Name: Olivia He
Class: Cultures of Dance
Initially, The Felt Room was kind of scary for me. As a person who watches too many thrillers and zombie movies, I felt as if I walked into a scene in one of the films that I watched. The room was extremely dark. I could barely see anything even after my eyes adjusted to the darkness. As other audience entered the room, a flash of light went through the curtain and lit up the space for a second, revealing a room of dancers in white without any redundant accessories. They all stood in weird poses, with twisted arms or tilted head. With everyone seated against the wall, I was not able to see anything again but could hear the dancers breathing. Their breaths were heavy, short, and intertwined with low groans. Listening to the dancers’ breath and the occasional cough made by one of the audience reminded me of how visually-biased I was in my life. I read books and papers, watch films, look ahead of the road to avoid stepping on black ice every day. I relied on vision for information so much that I could not recall any occasion when I employed my other senses as a primary source of information other listening to professors’ lectures in class.
After a few minutes, I convinced myself that I was not in a scene from one of the thrillers I watched and felt calm. The heavy breathing of dancers continued. It sounds like they began moving around the room. It seemed that they were not walking but crawling around the room, but I was not sure because I could not see. I confirmed my suspicion after a few dancers passed by me and touched my feet. When they were close to me, I was able to see the outlines of their body. It looked like they were on their backs. Even when I could barely see anything, I still relied on vision to know the surroundings. I confirmed my suspicion when the lights were on. The dancers indeed were not on their feet. They lay on their backs or bellies or sat on their knees, using their hands to gain momentum and move around. That explained the squeaking sound in the dark. The dancers stood up with tilted heads and twisted backs, as if their spine could not support their body and their heads were too heavy for their necks. They remained unmoved for a minute or two before softly waving their arms and moving their body. Their movements were gentle and free, as if the air in the room were water and they were fish swimming in the sea.
Two dancers began to touch and cross arms with each other. Another dancer joined them, and then another. Ultimately all dancers clustered in the middle of the room, hugging and crossing arms with each other. It seemed that they wanted to get closer and break free of each other at the same time. Although their body were engaged in an ambiguous process, their faces remain emotionless and calm. The cluster eventually dismantled and the dancers dissipated to different parts of the room. It went dark again after they stood motionless for a minute or two.
I have an impression that the dancers were imitating animals in parts of the performance but I am not able to make any interpretation beyond that. The Felt Room reminds me of how biased I am towards vision and how little I explored my other senses. Even in an environment when I could not see anything, I still resort to vision for information. A good reason to “see” The Felt Room is that it gives you a chance to understand the surroundings with other senses. If you are not as overwhelmed as I am, you might even venture to interact with the dancers in the dark.
Yijun He
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- A Reflection on the Use of Senses - February 3, 2017