Monday, July 2 Performance: “No
Tresspassing in the Barn”
documentation written by Alex Fayer (21)
On Monday, July 2nd, Brood 13 took a fieldtrip to camp Algonquin. On our way there we passed an abandoned barn that Nicole has seen several times on her way to and from Camp Algonquin. The barn created the perfect tableau if you watched from across the street and people performed behind it.
We started our work on solo performances that day by each pulling cards. We then talked a bit about solo performing and split up to work by our selves. Each person had a different way of finding inspiration. Lori watched chipmunks, Elizabeth doodled, I went for a walk in the forest. Nicole pulled a card reading, “The bomb will have been dropped by 2024,” and tried to come up with scenarios in which that didn’t mean total Armageddon. Selena had to write up the documentation from the previous day as we had run out of time, so she didn’t have time to come up with a performance until we were at the performance site.
Our performances were very much in the developmental stages and were very simplistic to start. Lori’s card, “Health care for all.” Inspired her to walk by, bleeding, then walk back healed. Selena’s card, “Everyone will have food and live with dignity.” inspired her to do a performance in which she turned her “belly-shirt” into a full-cover shirt. Nicole’s card read, “In 2024 the bomb will have been dropped,” so she danced around singing “You Dropped the Bomb on Me.” My card read, “There will be a cure for M.S.”, so I tried to convey the idea of freedomfollowed by loss, followed by hope by running and loosing my joy, then regaining it. Elizabeth’s performance included her walking up and waving while Lori told her to smile.
All in all it was a good day. While our performances were very simple and may not have accomplished all we wanted, we made a promising start on what should prove to be a very neat experience.
Tuesday, July 3 Performance: “Equality…or
Snot”
documentation text by Lori Moore (17)
Well, it’s Tuesday, Puddin’ is gone for a couple of weeks, and Alex had to attend one of his classes. Today we chose one card which said: “The U.S. is under communist rule” written on it. So, we first had a discussion about communism. We started out by walking to a nearby wooded area that Selena had been to before. We just sort of looked around for a little bit. Nicole told both Lori and Elizabeth to just simply “walk among the trees, and touch some of them,” so we did as told.
Then, Nicole told Lori to run, and Elizabeth to act as though she was looking for something at the bottom of the trees. Then, Lori told Nicole and Selena to play hide-and-go-seek among the trees. After a little while, Lori told them to continue in what they were doing, but now with their eyes closed. Wow, how interesting! Then, Nicole told Lori and Elizabeth to start doing the “Lori dance.” Eventually, 3 of the 4 of us were doing the dance while the other gave us ideas on how to change it up. We got some ideas from that.
Lori had one person sit, one person do it gracefully, and the other person do it relaxed. Selena had each person do a different turn every time, and Elizabeth changed up the speed. We ended up using Selena’s spinning idea as part of our final performance. Lori had the idea to do the dance with just our arms, and with just our legs. Nicole asked us which one of the moves from the dance we thought had the most to do with communism. Selena said the roll. Lori said the triangle move, because all of the sides are equal, and in communism, everything is equal (people, money, etc.) So we were going to roll in a triangle, but there were four of us, so Lori suggested that we roll in a square, because in a square, everything is always equal.
We did the performance just outside the McHenry Community College in the middle of four sculptures. The sculptures were arranged in a square. We made up the four corners of the square and proceeded to dance around it. We rolled in a square shape, and spun around differently each time. It was quite exciting!
Even though our group seems to be shrinking every day, we still manage to perform. It’s what we do. This performance wasn’t really for an audience. Some people walked by and slowed down while looking at us sort of weirdly. (They were just wishing that they could have been performing with us, too!)
Oh, the wonders of what tomorrow will bring…GOT HAM?!?!
Thursday, July 5 Performance #1: “Prevailing Peace”
documentation text written by Selena Lester (14)
Intentions:
In 2024, peace and love throughout the world. Each person to feel loved and to be loved and good about themselves, family, and the world.
In 2024, people will be nicer to each other and will walk through their days smiling and saying hello to everyone.
In 2024, the term “genocide” will no longer exist in languages.
Today, Lori and I made a routine about genocide, world peace, and smiling and saying hi to everyone. All of Brood 13 decided that as part of the performance, we would spend the entire day smiling and saying “hello” to everyone we met. Then Lori and I made a performance together. We didn’t know what to do so we just goofed around and made it up as we went. The spot we chose had a pole that said “May peace prevail on earth,” which went with no genocide. We had a reason for each move and named them various things. In the end we documented it and showed it to Nicole.
Thursday, July 5 Performance #2: “Trying to Care”
documentation text by Nicole Garneau (37)
Intentions:
In 2024, peace and love throughout the world. Each person to feel loved and to be loved and good about themselves, family, and the world.
In 2024, people will be nicer to each other and will walk through their days smiling and saying hello to everyone.
In 2024, the term “genocide” will no longer exist in languages.
Together with Brood 13, I spent my day smiling and saying “hello” to everyone we met. In the afternoon I made a solo performance. Brood 13 had spent the morning researching genocide and genocide memorials. But memorials to genocide are hard for many people to truly connect to in a way that will make the actual horror in any way real. Our research had revealed that often, clothing of genocide victims is used as a poignant reminder of real lives lost. So I took a leftover white shirt from our stash and tore it into 50 strips. On each strip I wrote “please care” in green marker. Then I went back to the library and wrote down the call numbers of books about genocide from the card catalog. I then placed my 50 strips of fabric inside the books as bookmarks.
