This (2017)

This stripped-down, performance style with its limited vocabulary of isolated words “this”, “that”, “here” is direct and engaging, bringing to mind the playful work of one of my performance heroes Gary Stevens.
– James Yarker, Artistic Director of Stan’s Cafe

This is a performance for galleries, foyers and studio spaces. 

Working with a restrictive script of ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘here’ and ‘there’, two performers introduce and explore two collapsible tables. It begins with clear description, but soon enough pointing, tapping, and repositioning gradually escalate into scrambling, shaking and shouting. Exploiting the gestures of demonstration and demarcation, This reveals the slippery slope from instruction and exploration to violence and control.

The two performers seize unpredictable results to pursue temporary games. Body and furniture become exposed as they contort around one another. The unstable demonstratives (‘this’, ‘that’, etc.) slip from object to gesture, pose to architecture, and the troubling relations between performer and audience. Skirting the ever-present threat of meaninglessness and void, the two figures swap from salesmen to scientists to lecturers to giddy children.

This is a lo-fi performance that can be performed in most kinds of spaces. It is highly improvised, and critically responds to each context it is presented in. We love This, and we never want to stop performing it.

This responds to contemporary questions of choreography and sculpture, by returning to the restless and rebellious bodies of slapstick. Rohanne wrote her MRes dissertation about This and the figures of the ‘clown’, ‘idiot’ and ‘fool’, through the lens of comedy, silent-film, modernism, Bruce Nauman, and fidgeting. Much like in This, she got a bit distracted. 

Performance: First presented at Rich Mix (London, May 2018). It was developed with the support of DanceXchange and Dance4. It was later performed at Vivid Projects (Birmingham, June 2018), Central Saint Martins (London, June 2019) and Backlit Gallery as part of Nottdance 2019 festival (Nottingham, Sep 2019).

Work-in-progress performances took place at Groundwork at Chisenhale Dance Space (London, 2017) and TaPRA (London, 2017). 

James Yarker wrote a blog post after seeing the work, that you can read here.

Photos by David Wilson Clarke.