Clothes are a girl's (and a boy's) best friend!

My project to be presented tomorrow started as a two week collection of clothes. I sent emails, put up posters around school and was quite positive about people filling up my pretty handmade container! No chance though. The idea of performing in audience's clothes started looking like a much harder task than what I had previously expected. 

Involving spectators this time will be through using on stage something theirs: a piece of clothing, of any kind, any size, any colour. The Analysis of Performance Art (A Guide to its Theory and Practice) by Anthony Howell gave me material to ponder on and develop on the theme of clothing. For a contemporary dancer/performer what usually matters is being comfy in order to move freely and show your natural body, without any excessive embellishments. So although  I have always taken some care of choosing what to wear on stage, especially when performing with others, it felt more like choosing what to wear before going out rather than preparing for a show. But being aware of how different clothes may affect our movements, I wanted to go for creating a piece that is based on clothes. How do we choose our clothes? By apperance? By feel? By price? We are so visually bombarded with fashion catwalks, although some very artistic, they always end up presenting the same models with the same walk, the same face. So we can all look the same, but do clothes feel the same on all of us? 

In a city like London, where second hand clothing and flee markets are places visited on a regualr basis by almost everyone (especially Art students), I thought it wouldn't be difficult to fill up a basket with clothes: it was a way of creating some curiosity in spectators and ensuring that they do come to see the performance. But the basket was empty after almost two weeks of being at the entrance of college, despite all statements on my poster assuring that clothes will be taken care of and returned. Well it made me aware of how much people are jealous of their clothes; the difference between a Brick Lane vintage shop and my project at this stage is purely economic. I bet if I was giving ten quid to people for their clothes I would have collected some good garments!


Well to make a long story short, I had to change my tactics. When creating the flyer for the actual performance, I decided to tell people that they must bring a piece of clothing on the actual performance. It may be considered as their ticket to the twenty minute show. No clothes - No entry! I am curious to see who shows up tomorrow.