As you enter the performance space you are confronted by a large black raised platform. A nude woman is gently plucking notes on a bass , deep tones resounding throughout the room. The stage is surrounded by reflective objects, mirrors of all shapes and sizes (like one might imagine on the wall any woman’s bedroom) and strings of shimmering silver beads that catch the light glimmering and dancing about. The audience quickly settles from whispers to faint murmurs to complete silence. Whether out of politeness or captivation, everyone in the room is now fixated the woman, wondering exactly what she will do.
In these first moments, I sat wondering what the woman was trying to show. What was her story? Was she sad, contemplative, regretful? She stood up and proceeded to don her silver beaded headdress and strut across the stage. Her expression was hardened and closed off. As she performed her rigid walk back and forth across the stage—strut, pose, turn, repeat—I got this sense of vacancy. She had surrendered her tenderness and innocent longings of the first moments with a self-disciplined concentration. Other women joined her on stage one by one, each at their own rhythm until they moved powerfully in ensemble, pacing across the stage back and forth in perfect unison like a machine. The delicate glimpse we had gotten of each woman as she was introduced was quickly replaced by conformation and this formal robotic movement. As the performers stopped and stood before us, we were confronted with their bodies that insisted full attention and scrutiny. We were presented with this bare, bold view of what we expect to be hidden away. As an audience, we felt ourselves examining the bodies so blatantly exposed, making our judgments.
It was here I began to find some meaning in the piece that was initially quite mystifying.
Though each woman painted her own portrait, when they came together it seemed as if they were showing us the shared experience of all women in our society. External pressures to appear a certain way, expectations, objectification, our judgments forced these women to go into their struts in feigned unnatural confidence. As they thundered by, the women stopped to regard themselves in the mirrors; beneath their apparent certainty was insecurity and self-doubt.
As the show progressed, the women shifted (wildly at times) from this robotic strut, to formal lifts and bends, to complete abandon. As the women turned, trembled, pounded, jerked, and darted their way across the floor, all formalities completely disintegrated to yield this frantic release of emotions. The movements were raw and desperate, showing different emotions than the quiet control and outward calmness that we saw when we first met them. Watching this made me feel slightly uncomfortable at first – being confronted with these strong emotive movements. It’s the part hidden beneath that we’d rather deny is there than to see face on. The women bore themselves in their honest nudity, revealing intense anguish, frustration, and a sense of isolation. The piercing shrieks sent shivers down my body that left me tingling for minutes.
The violent climax of convulsing, screaming, sobbing from the women was shocking and difficult to receive. As an audience member I almost felt personally responsible for their suffering, as the viewer, and as their judge. As I sat protected in the shadows, it was these women who had broken down and exposed their raw and disturbing emotions though this release of the body. It was incredible how these organic un-graceful movements conveyed so much. This was the most resounding part of the piece for me.
I wasn’t very satisfied with the ending to the show but maybe the anticlimactic finish was intended to leave the audience with a restless feeling. To end it in a big glamorous display wouldn’t have fit with Spradlin’s message. At times the piece seemed a bit repetitive but I understood Spradlin’s desire to emphasize her point. After seeing the same sequence so many times, it will be hard to forget. I can’t say that I loved the performance but I have never seen anything like it and was deeply moved by the women’s performances.
-Sophie
