by Chris Schlichting
What I wrote to you was a little rough around the edges. I noticed I wrote "Sole was placed on the floor" when I meant to write soil. I neglected to write that I also enjoyed your music and your choice to include tapes and your handling of them in the work. The music that accompanied your score, was that an 11 count phrase?
I'd like to add to yesterdays comments about your piece that the work for me was a meditation on the value of people and place and experiences preserved through objects that cannot be replaced or bought.
Hijack thoughts I remember: A map of the world and population density on the back wall with greens and then oranges and yellows. The costumes are green too. The piece is called Colin Rusch and I see that the 2 are wearing green and I think of money and how Colin works on Wall Street now. The 2 arrive at props quite early, Arwen with a giant pole that she's lifting and pointing across the room-- it almost extends the width of the room. Kristen with a chair that she's dragging across the floor. The 2 hold the objects closer together like male/female corresponding parts, but never making contact. They return to the map and Arwen points to Minnesota. Scale is emphasized by the size of them against the map and the enormous pole. They dance around the objects switching from utilitarian movement to a tiptoe ballet relieve that shuffles them forward together hovering above a pole straddle.
Then there is movement on the floor that ranges from lying down, to Arwen rolling to the wall while Kristen is being pulled, sliding on her knees, her hand reaching over to Arwen's side.
I remember more walking around the room and parts of the score repeating and utilitarian tasks being achieved and then moving on to the next thing. I remember the crinkly plastic and the 2 bodies working together in utter efficiency to get the job done and then re-invent the score, trying to follow the rules by making the other question whether or not they might be breaking them.