Live performance in a theatre context has always been a difficult concept to grasp, and to think about the years I have spent in the theatre as a dancer, choreographer, lecturer, professor, facilitator and so forth, sometimes brings anxiety.
Today, I could only describe my experience as spectator with one word, “Abuse”
Theatre Rule A: I am expected to accept your ideas, your attitudes and activities, regardless of its bias dominated egotistical white male views.
Theatre Rule B: I am expected to accept your approach to human existence, nature and civilisation, solely depicted through the most obvious form: your naked body, vigorous body slapping, noise making, repetition, grunting and continuous sweating.
Theatre Rule C: A male perspective on nature, the universe, 4 minutes of darkness: More than 10 minutes listening to a overly produced digital sound score of electronically generated sounds of what could only seem as attempted creation of planet noise.
Performer to Spectator D: You – the Male performer, expect I the spectator to accept a idea that delineates from the existence of feminine form, in all its manifestations – energy and fluidity.
Performer to Spectator E: You-performer, mock the existence of tribal and ritual practices for your own egoistical glorification of a concept and idea, in your Male body, whilst attempting to be experimental.
Final Reflection: A performance, a single instance of a idea and no harm is done. But to think that it is through this lens of self gratification, into daily practice to performance, which can contribute to community divide.
More concretely, segregation, suicide, retaliation, aggression and increase stereotypical mindsets. It is a lethal weapon. The preservation of male whiteness as a domination in performance, and the landscape of all that is not conceived feminine is atomic bomb preparing to explode!
Choreographer, Director Harriet Macauley, Belgrade 27th May 2023
