If a dance piece is different in a theater than in a gallery, white box vs. black box, how would it change in a movie theater?
in an elementary school theater?
a high school theater?
a college theater?
the art gallery next to the black box theater at the college?
at a theater at a university, a university without a dance major?
in the theater of a university?
in the theater of a PAC 10 university?
in the foyer of that theater?
in the bathroom off the foyer of the theater of the PAC 10 university that doesn’t have a dance major?
in a bus stop near that university?
the bathroom at that bus stop?
the bus that just left the bus stop?
the bathroom on that bus?
the Wendy’s that bus stops at 3 hours later?
in the parking lot of the gas station?
next to pump number 3?
next to pump number 7 that Henry in a red and green plaid shirt is using to fill his Toyota Tundra’s tank?
OK, forget all that. Â Let’s go back to a traditional performance space.
A sprung bamboo floor on a 15×10 meter rectangle of concrete with radiant heating. Â The concrete is 20 cm thick. Â Surrounding the dance floor is gravel. Â This floor is in a room that has 5 other such floors and each one is surrounded similarly by gravel. Â This room has windows on the north and south sides and has an arched roof. The walls are white; the gravel grey; the ceiling silver. Â The east and west sides have brown sliding door 4 meters long and 2 meters tall. Â Each door has a cement landing and benches.
Maybe this isn’t a traditional performance space, but my dream studio.
OK, back to this piece…hmm…how about this – We, in the performance world, shall never make a new piece ever again, but agree upon 1 piece that we will all repeat in different contexts. Â Never again will we have to worry about what we will do. Â The only question is where we will do it.
P.S.
There are an infinite number of contexts (as there are pieces).
I’d rather make the pieces than the contexts.