During the rehearsal, I thought that intersection was unneeded and a waste of time, but I realized that it was one of the most important parts of the performance. Intersection, in a sense, introduced spectators to the piece, and made the “freeze” portion of the piece much more dynamic. By first introducing the spectators to the sounds, and then to the performers, the spectators were gradually immersed into the piece. 

The sound, however, could have been louder. The sounds of Amanda blowing on grass was very distinct, but everything else was drowned out by the sounds of the city and commotion. 

A very striking and unintentional piece of the performance, I believe is the visuals of the sound people. The image of distinct figures on the top of the roof with the sun setting behind them created a very strong visual.

After entrance, however, there was much more of a sense of energy and freedom to the piece. It was clear that those who were completely uninterested in the performance left, and who remained truly wanted the performance to be a spectacular experience. 

As opposed to the first performance, when intersection consisted to sitting on benches and lying down on open areas of grass, the participants in the second performance had boundless energy and became uninhabited. I ended up playing “ring around the rosie,” rolling around on the floor making animal noises, and playing “follow the leader” with both children and animals. 

The overall tone and excitement was carried through the entire piece. Everyone had high energy, and felt and acted far more passionate than they did in the first piece. It was undoubtedly more fun. 

Another difference between the first and second piece was that the second had more of a sense of randomness. After getting past the unease of the first piece, many people realized that they did not have to be rigid robotic figures. They danced, laughed, raised the arms, jumped, and pranced as they pleased. The sense of lightheartedness added a lot more fun and whimsy to the performance. 

I was not able to stay and watch the second performance on the screen, but I hope it was as powerful as the first. Though it had significantly less participants, those who did perform made up for those who left.

The handshake portion of the performance displayed disarray and chaos, but unity at the same time. The hunched over squatting of the cameramen to get shots of the handshake at waist-level was certainly worth the effort on their parts. 

Also, I enjoyed the museum! What a perfect place to reflect the fluxus  movement!

In addition (and also on an unrelated note) the gift shop at the visionary art museum was amazing. My undying love of kitschy consumerism was in a state of pure ecstasy .

shane and i (and various knick-knacks!)

in the visionary arts museum

We discovered that minor changes were made to the choreography. Such as eradicating the pac-man, and replacing it with a crabwalk down the hill. 

It was clear that at meeting no one really knew what was going on. This confusion only intensified during intersection, for the sound signals got mixed up in our heads, and there was no ones lead to follow, for everyone had the same confused expression on their face. Eventually, most people got the gist of the performance in due time for the freeze, which was incredibly successful. It seemed as if the entire hill was frozen in time. At one point during the freeze a recreational biker tried to cross the hill, but didn’t know our performance was happening. He wobbled around the frozen people and slowly weaved and dodged the roadblocks that all the performers have become. 

The rest of the performance was somewhat spectacular, though crowded. In “circling,” the large amount of people made it hard to travel across the length of the hill, and I spent the duration trying not to crash into those who performed the “tangents,” who

no one knows what

Angela and another sound helper experimenting

What was interesting watching the sound practice was the integration of body movements and action, though their assignment was sound. The sound helpers experimented with circling each other, using each others megaphones, and sound orientation. 

My favorite part of this mini-rehearsal was when Angela and Jessica spoke incoherently into the microphones and created a symphonic yet crazed effect with their ramblings. The crescendos of “come here, come to me!” and babbled nonsense was especially effective with their high-

After a few hours of shaking other people’s hands and trying not to slip on the slippery grass, I felt confident in the choreography. I also felt confident that whatever germs anyone had come with had also gotten spread around to everyone who attended the rehearsal. 

The organization was fairly impressive. With a sign-in sheet and our (almost) full attention, there was no one who looked completely lost and confused. We all learned to follow the lead of everyone else, and mechanically raised our arms, did the pac man, and froze obediently on the lazy Saturday afternoon. 

before the rehearsal

Just an overview of our “hill dance:”

1. Meeting; everyone gathers on the side of the hill in the performance area, which was the side of the hill visible from the harbor.

2. Intersection; imitating everyday movements of others.

3. Freeze; stop all movement after the sharp sounds of megaphones. 

4. Lining up; forming a line across the hill, and then walk down the performance area while slowly bringing down your arms and then doing the “pack man” down the rest of the hill

5. Circling; walking in two single-file lines moving in opposite directions across the length of the hill.

6. Disappear; walking to either end of the hill

7. Couching; crawl to the performance space again, and lie down on the grass sprawled out on our back. In due time, people will start clustering together and move under the cannon. 

8. Pose; make stereotypical camera poses when someone shouts the word “go,” and return to a