Thrash:
Andrew Simonet and Headlong Dance Theater
Look, I don't usually make dances based on my feelings or anyone else's. My passions are pretty conceptual and somewhat dry. Movement is something you play with, not something that's innately honest or authentic. But my rage against George Bush—and against the greed-and-fear politics of the right wing, against the anemic and self-absorbed responses of the left wing, against elections stolen, born-again Supreme Courts, wars begun in my name, human bodies tortured in my name— ate at me every time I traveled to my dance studio in South Philadelphia. So one day I downloaded recordings of speeches by the George W. Bush (they're quite easy to find and, it turns out, public domain). I told our dancers that we were going to respond to George W. Bush physically. We warmed up as his speeches played. Then, one by one, we got in front of the camera. The resulting cathartic movement— sometimes explosive, sometimes quiet, and yet always compelling—was then edited into a short composite film, a compilation of bodily responses to our current administration. When we showed it at our free monthly performances, audience members got it. And they wanted to be a part of it. So we opened it up to everybody. For many Americans, the course of current events, at home and abroad, has engendered an attitude that has progressed beyond cynicism into a wondering disgust and on into a blazing anger in search of an outlet. Unleashed anger has been known to turn simply being mad into madness. — Ben Brantley New York Times, November 4, 2005 I came across this Ben Brantley quotation a few weeks after we started working on Thrash . Once we took Thrash public, inviting members of the public to participate, I learned something new: people needed to talk after they moved. One woman remembered her close friend who was stationed in Iraq, something she had been blocking out for months. A middle-aged man wanted to talk about what we could do, what action was possible. A mother of three wanted to know who supports the Bush agenda and why. There is, I have come to believe, a seething ball of rage and alienation inside many people who are disgusted by the Bush agenda and by the broader culture consensus that surrounds it. Thrash is an opportunity to reify this energy, to turn submerged anger into gesture, to embody. Thrash is an ongoing project. All are welcome to participate. No performance experience necessary. Here's the idea: you listen to speeches by George W. Bush. Then you move in front of a video camera for four minutes. No movement too strange, too ugly, or too crazy. Whatever comes out is part of Thrash. I edit the results into short compilation, a cathartic DIY video, a belligerent home movie of an infuriating time. Interested? Then… Download speeches by George Bush. I recommend, and have provided here, his speech about the lies he used to justify invading Iraq and the tragically jubilant “Mission Accomplished” speech following the so-called end of the war in Iraq. Walk, sit, or lie on the floor and let his words, his voice wash over you. When you're ready, move in front of a video camera or webcam if you have one for four minutes, to music or in silence or if music helps, we recommend: “Lullaby” by Pink Martini followed by P.J. Harvey's “Snake,” both easy to find downloads. Or whatever thrashy music you love. Our one piece of advice for moving: whatever gesture or movement you find yourself doing, repeat it. Do it more. More deeply, more fully. Go into it. Put it in your whole body, especially your legs, your spine, your head. Dive into that one movement and you'll find what you need. Don't worry about being (1) good, (2) original, (3) interesting. Find the raw movement and amplify it. Nothing more beautiful than that. Send the video to me: andrew@headlong.com. I'll use it. And tell us about your experience. I'll use that, too. I don't know what happens next, but I do know that getting all that shit out in the open is the first step.
Andrew Simonet grew up on theater and sports. He discovered dance at the age of 19 and never looked back. Along with choreographers Amy Smith and David Brick, Andrew is a founding co-conspirator of the Philadelphia-based Headlong Dance Theater, which makes award winning experimental and experiential dances with/for the entire body, including the face, the voice, and the mind. Fascinated with narrative, partnering, and the strange lovely movements that come not from dance vocabularies but from real live bodies (pretty is the enemy of beautiful), Headlong's process emphasizes improvisation, task, and trying to find structures that keep bodies and minds (theirs and the audience's) right on the edge, alive and thrashing about, responsive and ridiculous. Recent projects include Hotel Pool , a dance theater melodrama performed in and around a hotel swimming pool; Shosha , a fantasia on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer collided with 1970s experimental theater; and CELL , a performance journey for individual audience members guided by their cell phone. If this sounds useful, you can learn more about them at http://www.headlong.com . In addition to worldwide, whirlwind touring and teaching with Headlong, Andrew is currently starting Artists U, a planning and professional development program for individual artists. He lives in West Philadelphia with his amazing wife Elizabeth and their (recent) issue, Jesse Tiger. |