structural outline cont'd

hey girls. great to meet last night. so here's what we came up with:

i can't figure out how to edit a post that I didn't write ( can we even do that?), so i'll just talk a little bit about the few changes we made last night to the first half of the piece.

*AUDIO IN TRIO -- during the Trio, instead of music we will go back to overhearing conversations of various partygoers. These can be anything, although it might be cool to somehow make it clear that these conversations are occurring contemporaneously with the dance. An argument -- "Why are you doing this HERE? Just please, please don't embarrass me"; hosts worrying about place cards, who should sit next to who, etc. They should be strained and awkward, expressing the underlying tensions of the night, the places where people are not connected, whether because they are estranged or simply strangers. The places where there is no conversation will be filled with silence, breath, and body sounds.
This will end abruptly, and we will mark the change with MUSIC being put on the stereo and the overheard conversations will stop. This will be a really nice transition into the "get together" section (trying to sit down).

*"GET TOGETHER" -- STRUCTURED IMPROV: The "get together" part can consist of structured improv -- dancers will have a few different options for "business" to do during this 2 minute (or less, i dont know how long things are) section: get up, walk off, sit down, go under the table, try to get someone else to go offstage with you, make a call on cell phone, shake out your napkin and lay it onyour lap, or someone elses lap...hahaha...etc.

* wow i just got a really funny idea for the "FINALLY' section. ok: so everyone finally sits down at the table. everyone has a napkin and, say, a glass of wine (this doesnt need to be real wine...it could be grape juice.) There is silence for a few moments, and then everyone picks of their glasses at the same time and CHUGS their glass of wine. when we are done, we wipe our moths with our sleeves and get up, slide out, whatever. I think that would really express the desire that people have to take the edge off during these kinds of interactions ,and also the desire to be occupied, to not look like they are just standing (or sitting) there, but that they are engaged with something. would that be funny? i think it would get a long laugh, and be totally appropriate.

ANYWAY!!!!!
* "BREAK" FROM "FINALLY" -- NEED TO EXPERIMENT! The "Finally" section (where everyone is finally at the table) is the same...but the "break" from it can be abrupt OR slow...we will have to see what works. One idea for a slow "break" is someone at the head of the table (it would probably be cool to see this in profile) sloowwwllyy pushes away from the table with their feet, causing everyone to melt out of their chairs in a different way, or maybe it gets fast then, or....the possibilities are endless. We've already had a "snap out of it" moment when the Trio ends, so maybe something more slow and/or complex would fit better here. Again, we should try out several possibilities.

Okay, onto the new stuff!

(continuing with Melina's numbering of events)
8. OUTSIDER SOLO : a solo would act as a really nice contrast to all of the social interaction that has been going on up until this point. Things to think about: who is this person? Why is it important to see them alone -- what makes them special?
*Lamenting a lost love that is at the party with another person?
*Socially awkward and self depricating?
*ANXIETY
During this solo, i think it might be nice to have the person be pretty much alone. It also might be cool to have people walking on and off intermittently, paying no attention to the person dancing. This is different than the LOVE duet, where people are onstage sometimes and are noticing the lovebirds. The SOLO dancer's plight can be heightened and made stronger by seeing people walk by and not pay any notice -- they are laughing, chatting, whatever. The soloist is troubled. It's gonna be great.

9. (This can be switched with 8) SOME OTHER SMALL GROUP: another type of social interaction, maybe with a larger group (4 or 5? or not). Think about what types of relationships you would like to see manifested on the stage. Work friends? Ex-lovers? family? kids, teens? endless possibilities.

THEN......

!!!!!TWISTER!!!!!
10. ok, we are playing twister. It will start as a real live, straight up twister game, with someone calling out and a bunch of people playing. Maybe not everyone, maybe some people standing around, watching, adding commentary. This interaction should showcase different types of comepetetive personalities; for example, the overly anal person calling out "right foot red" and trying to keep control...some are more casual about it than others. There are always those couple people that just want to play twister for the physical contact, there are those that want to showcase their twister-skill, etc. The twister game will last a couple (few?) minutes, slowwly degrading from a real, pedestrian game into something flowy, abstract, and full of contact. we should try to use the spinner and the twister dots as much as possible even in this degradation stage. Maybe the spinner person can keep spinning, but stop calling out, and the players just sort of all melt together and it evolves into this very sensual blob. a sensual blob. thats nice imagery.
We get out of this somehow. By melting out of it? E-z bake ding? someone brings over a cake? again, we have to thin kabout whether it should be a slow "break", or something abrupt. I have confidence that the appropriate transition will make itself apparent when we're moving.

11. UNISION PHRASE REPRISE: The unision phrase from the "start" of the party will come back, and again will reflect the current state of the evening. It will contain variations of the phrase (individuals will go off on their own phrase-tangents, but I also think that the phrase as a whole should change, should become more relaxed, bigger, more dancey etc.) People can try to dance with each other, fall over, forget that theyre supposed to be dancing, get really into it and do headrolls and stuff (haha). The wine has gotten into the partygoers, and it is noticeable.

12. TRIO RECONNECTS: The trio will encounter each other again, but they will reject the bond that they formed previously. They acknowledge that they shared a moment, but that moment is over. They are no longer willing to get personal, and regard each other ultimately as strangers, albeit with some hidden secrets. There should be a couple of other "wrap-up" interactions here: how have things changed through the course of the night? Is the "LOVE" couple in a fight now? Have things stayed the same? This section can be compared to the "morning" after the anniversary party...everyone is sheepish, sober, somber, and there is a sort of collective "walk of shame."

13. GOODBYE: during this confluding section, it might be really cool to have the conversations from the ARRIVAL section playing. The audience will perceive them in a different way, in light of all that has transpired over the course of the night. I think it would really bring the piece full circle. Again, this is not a mass exodus, but people trickle out, some help clean, some crash on the floor/table, under it, etc. It ends with overheard conversations, a fading light....wow i just got chills!!!


PLEASE VETO, REJECT, ADJUST, REVISE, AND ADD!