Strategy for a Dance (1974)

March 13, 1974 — University of California at Davis — Performance

Where does risk reside? What happens if I bring risk into my studio? Can I learn to control it and make it work for me? Is it just a feeling of excitement or exhilaration for me?

I’m attracted to dangerous activities. I like the intensity. It requires me to be completely focused, to concentrate on what I am doing. The noise of the outside world falls silent. My awareness of time is changed.

I walk into the danger of flying metal and play with it in order to control it. As I hit the lead ball over and over, I watch it disintegrate. I am causing something dangerous to happen. I am defending myself against the effect of the danger. I think of my motion as a sort of choreography inherent in this activity.

The video monitor provides a safe and removed place for you to observe how my play results in control. I am taking the risk, not you.

In fact, I provide you with a hissing warning of the potential danger...a cautionary signal made by dripping water hitting a hot plate in front of the door to the room. It is not an inviting sound.

The words written in chalk on the floor are slowly erased and disappear illustrating the difference between mental knowledge and experiential knowledge.