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As Seen through the Windshield, cont.
© 2007 Wendy Rogers
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3/12
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I think the running section was thirty minutes of running–clearly a long time. There was also a walking section; and all of these different sections were really rigorous and exciting. We had a very complicated score that enabled us to navigate our way through material and variations of material for five hours. And it all came down to one day in June in what was then called Saint Marks (now Danspace Project) in lower Manhattan. We–Sara and I–started our first move before the audience was allowed to enter because we didn't want them to see us starting. And then the doors were opened, the people came in, and we were already going. And we went, and we went, and we danced, and danced, and danced.
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compass, Marin County, CA, 1992; Photographer Bonnie Kamin © 2007; Dancer/Choreographer Wendy Rogers
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Well, what we didn't expect is that people would end up staying. We actually had viewers stay, a lot of them, for a long time, if not for the entire duration. We hadn't anticipated that. At the end there was a section where we went around a couple of times with each of us doing an improvised solo. And then in my last improvised solo, a giant hand came down, lifted me, moved me, carried me through the space, turned me around, and put me back down. I totally didn't expect that to happen.
In the very last part of the dance, as we came into our final finish, came to a stillness–I guess there was an ending after all–I knew from that moment on that I would never be the same–that performance for me would never be the same, that dancing would never be the same. I was completely different than I was five hours earlier. What a crazy business we're in that you set out to make something and you don't even know what it is or what it will become! But that's what I love about dance, and I really cultivated this business of not knowing, and I cherish greatly getting into a place of not knowing–when something really amazing can come into your experience, so that you can also go to a place you didn't know you were going to.
Our audience was also amazed. I remember Peter Saul came up to me and said, "Wendy, I watched you dance for two hours, and then I did my laundry. Then I couldn't stand it. I threw my laundry in my bag, and ran back and you were all still dancing!" So it was a really transformative experience. I want to start with this–not so much out of nostalgia for the good old days (because there are plenty of good days that we are having right now), but simply because I came to a place after that time where the thing that I valued so much, especially this transformation business, this not knowing business–hours of processing and questioning–was pushed out of my life by other concerns.
Now I want to start and show you a piece on video called This Is A Hard Hat Job to give you a little insight about my work at the University of California, Riverside, where my partner in crime for many years has been my colleague Susan Rose. UC Riverside built a new arts building starting in 1999, and Susan and I began to plan a series of dance interventions to chart its progress. One of our agendas in this project was to dance in the dance studio before it was built. So we danced on the foundations of the dance studio just after they were laid, and taped the dance. We intervened in the construction for over two years. Initially, the construction supervisors tried to kick us out, but they failed.
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This Is a Hard Hat Job, University of California, Riverside, CA, 2000; Photographer Steve Walag, UC Regents © 2007; Dancers Susan Rose (L) and Wendy Rogers (R)
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This Is a Hard Hat Job, University of California, Riverside, CA, 2000; Photographer Steve Walag, UC Regents © 2007; Dancers Wendy Rogers (L) and Susan Rose (R)
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I would like to talk about getting started because how you get started making a dance is such an interesting thing. In this project I was actually a bit intimidated and fearful about just barging onto this site where construction workers were working. But I actually didn't want Susan to know that I was kind of a wuss. So, I put on confidence and said, yes, we'll do it; we'll do it on Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday. Alright! So, I was doing that, and later I found out that she actually was relying on my bravado so that we were mutually generating bravado or something like that. We were, between us, creating a double dare to go and do this. In fact, that's another thing to be said for collaboration: I don't know if I would make dances if it weren't for other people (dancers) showing up and doing them with me.
