Death Electric Emo Protest Aerobics is defined as combining joie de vivre with the existential absurdity of life. Could you explain it a little more? Where do the darkness and protest come into it?
The darkness comes in when we access the bullshit that is happening all around the world! The protest comes in when we say “No!”’ to it and also engage in ridiculous chants that reveal the ridiculous nature of chants.
You describe DEEP Aerobics as a workout – it takes it out of the context of contemporary dance and makes the audience automatically aware of the fact that its interactive without having to pull teeth. Where did DEEP come from as a dance project? What was the original intention?
I was working with the late, great French choreographer Alain Buffard on his piece (Not) A Love Song, when I realised that my regular slow, roll around on the floor warm-up wasn’t going to cut it and that I needed to do bigger actions to get my heart rate up so I started doing aerobics by myself. I had taught aerobics in my mid 20s and really hated it because I couldn’t take it seriously at all. In going back to it for my own purposes I started to wonder why aerobics couldn’t be as ridiculous as it actually is. Like, it’s really dumb, so let it just be totally dumb. And then I started to think about how it’s pretty fascistic and cultish, all these other kinds of things, and so later in the summer, when I was teaching at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina, I decided to try a more “formal” exploration of these ideas and I told my friend Jillian Peña I wanted to do something called “Death Electric Emo Protest Aerobics” and she said, “Oh, you mean DEEP,” and I thought “Wow that’s good.” And then I just put together the playlist. The first time I did it, it was just a full on improvisation. Another thing that emerged right away was the notion that after simply taking one DEEP Aerobics class, you are certified as a Master Teacher of the form, no dues or fees just give me credit for it.
There are specific stages and intentions to this dance-installation-workout: what are they and why is the structure important?
Well there’s a warm-up, there are different body “isolations” the way you would find in a typical aerobics class, and there are other more conceptual, imagination-based images that are offered, and of course there’s a warm down! The structure of a traditional aerobics class is pretty comforting, so if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. I think pretty quickly the audience/participants tune into the fact that they don’t have to look good or do the actions well, they just have to go for it.
DEEP famously got picked up by The Knife – how did that happen and what was that experience like?
I was invited by my friend Eleanor Bauer to do DEEP in Brussels at Kaai Studios and Marcus Baldemar, a Swedish performer who is part of the stage show that The Knife put together for their Shaking The Habitual tour, and he approached me about using a version of DEEP as the warm-up for their show and I was thrilled. I got the chance to do it for one of The Knife’s shows in New York this past spring. It was great. I am really honoured that The Knife uses it as the setup for that glorious, truly queer and magical show.
You tend to work on group dance pieces and on solo dance pieces with a far more personal bent to them – What do group performances (like DEEP) create and deliver, that smaller performances can’t?
I actually think of DEEP, for all of its farcical nature and embrace of silliness, is very personal. But certainly the mask of putting on a costume, being ridiculous, and engaging in this role of the guru, shaman, dictator, protest leader, coach gives DEEP a particular power, in that instead of observing someone else having an experience on a stage, you get to have a very direct and physical one yourself. It’s a temporary utopia for sure, where people of all stripes regardless of age, ability, or physical fitness, can come together in a joyous and porous ecstatic freak-show that touches on the utter ridiculousness of so much crap that is happening in the world and in your own life.
DEEP Aerobics takes place at Meeting House Square Sunday 14th September. Tickets cost €16 and dress to work out! Tiger Dublin Fringe runs citywide from September 5th to 20th, for bookings see www.fringefest.com or call box office on 1850 FRINGE (374 643)
Check out more of our Tiger Dublin Fringe Coverage here:
Kris Nelson, Artistic Director
The Company on The Rest Is Action
Philip Connaughton on Tardigrade
Raymond Keane on Beckett’s Fizzles
