resonant passings (2009)

For the practical part of Simmons' thesis from LABAN, she wanted to express her observations of the human body through a movement based piece.  Research centered around intimate exchanges between two people, whether strangers or close to each other.

Curtain drawn, the audience entered from the back stage area of the proscenium theater and chose their individual seat. The performance began, hearing bits and pieces of interviews of intimate exchanges between people previously recorded.

Each dancer had their own directive and did not know what the other dancers were doing at any given moment. Pools of spot light segregated audience from performance space, though the audience became more and more engaged in the piece throughout the 20 minutes.

Dancers demonstrated moments of chance to the audience, attempting to create connections and demonstrate live time unexpected reactions. Exchanges developed over time, between the performers, between audience and performers, and eventually solely between audience members in multiple ways. Hand written notes given to audience members at the beginning of the performance directed them to whisper, tell a personal story, or hug someone at the end of the piece. The ending faded away as a memory resonating through the space.


Dancers:
Hannah Chadwick, Tim CJ Chew, and  Anna Crofts and audience members


Photography by Laurence Burns ©2009


Sound taken from interviews