never attended a theatre or dance performance at 9am. Student
matinees at 10 or 11am, but not at the very beginning of my typical
work day (which, upon later reflection, I probably should have just
started work at 10am that day instead of 8:45). It threw me just
slightly (I was off-kilter the rest of the work day), and before it
began, I felt a similar responsibility to other solo receivers from
this project to be present/focused and enjoy the gift that was made
available.

Once in the room, the initial concern over being distracted was no
longer an issue - you held my attention and kept me entirely engaged
for the full 45 minutes. Most fun was the ability to semi-control your
improvisation with the word 'develop'. It's probably a pretty standard
improv exercise, but very fun for an audience member! I was so
appreciative of the musical theatre research you admitted to (and you
did very well as a beginning drumset player!), and I now have one
more moment to remember (and giggle at) the next time I hear "shut up
and drink your gin!"

Due to my job in the Dance Dept, I almost wanted a location other than
Mitchell 256, even if you did make it your own. It was just a little
too closely connected to the rest of my work life, which probably led
to my off-kilterness the rest of the day.

I know that for my solo and the constructed environment, you weren't
just drawing from the survey questions themselves, you were using what
you know of me. Thank you for the ceremonial ending to the solo, and I
am honored and blessed to have experienced this project personally.
Kayla

Carey's solo for Paul

Paul's response to Carey's solo:
"If you were a billboard today, what would it say?" this was the question posed to
me by Carey. I immediately responded "PROVIDER".

I received my instructions via note on a nice clean sheet of notebook paper:
"Horseshoe traffic circle at Sandburg, 9:30 am. I approach. You walk until you're
done."

Being of German descent, I timed it so I would be IN the horseshoe of the traffic
circle at EXACTLY 9:30, easy to do as Sandburg has a digital clock out front. 9:30
on the dot, I'm in the traffic circle, but no Carey. (I would learn later that we
must have circled each other in this very small area like a Keystone Cop
choreography. How two people do not see each other in a 40 foot space with no
columns in it remains a mystery to me, but that's what happened. According to my
senses and experience, NO CAREY. I anticipated a kind of rich providing coming my
way. Carey -- the little I know her, just 30 minutes or so -- is highly energized
and I think has a flair for drama, and could be a fountain of goodwill. But NO
CAREY.

And then it dawns on me: BRILLIANT, EXCELLENT, FANTASTIC, SUBTLE, DEEP, EXCELLENT
(BECAUSE IT WAS EXCELLENT). Carey is providing me with SPACE TO MYSELF. I walk to
the gym. I float, thinking about the excellence and euphoria of someone giving me
this space on my own. So clean, unobstructed, private and yet provided for. It was
definitely different than just going to the gym. It was a gift of the gym. The
focus and attention of it being Carey's piece, completely energized my gym
experience. Heightened my attention dramatically and, well, excellently. Through
the whole hour I was there, I kept sighing and laughing to myself. What a simple
stroke of genius.


Later when I found out that Carey had intended something else, I hoped she would
genuinely understand how wonderful the absence of action had been. It was so
special and moving, even if accidental. So I wonder what Carey takes from this?


I still do want to receive the cornucopia that I think Carey has in her, but this
one was just right.

Solo Performance on Saturday open to the Public

There will be one Evidence solo that I'm inviting anyone to see if you'd like to witness one. It'll be Saturday, July 31 at the playground on Maryland and Hartford, across from the Sandburg dorms. 

Kate Hewson will be receiving the solo. Please sit or stand somewhere that is slightly covert (not on one of the benches) so that you can watch the watching without becoming a part of the event. 

This solo is not 'exemplary'; they are all totally different but this one happens to be at a site that's amenable to other viewers. You'll get a small taste of the nature of the work. 

New York Times article

Check out this article in the New York Times, July 28, 2010 about One to One performances happening internationally.

David's response

I was intrigued by the idea of a solo for one person, but I was only moments into
the piece when it hit me that this was a solo for me, and the responsibility I felt
for that was kind of shocking -- who am I to demand this time, this space, this
consideration, this discernment from a near stranger?

I don't remember my dreams, so it is delightfully uncanny and generous to be given a
dream in the form of this dance, something I will remember. And this dream is most
definitely mine; it's images and logic come from my data. It makes sense in that
deeply visceral way in which you know a dream is true even if, and especially
because, you lack the words for explanation. The piece uses language, and I love
words, but it's greater resonance comes from the way it slips around and dodges
words yet strikes some core truths.

While the piece hit upon most of the details from my questionnaire, I am most
impressed and moved by how it always returned to my "billboard", and how that served
as the theme. That night, sleep was hard to come by, I think because of how the
piece stirred my psyche. That morning, when driving to work, a couple of things
came to me in a flash, things until now I held vaguely but now can be voiced.

I think this is the purpose of a dream.

Thank you.

Carey's solo for Tom

Tom's response:
Dear Carey (and Amii)

TaDa indeed! What a delight it all has been & continues to be even in this 'exit
interview'. It's a brilliant concept and rich in it's depth of experience. I felt
joyous, amused, thrilled, & confused/uncertain (a man was sitting on the second
bench in the park, was I to sit next to him? I chose not to, probably a good idea.)
I also forgot my own answer to something lost....haha hoisted by my own petard and
forgetfulness. I loved it all, from the chance operation of things, the specificity
of details, the gift wrapping and instructions, the kinesthetic approach, being
forgiven was SOOO very emotional, what a gift. I loved watching and being watched
and watching others watch. I was compelled at first to dance along, what a strong
pull that was, so glad I didn't, OK I did one arm circle. And the layer of flotsam
and jetsam on the curb side that you incorporated - loved the chair, the rock for
ipod placement (I didn't want to leave it unattended tho it turned out to be safe)
and synchronicity - a piece of music ended just as you ended a certain phrase of
dancing. The solo's end and disappearing into the distance was brilliant. The
whole thing existing before it began and continuing after it was over. I was glad
to sit with my friends (2 had joined me & were among the park people) as we sat and
talked and shared and watched the full moon rise from the lake. Magical &
pedestrian, playful and abstract, exquisite and ordinary. Thank you.

best,
Tom

Devotion

I'm giving a solo later this afternoon at 4:45. I'm nervous. I've been preparing all day yesterday and today. And not preparing. But thinking myself into the state necessary to remember and inhabit this solo, and to climb out of the anxiety that gets kicked up worrying that I'm not going to hit it right. I remind myself about devotion. How does devotion work? It's its own force, it's own motor, and you can keep coming back to it for fuel and material.

In my rehearsals in preparation for this work, we talk a lot about devotion. We talk a lot about legibility. In fact, those are the two main concepts we consider when we try to shape a solo. Performing a solo for one spectator is a devotional act, and it has to be legible in order to be received as devotional.
If I'm PERFORMING for you, then it's about me sharing something I've made, am making, am thinking, am feeling.
If I'm performing for YOU, then I'm trying to give you something about you. AND me.
Or at least that's the premise, the question, the score.

I do think that if I can pour myself more completely into devotion for my spectator (whether I know him or not--though I do know his answers to my questions and therefore I know a chunk about his interior) I can climb almost totally out of the fear of failure/fear of lack of connection that can injure a performance. It's the old conduit thing again--be a raft, be a door, be a bridge, be a portal. It's not the thing itself (I don't have that) its access to the thing (he has that). My job is to do my performance, to pay attention, to witness, maybe to entertain, to be the door.

Amii's repsonse

Karen,
I chose you because you are a thoughtful person who I don't know well but
you obviously have a sense of investigation in your life. You're not a
dancer but you've been around dance and bodies a lot.
You are kind.

When I turned around finally and saw you gone, I was
surprised, then heartbroken, then so happy for you and the exchange. I was somehow proud of you that you put that punctuation in there. It was so firm and decisive. Oddly,
when I got to the very end of the hallway, I began to 'dance'. That was my
goal. I danced for your absence. I danced anyway. I danced even though you were gone. It felt like the dancing at the very end of the hall was the 'proposal'. I made you wait and wait as I moved over and through obstacles and punctuated time (gurgling was spontaneous but as I
was doing it I realized it was about fracturing time, stopping and
starting, drinking some and never swallowing--an odd uncomfortable
approximation of my interpretation of the waiting one does for a proposal
that will change your life.) then finally arriving at the end of the
waiting and dancing.

but you were gone.

it was beautiful.

that you watched for so long and then found your own end was very moving
to me.

i danced for your absence, for the empty chair.

i proposed to you even though you weren't there.
thank you.

Karen's solo

This is Karen's reporting on her solo study I gave to her. I asked if I could give her a solo and asked her Billboard--her theme of the week, her operating principle these days. It was "When will he ask me to marry him?" which was about as rich as it could get.
Following is our conversation afterward about intention and interpretation.
This study had the same rule as Kelly's, in that I asked the spectator to leave at some point during the solo when she felt it was done or when she felt done.

"When you walked a little ways and then turned back to look backwards, I first
interpreted it as being on a timeline and constantly looking back to see or pausing
to see if my expectation would happen. Although, to be honest, the further it went
along I felt as if you would look back to see if I was still there watching which
made me question how long I should be staying.

I loved how the further you went away from me, the less distinguished features
became so that you would become more of a darker silhouette. It was a really neat
image, especially since your movement was much more gross (whole body). You were
always framed by the right side of the door frame for me except when you crossed
over to get a drink of water. I noticed that there was a garbage can obscuring a
small part of the bottom right part of the frame which only really bothered me when
you were still close by and in the first door frame.

I liked that your 'activities' were simple and spread out because it made it easier
to analyze for this and remember everything you did. When you got the drink of
water, my first thought was you were thirsty and maybe you hadn't started yet but I
soon assured myself this was a part of it. The girggling of the water made me want
to laugh quite honestly. It was very playful and weird and I was surprised how loud
it was from a distance. I couldn't figure out why you would be doing that though and
couldn't really relate it to myself. When you girggled periodically with pauses in
between, I was a little uncomfortable because it almost sounded like you were
choking on water or something and went on for longer than I wanted.

Then you moved to a doorway with your leg left out. I loved this! I love the
silhouette of your leg and pointed foot. For me it was once of those symbols that is
sexy and enticing with just a leg out of a doorway.

Continuing on you crawled under/through a "floor is wet" sign. At this point I
briefly wondered if you had set this up because it seemed so perfect how you were
walking to these different points with different aspects to play with. Of course, I
fully believe it was improved. Because of the distance away from me, it was
difficult to see exactly what you were doing with the sign other than crawling
through it as I couldn't really differentiate what body parts were through or doing
what. I did however love the look of the pointed sign above your body and when you
stood up with it behind you, it was so neat to see it visually pointed and aligned
with your legs. Somehow you were perfectly aligned with it. I thought it was a
clever use of the sign. But once again, struggled to see its personal purpose to me,
other than the possible symbolism of slowly and awkwardly going through my life
right now.

Next you jumped up and crawled over something, which I couldn't even tell what it
was. I thought this was a great contrast of moving under/through something to
climbing over something along this timeline.

Finally, I was surprised to see you continue on. You went through another doorway
and disappeared briefly behind the door. You then began winding back and forth in
and of visual sight to me. Because I couldn't see you very well, you could say I was
somewhat frustrated and distracted and you were so far away I felt really good about
that point being the time to leave for me. I think it was partially also that you
couldn't see me leaving so I felt more comfortable with it because for me, it feels
so awkward and rude to just get up and leave during a performance. Plus, this was my
least favorite movement because I didn't like that you were out of my visual sight
for so long. I was slightly curious if you would continue further or if you would
start coming back towards me.

Another thought I had was I love to watch dancing, and I was concerned that I could
watch forever. However, once you began, I noted it was more activities and movement
and less the "typical" thought of what dancing was, plus I did have the concern of
not wanting to be there too long because of my boyfriend. However, I tried to not
let that cloud my judgment. Overall, I feel I didn't stay that long at all and might
have considered staying longer, but because of the situation, I really felt it was a
natural point to leave. I did feel good about it afterward and in some ways felt a
little energized. I really spent more time analyzing and enjoying the silhouettes
and overall images you were making rather than symbolizing and interpreting the
movement to be personalized to me, especially since it seemed so random. Because of
the rain, I didn't think much about the movement immediately afterward. Instead, I
found myself thinking about it a lot while lying in bed and interpreting and
recalling the little things you did. I was more so entranced by the curiosity of
what you were doing, then the deep personal meaning of it."

Kelly's duration dance

I created an assignment for the performers in Evidence as part of our rehearsal process. It was to explore duration as a part of the exploration of making and performing these solos.

Here's the prompt: Please do a short solo for someone not in our group. It
could be a fellow student or a prof or someone related, such as the
caretaker of a kid, etc. The exploration is on Duration and Frame.
Most of us crafted our solos based on content and less on
structural, visual, and formal ideas (timing, duration, frame of
reference).

So the prompt is this: do an exploration of duration. How long can you do
one legible thing before either you have to transform it, or the spectator
is finished? So we'll ask our spectator to be a co-researcher. You ask
your spectator to give you ten to fifteen minutes after a class. You ask them, if your last week were a billboard, what would it read? You, the performer, should decide on a distinct
site spot where spectator will sit/stand. Put them there, or tell them
where it is. You could lie them down. . . .whatever. Experiment with how
they can be situated.
Consider a clear point of view: what will they see? will it be far or
close? long or short? clear or obscured?
Consider duration: how long can it last? when does it get 'boring' or
'used up' for the spectator?
Consider timing: how fast or slow do you do it? how much repetition?
You might be able to do basically anything--a dance phrase up your sleeve,
something pedestrian, something involving others, a feat of some sort. I
think the exploration here is the where and how long, not the what, though it should be informed by the phrase your spectator gives you.

Tell them you are going to perform for a while and they should leave when they 'are full', 'get bored', 'feel complete', 'want to move on'--however you want to phrase it.
So SPECTATOR leaves, not you.
You are asking them to give you feedback with their actions. If they don't
leave, keep going, letting it transform, but remember you are playing with
duration, timing, frame/perspective.
You could do something where you are barely seen, or seen only some of the
time or in such a public space that you recruit others.


I did one for Kelly, a dancer who was in class today who I worked with as part of a piece I made for Danceworks co. She's a hilarious person. She told me her billboard was No Drama for This Mama, after a week of much drama around her she's been trying to avoid.

I situated her behind a glass window just after the Union and before the Library, protecting a passage leading to a parking lot; there was a long paved path she looked out on through the glass that ran down to Maryland Ave. I began with my back right up against the glass, very close to her. I had a diet coke. I had sun glasses on and pedestrian clothes. I found a heavy trash can and with much effort and fanfare, I moved it to the center of the path. It was lunch so many people were walking all over the place. No one stopped to stare, though I was comedically struggling with this dirty beast. I tried to mount it, climb on it, and do a handstand on it. That was my 'drama'. My job, as I saw it, was to create a dramatic task and try to wheedle her into getting involved but stopping her before she did. I ran back to her occasionally and asked if she could support me, but only if she wanted. She was confused as to whether I was performing or not. I returned to the trash can, tried to make it steady with some branches as shims, and tried to do a precarious handstand on top again. I tried over and over. I moved it laboriously elsewhere. I tried again. I asked for support again. I looked at her many times, pleadingly. I ran to mount it. I lifted my shirt up more and more so my whole belly was showing, to create 'drama'. I did some rib isolations. I was being as dramatic as I could trying to get this mounted handstand happening. After about 15 minutes, she finally came over to help, but I told her she really shouldn't, that'd I'd gotten myself into that mess and should get out of it.

She left.

This is a blog that aims to share process, experience, and insight about the workings of this project. Evidence is described as this:

A custom-made solo performance
for a single spectator (you?)

Choreographer and performer Amii LeGendre, with members of the UWM MFA Dance program,
presents a new project: Evidence. This work, or rather the concept of this constantly
newly created work, has been performed by LeGendre in a variety of settings nationally.
Now it's being performed for intrepid spectators in the Milwaukee area.
Solos are performed July 24-August 1, 2010 in a bunch of specific sites on the
University of Wisconsin campus.

Each solo performance is choreographed based on your
response to a questionnaire about your life experiences.