Over the next 90 minutes, Faye Driscoll and the remarkable, fluent Aaron Mattocks, who had stepped into a role created by Jesse Zaritt and reportedly learned the role on two-week’s notice, stepped, bounced, shrieked, and scrabbled through a series of 20 to 30-count episodes, much of it having to do with orality. She ate out of the palm of his hand. He whimpered, mouth open, like a baby bird, while she, googly eyed, fed him morsels from her mouth. He spit stones. Whole oranges got stuffed into their costumes to indicate boobs, knobby knees, deformed shoulder joints and—you knew it had to happen—scratchable, hanging balls. There was a Halloween-worthy, faux knife murder where a tangle of red yarn became viscera enjoyed by a glazed-eye zombie.

At one point, the duo pounced on a cache of costume-fixings, Driscoll riding the back of Mattock’s neck like a hobbyhorse. Wigs, pink netting, and scarves flew through the air as she flashed through a snapshot-like series of instant characters, a bargain basement Cindy Sherman. When the two performers pulled out spray cans and started painting themselves and each other in day-glow colors, you felt they’ve been waiting for permission to do this their entire adult lives.

Debra Cash, The Arts Fuse

READ IT HERE.

on reflections, refractions, & atmospheric optics
for Movement Research at the Judson Church
(October 22, 2012)

Photo by Ian Douglas, courtesy of InfiniteBody

“Mattocks’s solo with guitar slung over his shoulder (upside-down with its head just above the floor) is Specific Ocean’s dance centerpiece and carries weight and purpose. The instrument is an extension of his body. Mattocks doesn’t play, but turns around it, advancing by throwing a leg out in stretched arabesque, over, and beyond. He spirals in an energetic, circular space-eating walk, landing on his feet, so to speak. After this affecting solo he runs into the house in a gesture of largesse. It’s an invitation to sit back, feel the energy, and enjoy the visual and aural feast. Applause erupts.”

–Lori Ortiz, Special Apple

“Not to be outdone, Aaron Mattocks brought the piece to a climax with his solo for prepared guitar. Slung over his shoulder to start, he began moving in adagio, slowly experimenting with resonating tones as he took arabesques and lunges. As he picked up the pace, the guitar reflected his growing carelessness and abandon. The guitar never got him down, though he lead the guitar into some impressive floor work. By the end of the battle, his freedom within literally rang out…”

–Candice Thompson, DIY Dancer

My newest essay for Claudia La Rocco’s Performance Club:

Performance at the Beginning of the 21st Century // October 2, 2012

Photo by Jen Goma

People Get Ready/Steven Reker

World Premiere

People Get Ready make multi-sensory mixtapes that are a “melding of independent music and contemporary dance” (New York Times) inspired by memory, dreams, cultural debris and PLEASURE. The band creates immense sonic landscapes through the interaction of bodies and analog technology. They also generat choreography based on their songs, including selections from their new album, out this year on Brassland Records.

BUY TICKETS HERE.