Hi, Solo # 9
Hi, Solo is 1 evening of 3-minute solos, happening 2 times a year at Pieter Performance Space, Los Angeles. #9 was 9 artists, curated by Alexsa Durrans and Miles Brenninkmeijer, and took place on November 9, 2019.
solos by: Alana Frey, Autumn Randolph, Cheng-Chieh Yu (in collaboration with Sarah Jacobs and Darrian O’Reilly), Chris Emile, Christopher Argodale, Emily Lucid, Sebastian Hernandez, Simone Forti, Tamsin Carlson
Simone Forti on Alana Frey’s ‘Flour’ and Emily Lucid’s ‘Guardian Angel’
Hearts and Minds
Flour. A balloon is blown to size and fitted with a reed. Alana Frey, situated forward and to the side, her hands as if full of milk dripping from the fingers, eyes rolled back, is being played by the sound of the prepared balloon emptying, her internal energies simultaneously sinking and rising with the drone. When the air stops sounding the reed, the action will end.
Alana writes that this is a practice of the pelvis and that which dangles below and above it. Her attention is clearly inward on sensation but also on the concept, the focus and parameters of the piece.
The sound, too, is conceptual- as composer Jamie Green fills the balloon-horn with 4 and 1/2 breaths of air, which is equal to three minutes of body performing.
To make 3 Standard Stoppages, Marcel Duchamp dropped three one-meter-long threads from the height of one meter. The random curves they assumed upon landing were transferred to three wooden slats with edges shaped to match the curves of the threads. Thus, the alternate ruler.
Guardian Angel, (Choreography by Emily Lucid and performed by Emma James and Camilla Carper) could have taken place eons ago in a dark forest full of predatory beasts. The hunter-gatherers huddle around the campfire listening to this familiar song, “He called me a homosexual. Knocked me to the ground. He said, ‘Stay there for three minutes’”. And the song is about the beloved protecting angel. At one moment the angel rests her head on the singer’s shoulder.
I too have an angel, who one time kept me safe in a dark street on a late night when confronted by two muggers. The singing voice, full and familiar, brings sensation to the listeners’ hearts.
Simone Forti likes to juxtapose different elements, leaving energy space between them.
Alana Frey on Simone Forti’s ‘Window’
small call whenever there is air, or the presence of fate. the body is soft around the small stick of bamboo. if sound is wanting, it comes vibrating (i am familiar with this too).
air can be a hollow in the body. i think Simone is discreet, like this. air might whistle out. a clear passage, a window.
the feet are in black shoes, weightless in her wearing of them. an exquisite softness like this. there are no directions available to face. Simone not facing the wall, nor the audience, nor the corner. she does not meander and she is not casual. there, that occasional presence of sound. and that occasional presence of the feet in the shoes, on the floor. they are not planted, they are certainly not taking flight. they’re pretty good as is.
then, like window and how you can put your hand through when it’s open, and touch the glass when it’s closed, and it’s cold- the wandering ceases, the small bamboo is placed on the floor. the lights go bright.
a horizontal presentation and the slight smile from this, and the softening of face and attitude that must follow.
the horizontal presentation is: both arms go open. one to the left, one to the right. there is no extension or reach in it. nothing happening in the arms and hands to exclaim direction, but rather the Left and Right is indicated through Simone and the Action. still, a definite energy, an expansion, a burst even, when the arms go, out to the sides.
with arms go one foot and one leg, one at a time. right, together, left, together.
right: the right foot steps out to the right side and takes some weight so that the right knee bends and, because of this, the right arm appears more energetic than the left. that is subtle. then the right toe on the rubber sole of the black right shoe skims the floor, like a child might, towards “together.”
“together” means: where both feet and arms greet the body.
left: the left foot steps out to the left side and takes some weight so that the left knee bends and, because of this, the left arm appears more energetic than the right. then the left toe on the rubber sole of the black left shoe skims the floor, like a child might, towards “together.”
this does go. there is no Anatomy to speak of, but i still like to describe the movement and directions. this is a wonderful situation.
the bamboo is on the floor.
Alana Frey is currently at work with dance and sound. she is invested in a non-invested rigorous research practice of performance-making (or, letting performance make).
photos by Alexx Shilling
