dance #321, tickled to death

Friday November 6, 2009

Tickled to death

9ish at “It’s About Time,” a Dancemakers performance in the Distillery District. A dancer sits down in a chair and readies himself, arms lifted up in front of his body. He counts “1, 2, 3, 4, ….” and on and on. Two dancers come up from behind him and lean into his body to tickle him. He’s already laughing before they touch him. Squirming laughter, painful laughter. They keep tickling, and he keeps counting “88, 89, 90…,” barely able to get the numbers out, his body contorting in anguish. Screams and hollers peel out of his body. In some moments he seems to be overcome and can’t go on. The ticklish body tortured. The audience can’t help themselves. Some laugh with him. My own body is tense and laughing nervously. I squirm, feeling his pain. Time in this choreography is elastic. They run through a single choreography multiple times at different paces, generating new experiences for themselves and the audience. Augmenting time produces amplifications. Bodies multiply, intensify. Compressing time generates accelerations and minimizations. Time affects matter. The dancers experiment with exertions (holding breath, tickling, jumping, carrying heavy weights) at different pacings.  I feel resonances with my own sensibilities of time. Alice was here earlier. It was a cold day. Some bright sun. Early dark night. Bright half-moon.

~ by nmyers on November 8, 2009.