Sept. 24th after 4:30 Show

Bertie Ferdman: This is the first time I saw the performance, but I saw videos. My 7 year old kept asking me, ‘when will the show start?’ – ‘no no, when will the show start?’ So my question to you is Did the show ever start?

A: I think when people began lying down, that was it because it seemed strange people would lie down in a space like that. That activity let me know started when the performance.

BF: So you felt that the show started when something strange or different began happening? Would you guys agree?

A: I thought the performance began when people began being loud. It was a noticeable change in the performance. The raise in the voices was jarring. So, that’s when it started.

BF: So that’s a show because you noticed it happened? Or because everyone is coordinated?

A: I don’t know if I would define this as a “show” – to start with defining the experience, me I think of a show as a formal presentation on a stage

A: Something that has boundaries and is on a stage, has an audience and you don’t stay after. This felt more on the scale of an Alan Capro thing happening instead of a show.

A: The first thing I said, have you ever walked into a space and you’ve been looked at by so many different people that you feel like you are the show? In a way, it’s like as soon as you walk in everyone is ready and everyone is the show. You’re watching your environment as soon as your environment started.

A: That’s the question you’re always asking as a performer. If no one is there to take it is it a show? If I’m not performing for anyone, is it a show? If we’re all in the show and no one is watching the show, is it a show? If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there. Were there moments where you wanted to be a part of the show? I saw five airplanes and a helicopter cross and I thought – why isn’t anyone else watching it?

A: When people began laying down? I saw a dance raise her arm – it was so obvious but it’s too strong of a difference for me to participate immediately. I want to watch, and not perform, on my day off.

A: So, how did that evolve and when? I wasn’t sure of when or if I was supposed to lie down. It took me a while to get into the performance. The beginning was meditative, and it was a nice way to be introduced to the piece.

A: To be fair, once they created a pattern and were head to head – there was a pattern that needed to be completed. It was an invitation to me.

Noemie Lafrance: This is the first time you’ve seen the show?

A: Yes

NL: I’m not sure that everyone would have noticed that. It was partially created that way with a strong demand to ask you to lie down in the beginning.

A: It felt like there was no time, I wanted there to be more time to establish the pattern.

A: Have you had anyone be a total anarchist?

NL: Yes, yes we have.

A: I felt that I held up the anarchist part of the bargain. When someone came up to me and said ‘Can I teach you four moves?’ I said ‘No’. I felt like someone should inhabit another part of the space, and I normally play along, I’m a dancer too, but I felt like we were watching an experiment in heard mentality and not everyone should be a part of the heard. I didn’t want to be a part of the heard. So when Fabio asked me to perform four different moves, I realized and said to him – ‘You can’t leave until I start dancing, Can you?’. I just wanted him to stay there and be my personal entertainment. If this is a microcosm of the human psychology and our relationships to each other - Shouldn’t someone hold down the fort?

A: I wanted to yell ‘Ban fracking now’ over the group! With a heard of people and an important message it’s an important opportunity. So, I’m saying it now.

A: I wanted to yell out as well, and had a really strong temptation to initiate. I did a few small things, but they quickly disintegrated.

BF: To pause on the topic of initiating things, did anyone feel as if they initiated something? Or feel an urge to initiate movements? To me, it felt like if you’re in it, then nothing was happening. It’s like living life if I’m living life then I can’t observe it. So then it’s just happening and that’s what I do everyday. At one point did you think I do don’t want to be in it because then I can’t experience it? It’s about spectatorship and participants.

A: You can always be a spectator even while you’re participating, but the view you get is different. It’s not a bad thing, I joined the line and I study history I thought of the big picture, but I noticed things happening and people moving how they move and that’s also observation that I wouldn’t normally see.

A: When I joined in, it was easier because I felt like I knew what I was doing and can just follow. It’s easy to participate. When I was standing out on the outside, other people are moving and I didn’t know what was going to happen. It was more difficult then because more things were happening and I continued to question what I should be doing next. On the other hand in the movement I could just continued going back and forth and not think about anything else. It was lighter on the inside.

A: A challenge for future shows would be to create a dynamic explosion to push it into a complete show and then push back into another social experiment. It was great to watch the subtle change and watch it change into a performance and show. To watch it go one step further and change from a room full of people into a show and then back again into a room of people would be amazing. I’d challenge you to push it to include those shifts. I desire that because I’m in theater

NL: I desire it as well, but the thing that challenges us is that once we begin performing we reveal the dancers. This enters a different realm of performance. I value your feedback and we had moments like that in previous shows but it felt strange and off-putting to people.

A: It’s ostracizing because suddenly they feel like assholes, because they were participating and then they are standing around thinking oh I can’t do that.

NL: It’s hard to plan because you don’t know how people are going to react. Walking in lines doesn’t work when there are too few people or it depends on where they are located. People were sitting before the show, and that changes the way we change it. Every little thing changes everything.