Cut and Paste


As the course continues, my observations started to be broader and wider in scale. I started to not only observe my movements but also my peers’ movements and performance. I can see that our movements changed over time and still, some are originated from the first movements performed in the first class. In other words, I can see that we are developing our movements from our first class movements. From my observations and from my point of view, I get inspired by my peers’ movements. In the group formation exercise, when we try to copy the leader’s movement, I can see and feel that it is impossible to replicate the same exact movement of another person. Some people succeeded in copying the movement but the movement performed by each person reflect different feelings and impressions. I believe this happens because each person has its own artistic style.

This relates to Trajal’s imagery of the “Teacup”. Trajal repeats the imagery of the “ Teacup” during each class to remind us to get connected by the creativity located in each one of us. He wants us to get in touch with our creativity by pouring and spilling out ideas because creativity empowers us and reflects our uniqueness. I believe in the notion that each person is unique and different from any other person. So basically, I experimented and tried some of the movements performed by some of my peers. I did these movements in front of the mirror to observe the effect. When I replicated the movements, I felt different compared to the feelings I confronted when observing their movements. Copying/Cutting and pasting are just about replicating movements but not replicating effects. I believe that each performer has different effects and influences on the audience, it might be because each one of us has a different style which is rooted in the creativity we possess.

In today’s performance, most performers used the mirrors but each one of them had their own style and intentions when using the mirrors. I will use the mirrors in a different setup and even if I used the same setup, I believe its effect will be different. Same to the costumes; I believe that if I wore, for example, Auguste or Sharon’s costume, I will perform differently than them. This deduces that not the costumes, accessories nor the environment restrict the limits of our imagination and idea. It all depends on the connection between ourselves and creativity. It is all our responsibility. We are different even if we cut/copied and pasted others. Another observation is on the performers’ reliance on the walking movement, pedestrianism. Most of the performers’ today focused on walking movement, to depict voguing. Based on what I observed, the walking movement by each performer reflected different effects on the audience. It is the same but different at the same time. For example, Tori and Auguste had similar focuses, which is the sound of the heels, but I did not realize that much in Tori’s performance. One of the reasons was that I was focusing more on the repetition of her movements, sitting and standing, whilst in Auguste’s performance my shift and focus changed because we” the audience” were allocated in the middle and she was moving around us. I realized the sound of the heels more. It is interesting to view that. When observing others, we do not steal, we get inspired and influenced by their movements that could be developed more. The cutting and pasting is a great tool to be used because it provides us with a basic scratch that could help us to connect with the sense of creativity we have.