“Please enter one by one.”
These were the first pieces of instructions we received before we even entered the room. I thought to myself, “Okay, this is going to be interesting.” Indeed, the felt room was all of that plus more.
Imagine, standing in a single-file line waiting for the person in front of you to go inside of a room for a performance. How am I supposed to feel? Excited of course! I had no idea what was going to happen but the fact that I was given instructions on how to enter made me question what kind of performance this was going to be. Clearly, it was not going to be like any other show.
Upon entering, I was blinded. Not by someone who covered my eyes, but by the darkness of the room. I had heard one of the performers recommend to a parent that it would be best to not enter for the first twenty minutes because of how dark it was going to be, but I did not think it was going to be completely blinding. How are performers capable of moving around in such darkness? Anyways, as I walked through the entrance, I stayed close to the wall and was suddenly stopped by another body. I backed away a little and stood for the first twenty-five minutes of the performance (this was the amount of time it took for my eyes to get a little used to the darkness).
Breathing and movement. Sounds people are not used to hearing because we have always been taught to control our breathing. The experience in the Felt Room though, is totally different. There is freedom in the way the performers breath and move. The sounds are unique because everyone is doing something different. The darkness, in my opinion added complexity to the performance. We did not know what exact movements were going on because of the fact that the audience could not really see what was going on, but we could hear everything.
The beginning was super interesting to me, but the middle of the performance took me away. It was the huge pile of clothes tangled all together. It was the fact that the performers began by laying there and one way or another they ended up being completely tangled in the clothes which was surprising to me. There was unison, but also division. The dancers moved slowly, then they separated. The huge pile of white tangled clothes, which began at the corner of the room, ended up being all around. There were pieces flying around, pieces on the floor, pieces being worn by performers and then there were some performers who were wearing one single piece at the same time! Where did the inspiration for this come from!? Who would have thought that the huge blob of clothes was going to become a prop that created the effect the performance had on me?
The last thing I will touch on is how I was touched on (haha). Nearing the end of the performance, there was a part where the performers approached some of the audience members. In my group, I was one of them. At the time, I was still sitting on the floor, and then she (the performer) came and sat next to me. I had been sitting “criss cross” style and then decided to extend my legs out. Both of my hands were on my lap. She grabbed my left hand gently and held it with her left hand while at the same time grabbing my right hand. She then dropped my left hand and began to “play” with my right hand. She began feeling all around it, slowly and gently. Analyzing it, as if it were a small piece she was looking at through a microscope. Looking at the way she stared at my hand made me become super interested in my own hand… I was touched by the felt room. This touch made me wonder about my right hand and the way it moves: the way my hand’s bones are set up, the movement and the way I feel things.
The felt room was beyond any other performance I had ever been to because it made me feel. I was aware of my senses the whole time and this sparked curiosity. I enjoyed it so much.
Adriana Castillo
Latest posts by Adriana Castillo (see all)
- Feeling the Felt Room - March 7, 2017