FLOODESIGN

the audience, talking to the dancers about love, who are moving through something. And you have to arrange it in such a way so that this thing swings. Somebody goes under it. This line happens. You know, it's got to be arranged in a way that's not chaos, but actually a lucid journey for the audience through an experience. That's the trick. That you can't plan on paper. You can plan on paper to a certain extent, like we've created a script together from Chuck's writing. We've created this plan. But it's only when the actors and the dancers come together and we're going, "Oh, stop them," that that will get built. ES: And we have a show going on now, and it has the cement block piece in it. It's very nerve-racking, watching the dancers avoid the blocks; each one is a different distance from the ground, so the timing of the swing is slightly different and there are free areas, like if they dive downstage and their head lands here, they know this block can clear their head. And upstage, a block is slightly higher, so they know they can lie there and it can go over their butt. But then they have to get out. So it's this inherent timing that completely is tagged to those swinging blocks. AB: Hey, I have a question for you. When you rehearse that, do you do one bit at a time and keep adding more of the swings, or do you plan it out all in advance and say, "This is what you've got to do"? ES: It's all together at the same time. AB: All together at the same time. So it's really strategy, right? ES: It's strategy. Because also they're running inside this 20-by-20-foot circle. But they have to time their run — like if they get here too soon and that has to swing by, I don't want them to change their rate. CM: You can see it in the other room. It's really scary. AB: No, I'm imagining! ES: It's scarier than I remember it being, too. And it's very hard to watch. As time goes on they absorb the timing of the swings. It fits in with the choreography exactly. The downstage block, when it's here, at ground zero, straight down, doesn't allow passage. Not even for your head underneath. I'm imagining your actors will just be walking. They have to aim it, but not keep traveling when they land, or the block will hit them. AB: Bam! ES: Yes. CM: Do you want the actors to stay out of the square so they don't get their skulls bashed? ES: No, that's not what I'm thinking. Because they have to get guck on them too. But they're so deeply physical and brilliant, they will totally be able to see where those swinging blocks are, and also where are the empty lanes that my dancers aren't. Now this is maybe an eight-minute dance. So we're not going to do this, you know, five times over, eight times over. We're going to have it interrupted with the walking sometimes, and I'm going to create other scenarios. This is our baseline. SM: And as this is happening, they're also being subjected to guck. ES: People are pulling these cords, and stuff is falling constantly. My idea is constantly. And then we'd have a fill-up section a couple times, ideally. CM: Just like normal daily life, yeah. SM: Sure. Wait, so what made you think of love? CM: Just — that's what I thought of when we were there having lunch. SM: In relation to this, though? ES: Well, this wasn't here yet. AB: But your understanding of her work, which is in that area of physicality. CM: Yeah, her work is amazing and beautiful and scary and horrible — and these are the aspects of love. AB: Well, that's true. SM: And I imagine there's a fair amount of trust involved among the three of you, but also with the performers! Trusting in that you won't kill them. ELIZABETH STREB: It's scarier than I remember it being, too. And it's very hard to watch. As time goes on they absorb the timing of the swings. It fits in with the choreography exactly. The downstage block, when it's here, at ground zero, straight down, doesn't allow passage. Not even for your head underneath. I'm imagining your actors will just be walking. They have to aim it, but not keep traveling when they land, or the block will hit them. ANNE BOGART: Bam! ELIZABETH STREB: Yes! 24 | PEAKPERFS.ORG

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