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Intimacy, Alice Sheppard, and a personal work

Piper's picture

After reading Alice Sheppard's article, "I Dance Because I Can" I was, and I think many of us in class, lingered on the moment in the article where Alice talks about the sound of the her chair's velcro coming undone and the connection of intamacy that can have for certain folks of the audience. This resonated with me as there is a dance my friend Eva and I made in highschool. Eva uses an electronic wheelchair and we wanted to explore our friendship's platonic intimacy and dance through ways we interact with one another. I am enjoying reflecting on this dance my friend and I made while thinking of Alice's article, Alice's piece explores a romantic "sexy" moment versus Eva and I's platonic frienship moment but I feel a connection to her concepts. Physical affection is a big part of our friendship and we move in and out of moments of sharing each others weight. At a part of our dance Eva leaves her chair and similar velcro noises occur and are highlighted by the silent score of our piece. She is helped out of her chair and into my arms by our friend and teacher but it wasn't until reading Alice's piece that I thought of the implications that moment could have as I did not approach it as a wheelchair user and Eva and I never discussed that little detail's significance. Definitely an article I will come back to and continue to ponder. I have a video of the piece if there is interest in watching :) 

Comments

Kristin's picture

Piper, I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see a video of the dance you and Eva created! (I don't typically comment on Serendip posts simply because I can't comment on everyone's posts and I want to be equitable, but in this case I'm speaking up :) 

mayacosh's picture

Agree with Kristin on wanting to see the dance! Also - really appreciate you bringing in this personal experience and the way you describe holding each other's weight in a friendship, both literally and figuratively. 

Piper's picture

Here is the piece if anyone wants to watch! disreagard the person caughing for most of it hahah, not part of our intended soundscape! This is a recording of Eva and I performing our piece in a curated show at the Walker Art Center :) https://vimeo.com/382208167