Rhythm One Choreography

Contemporary Performance Special Effects Festival, New York 

PARTICIPANT INC. Manhattan Jan 11th and 12th,  2014

Participatory performance including a pair of oversized compasses and an audience.

Standing in my grey suit, I hold a pair of oversized compasses. I present a prologue to the audience detailing what I imagine it would be like if we draw and jump in different systems and speeds together. Then I ask if they are up for trying it out. At the same time; foreseen and unforseen choreography of movement patterns, rhythmic patterns and interaction between the participants occur. - like a dancefloor where you agree to certain movements and a dance floor that never stops. The participants decides when the performance should end. In Manhattan It lasted one hour.

 ''I made the compasses. I imagine that tonight we will fill up this space with circles and sound by doing two things; by continuously drawing circles and by jumping inside the circles at different speeds–a bit like I just showed you, but simultaneously, all at the same time.

So when I jump here, someone will jump over there at a different speed - and at the same time, someone will draw new circles elsewhere in the space. 

One persom begins drawing circles  … one,  two, three…or more... and then they will pass the compass on to the next person who will continue drawing a few more circles–and then pass them on again.

At the same time everyone else including myself, will fill up the circles by jumping right into the center of them at different speeds corresponding to the size of the circles –the smaller the circles the faster the jumping-speed and the bigger the circles the slower the jumping-speed
When someone draws new circles others gradually fill out the other circles by jumping inside them. One in each circle.

When you draw with the compass, you can draw a bit away from the people who are jumping, so you don't crash''

Photo ©Nisa Ojalvo 2014