The bustling body in the still city

I've been thinking about the contrast between stillness and movement, especially in the everyday. We walk around the city so fast, potentially ignoring everything we pass, these buildings, trees, stand so still, so beautiful and are just ignored. How can I invite my spectators and the everyday passersby to stop and look at the stillness of the city? I find my eyes are drawn to the juxtaposition of still people within the flow of human traffic. I enjoy the moment when a person stops because s/he dropped something, or when someone has realised they've gone the wrong way, and how these moments break up the herds of people. These moments of serendipity, that shake the crowd causing them to wake up, ask people to make an individual decision, rather than moving with the crowd. Often these moments results in anger because the person is woken from their trance... However, the same moment occurs during a flash mob - just on a grander scale – when a journey is unexpectedly interrupted. Just, in the instance of a flash mob, the dance/music is related to with excitement, leaving a smile on people’s faces. 

Now, how can I merge these ideas together, interrupting the everyday with a stillness that shocks and asks the passersby and spectators to look at everyday stillness in the city...? Now I came across ‘Bodies in Urban Spaces’ by Willi Dorner 

This work takes the everyday object that is normally ignored and invites one to take a look, seeing that object in a new way. 

When we see a body do something out of the ordinary our bodies connect to that body, imagining how that would feel, therefore really zoning into the senses, especially the tactile sense, as we relate to the attributes of that object.This reminds me of Trisha Brown's work where she takes ordinary places in the city through dance invites us to re-look and re-discover those places.

I'm really intrigued with the idea that the city dissolves our desires by forcing us to walk a certain way via certain routes. However, many of us think about climbing trees or going against the status quo, and 'Bodies in Urban Spaces' lives out these desires.

In my work I have been working with the Millennium Bridge and it's unusual structure to invite the spectator to see the bridge in a new way, maybe as a climbing frame, or just to take a look at something they normally ignore...


I will also be using stillness to interrupt the flow of movement. My dancers will be creating still structures that are improvised, as a response to the surroundings. They will be stood in the middle of rush hour/weekend herds of people, disrupting the flow of people, inviting them to take a look, or just to stop for a moment to change direction, waking them up.

For the spectators this will be one of many changes of direction, allowing them to see the contrast in our everyday and see how it relates to the whole of the city view and sound scape.
M.J.B

Picture: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2009/jun/21/bodies-urban-spaces