This week has all been about preparing for my performance for the Studio Chongqing symposium at the Chinese Arts Centre curated by Nina Chua and Jessica Longmore. Before it started Jessica introduced the event and whilst she was doing this I noticed that two people were standing on the stairs which I was shortly about to walk down backwards holding a fan. I quickly moved across the room and asked the people to come off the stairway one guy was like, why do I have to move? This really put me on edge and he was rather defensive which is the last thing you want just before the start of a performance. When Jessica finished I asked the group to turn of there mobile phones and then directed them down stairs using my message fan, which read COME WITH ME. There were over thirty people although it felt like more as they moved down the narrow stairway. As we descended the on hold music grew louder and I held the group in the reception area starting to move and gesture people by moving the fan back and forth. I took out the band in my hair, threw it into the crowd and shook my hair loose whilst watching the audience.
Framed by the doorway I then moved backwards into the darkened room, take my shoes off and leave them to act as a barrier. On reflection I could have done this a little further into the room, as people seemed to literally stop when I started this action that meant other people were left in the reception looking through the door and window. I continue to dance, turn the fan off and turn to move the mobile wall dividers in place still jigging about to the music. Leaving a small gap I use the fan again to direct them through into the second space still watching them, dancing and holding the fan up high. I can feel that the batteries in my fan are fading and I am worried that the power is going to die. I continue holding up my fan at the front of the room until the last person is seated. The lights go off and I operate the electrical screen then play the plane video. I could feel the audience were unsettled, but what do I expect I have just led them into a small dark room and the door has been shut behind them. As the music kicks in and the video goes into reverse I can sense some relief in the audience and myself. I wasn’t happy with the quality of the video for lots of reasons such as the scale should have been bigger, it looked pixelated and too bright. However sometimes you just have to work with what you’ve got and apart from these minor details technically it went well.
Rachel Marsden has reviewed the event: http://rachelmarsdenwords.wordpress.com/2011/04/22…
