Welcome House 101: Nicole Bindler and Liza Clark dance it out, Monday, October 5

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Welcome House 101: Nicole Bindler and Liza Clark dance it out, Monday, October 5

POSTED: Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 4:55 PM

Filed Under: Arts | Arts Events Welcome House 101

In conjunction with Design Philadelphia (which we covered in last week's City Paper), First Person Arts and InLiquid present the Welcome House, a 10-foot cube in which artists of all stripes settle in for a day and create. It's open-ended, inventive and often pretty wacky (we're talking knit-yourself-into-a-cocoon wacky). Our intrepid reporter Cristina Perachio will be swinging by the House all week, observing, taking photos and maybe ' just maybe ' getting in on the action herself.

'I'm Confused But I Like It!'

Photo | Cristina Perachio

Yellow, pink, green and blue Post-Its with appreciative words ('Relaxing. So Relaxing.'), angry words ('Get a fucking job!') and half-hearted threats ('This better not be art.') are strewn across the clear, 10-by-10-by-10 cube in LOVE Park.'

The cube is an artists' residence by day and art installation by night. Named The Welcome House, the cube is meant to encourage new forms of creative expression in an organic, ever-changing way with help from those passing by the park.' From 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., the artist of the day has free range for their art while a videographer captures the day's events.' From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., the cube is wrapped in spandex and the video is projected directly on the cube.'

Today, The Welcome House features Nicole Bindler, Liza Clark and others in a daylong improvisational dance. Post-Its and pens are stacked on the modern, funky white furniture to serve as seating for the crowd watching. The idea is for the dance to evolve with input from the crowd, who're supposed to scribble their ideas and stick them on the cube.

More pictures, and more wacky, after the jump.

Photo | Cristina Perachio

Around lunchtime, three dancers in the cube seem to be playing some form of follow-the-leader. They are lined up diagonally across the cube while the woman in front does a series of dance moves and then in a quick succession, like dominos, the other two imitate her. We're not talking ballet, either: There was hopping up and down on one foot, bouncing while crouching, barrel rolls, spinning aimlessly.

After several minutes of giggling, two of the women are replaced with a man who grabs the one remaining woman by the waist.' There is an excited rumble that passes through the audience as the man and woman prepare for the next dance.' Perhaps a tango?' Kind of. The man continues to hold the woman by the waist with one hand as she walks around, continually stumbling and falling away from him.' He steadies her, time after time, with a few close calls where the other members of the troupe gasp as her head comes close to bashing into the floor or wall.' It's incredibly graceful despite the free-fall force of the woman's movements.' I'm hypnotized.

Photo | Cristina Perachio

At one point she falls, face first toward the ground, but he lifts her at the last second so he's holding her upside-down in mid-air, her legs straight up in a V like a kama sutra position.' There are a few scattered cat-calls and oh-damns from the crowd. She kicks free and they unceremoniously go sit back behind the cube.' I feel like I should clap or something to signify the end of this performance.' I don't and a woman comes out to do a headstand against a cube wall.

One of the dancers comes around to reposition the post-its on the cube.' She peels one off the side that reads, 'I'm confused but I like it!' This seems to have given her some confidence.' She walks out to the audience and asks a man who keeps yelling 'Oh shit!' at the performance if he'd like to join them in the cube.' His response?' 'Oh shit!' She shrugs and heads to the cube for another game of follow-the-leader which, technically, could last until 7 p.m. tonight.

Posted by Cristina Perachio @ 4:55 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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