EG3

Noah: can you please describe your work and maybe a little bit about it?

Elizabeth: So I'm calling my work Atlas. I thought about it a lot today of what I would actually title it. And it's basically going to be interpretive Performance. So I haven't done this before, but I'm hoping to take neon lights. I've been doing a lot with neon paint and black light and all that kind of practice. And basically the way that you work with lighting and shadow have at one angle, the shadow makes my skin and body look entirely black, only a silhouette. And then when the black light turns on, I'll still technically be a silhouette, but. The neon lights will show up. So it'll almost be like a reveal or at the same time. There's only a few that will start on my body, but then I'll take my paint and I'll actually write on it. I'm calling it Atlas because it's going to be very much about the mental weight that we carry on our shoulders. So I'm going to do things like hand prints to signify sexual abuse and I'm going to do cut marks for people who have dealt with depression and I'm going put a fake smile on my face almost to look kind of like a jokester. But the thing is it's more to signify a person who is hiding their expression and dealing with pain in the shadows. So I'll probably start off with a smile and then maybe wipe it away and put a frown, to signify that mental struggle and the thing that's going to tie it all together really is the movements I make. I plan to make them very slow and drawn out. And overexaggerated. Yeah.

Noah: Is The plan for the work to be sort of done at the moment? Or do you have sort of a score prepared for it?

Elizabeth: Both. I'm thinking at the moment of a score that I'll base it off of, but anything can happen live in the moment.

Noah: What are some ideas or inspirations that went into the making of this piece?

Elizabeth: So one inspiration is actually anna sprague. through the Wearable art show I have seen her teach movement classes and the movements that she makes in the way that she exaggerates them. It's inspiring! I really wanted to try to put myself out of my comfort zone. I'm not a great dancer. I'm not a great movement person, but I really want to see if I can push my abilities to do that. It kind of expanded my portfolio. Another inspiration is, I went to see the Cirque du Soleil years ago. I love the way that they work. And I found that the way they use flashy colors is really cool, but also to express really strong opinions, but in a fun way, in a way that people can understand not. And lastly, I work at a store that sells black lights and neon paint and all that kind of things. I really wanted to work with the material because I hadn't done it before. So a lot of this is an exploration of my own into a lot of new things. So I'm really excited to test things out and see how it turns out.

Elizabeth: It's letting me know just how little room I actually have, like. Thinking mentally, I'm physically in my space 24/ 7 , it's very claustrophobic. It's not the same as being at school, interacting with other people. So I find it a lot harder and that ties into the mental health of this. A lot of students and a lot of people I've heard from have had serious mental health issues and things that they're dealing with during this pandemic and having to work at home or massive grade drops. And it's almost sad. That this is the way we are, but we're also having to adapt if something goes wrong and improvise. it's a representation of the pandemics downsides in a performance, which I find really cool.

Noah: How does your work connect with, or talk with this theme of weight/wait?

Noah: Fantastic. So I guess in that sense you could say that this piece is more of a departure from your usual work? Or is this still very connected into your practice?

Elizabeth: So I am a design student for a bachelor of design. I do a lot of drawings and digital work that's very calculated work. So this whole class has been about letting myself out of my comfort zone. I like it because as much as I am a very analytical design person, I also like to be quirky and out there and try things that are new. I'm a costume maker. Usually I build costumes out of random materials, but this is the first time that I'm not going to have a costume. I'm just going to have my own skin and feel these serious topics. I think that this is challenging for me specifically. So a lot of this is out of my normal range entirely.

Noah: How has this shift from being the person who puts the costume on the performer to becoming the performer educated your costuming practice?

Elizabeth: Well, usually I am the one that wears it as well, but it's all about the costume and not about the person. The way that this has really shifted is that I am more vulnerable than usual. And I think that's really healthy, but also really interesting in a sense that I get to explore. Maybe I'll freeze in the middle of the presentation, or maybe it won't go as well as I had planned. I just have to roll with it and improvise. I have really good high hopes for it.

Noah: So it's safe to say that this piece is performed without any sort of editing or anything to interrupt that.

Elizabeth: Nope, not a single edit . If anything, if I can do it live. I'm almost trying to figure out if there's a space that I can do the recording, or if I have to like. Spread things out of my room or move like my camera set up somewhere else. I think space right now is the thing I'm researching into and questioning.

Noah: Your proposal mentioned that your initial impetus was thinking about how the current lockdown situation, the quarantining situation. How then has sort of a familiar space impacted this kind of work?

Elizabeth: The fact that I will be moving really slowly works with the slowness. And some people might even be bored watching it. So it's really up to the audience to defer which one it is. And I find that's going to be also interesting. I am an analytical person, so I find it intriguing to see the way it's going to come out. It's almost psychology in a sense. The reason I'm calling it Atlas. Is because it fits into weight spelled W E I G H T instead of W A I T. And it's really cool because we've had the chance to interpret it one or the other. But I'm focusing more on physical, mental, and interpretive weight. yeah. Fantastic.

Noah: Do you imagine this work it'll sort of be performed once ? Or do you imagine it continuing and transforming?

Elizabeth: I imagine it being performed once as the initial live , but I'll record it. So then I can look back on it. And maybe if it is really popular, I would love to take it further.

Atlas, is an interpretive dance based on the mental and physical struggles some people go through in there daily lives. It covers strong content such as self harm, sexual abuse, abuse and depression.
With this being said, when watching if you feel uncomfortable at anytime know there are people and resources you can reach out to.