shadow performance

Four shadow performances took place on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 in FVIM322, my Video and Performance class at Emily Carr University of Art and Design. The class was divided into four groups (3-5 people in each) and was given 1 week to prepare a 3 minute performance. Each group took their own approach to the task of collaboration. I will briefly describe the 3 performances that I witnessed as audience.
Group Two:
4 performers, wire sculptures, colourful one dimensional hand held 'puppets' of planets, and live music (drums, shakers, and voice). The screen was framed by the silouette of a string of pom poms.
Enter 'fair maiden' with a makeshift bouquet of grasses and a fantasy of love. She is met by a fairy god genie who gives her a magical tea that whisks her off down a rabbit hole of psychedelic space-scapes. She acquires sculptural wings and has an interaction with an ornate dragon fly. The maiden's 'fall' through space lands her in a provocative scenario in which she is the object of a sneaky peeping tom as she undresses herself. When she realizes she is being watched she freaks out. There is outcry, and a giant boot appears in contrast to her delicate performance and boots the 'tom' out of the picture. The artists employed traditional elements of shadow performance by making good use of the hand held puppets and by referencing the history of the silhouette strip tease. They paired these aspects with innovative explorations in sound, framing, scale, and interrupting folk references with their playful narrative.

Group 3:
The performance begins with a rhythmic drum beat as a hand appears, holding a crumpled shape, from the edges of the picture frame into the bright light cast by a slide projector .
Slowly the shape unfolds to reveal itself as the silhouette of a latex pig mask. The pig entertains a sustained solo performance before exiting in the manner it appeared, crumpling into a recognizable snout and disappearing from view. A cop enters the scene, his emphasized gut leading the way, he falls to his knees and appears to engage in performing a fellatiatic gesture with another silhouette before sinking out of sight. The two 'pigs' then reappear, this time the cop's head is doubled and disembodied. Their voices join the drumming and arc to a crescendo during a power play of position and scale. The effect of the simplicity and pacing allowed the viewer to depart from the narrative and experience the symbolism of the powers at play.


Group 4:
Innovation and improvisation. The inspiration for this group seemed to lay in the discovery of a technique of distortion that occurred when a shadow screen's light is interrupted by glass. The 3 performers begin their improvisation with a playful silhouette dance. The two figures at the outside edges appear to harass the center figure until she squeezes out of the picture plane. The two remaining bodies engage in a battle of wills and the performers use scale and movement to create an ephemeral narrative of violence. The screen blackens. Sounds of tearing, and ripping are heard. With each rip, a blast of light pours through to the screen eventually revealing a tiny silhouetted figure trapped in a box of distorting light. The quality of light shifts, grows, and finally diminishes as the figure navigates her entrapment.