Public Moves Federal Hill was a great piece, and I’m glad I was able to be a part of it. The group did a series of moves, meant to attract viewers attention to the environment, and everything around them. We started with Entrance. That was where we all entered from either side of the performing space, in a basic line shape. The next step was Intersection, and that was basically to do what we would normally do. We acted like tourists, did flips on hills, took pictures, everything you would expect to see people doing. This step was followed by a freeze, initiated by five long megaphone blasts. We froze until we heard five more and then we went into the Meeting step. This was where everyone used their hands and arms to pull each other around in the space. This was the point when the tourists really noticed something was up. Then everyone formed a line at the top of the hill, and slowly began to walk down. A few feet later, everyone sits, then does a sort-of “crab walk” down the rest of the hill. Once there, everyone walked circles on the middle tier of the hill, along the sidewalk. Occasionally, people would dash straight up or down varying distances, then run right back and continue along.
Once everyone had made their exit, they walked on all fours back to the center of the hill and lay flat. Then it was picture time, and their was a pose, and then a relax. On the relax, people could chose to leave, and slowly the crowd got smaller and smaller. Once everyone was gone they came back for “Sunset”, where they make another line at the top of the hill, and then slowly step backwards, creating the illusion that they are “setting”.
I however, had a somewhat different experience than others. I was ontop of the Visual Art Museum, watching everything, photographic, and at the Feedback portion, I was in charge of creating strange noises with blades of grass. I had two others with me, and together I think we did a great job of creating a dynamic sound for the closing portion of the performance. I was on the roof with Steve Bradley, my teacher (who also happened to be the sound guy). It was really fun to get to see what goes on behind the scenes. I enjoyed watching Prof. Bradley work with his team to create really unique and interesting sounds. It was also a great opportunity to view the performance. It was really interesting how all of these random sounds could creating such a dynamic. Everything from sounds of cars, whispers and yelling, frogs croaking and bellowing, and even our little blades of grass really came together in a unique way. I am very greatful for the opportunity to work with everyone, and to see the performance as it was meant to be seen.
