How interactions tell stories

Nikima Jagudajev: "The leading questions of this research are: Can a choreography maintain itself as a stranger to itself? And, is it possible to make a dance phrase that is choreographed but still invites the unpredictability of visitors? I feel like there is a way to create a set of rules that considers various chains of events and is constructed in such a way that different choreographic pathways are only opened up if certain things happen. For example, a visitor walks diagonally from one side of the room to another, opening up one choreographic possibility that had not yet been made available. Or three people end up in the same corner of the room, which unlocks another realm requiring another performer to scream. These are just ideas. The game—both the rules (the myth) and the actions (the ritual) that offer reorientation and disruption—will be developed during this residency."

"The plan for this focused working period is to develop some kind of protocol that provokes movement around the room, interaction between collaborators, and the possibility for interaction with strangers. One proposal is to play out the high school house party: moving between the dance floor with music, the snack table with a spiked punch bowl, the bedroom where everyone is making out, and the front porch laden with smokers. These different rooms will provide us with a multiplicity of moods to engage in. The scenography and the other characters will be make-believe, and the focus will be on the movement: body language and interactions."