Wall Dancing (2012)

In an attempt to free the audience from the tyranny of viewing, Padmini Chettur’s new work is an installation of bodies in a room. Over the three hours that one can visit this performance, the dancers assume different configurations within the space, always allowing absolute mobility to the viewers as well.

Almost like the chapters of a long narrative, the dancers will enact the sequences of precise movement, that in moments attaches them to the walls of the room, in others makes us conscious of their distance from them. The challenge for these performers, whose pace will certainly be affected by the movement of audience energy, is to thread these loosely connected actions into a cohesive line, capable of sustaining and replenishing the tensions of the performative space. Through the duration of the performance, the periodic exiting and entering of the dancers into the various chapters gives the viewer the choice of seeing the performance as a series of disconnected episodes, or of connecting and following the underlying logic and progression over time.

No matter how the audience chooses to engage it, the performance will achieve resolution every ten minutes, restarting a new proposition every time, always beginning form the object-like stillness of bodies facing the walls and returning there. In time, the ability to be still and physically present will hopefully make us more and more conscious of the bodies around. Every small gesture will seem necessary. Every ending will take on dynamic meaning, and every beginning might answer the question ‘why?’.

* This performance is intended for a large studio/gallery or even an emptied theatre space. The audience may stand or sit anywhere in the space, except near the walls.

Duration : 180 minutes

Credits

Music – Maarten Visser
Videography – Vishwanadhan, Nadine Tarbouriech
Performers – Akila, Aarabi Veeraraghavan, Aditi Bheda, Madhushree Basu, Palani Murugan