Red Rover

Diane Frank’s description of the dance event “Red Rover” sounded so interesting that I knew I had to go. Not only did it exceed my expectations, it was probably one of my favorite art performances I have ever seen. The dance consisted of five different dance groups who performed a site-specific dance. The audience walked from site to site led by the “Rovers”—Stanford students who were dressed in white with some sort of red highlight—bandanas, sashes, etc. Not only were the dances unique, visually stimulating, and physically impressive, but the way in which the performance was conducted had artistic and conceptual significance.

First, the way in which the Rovers led the audience was artistic—they had to run ahead and direct the audience with their body, using the environment around them as props. For example, if they encountered a tree on the way, they would wrap their body around it while pointing with, for instance, their leg. If there was a curb, they would lie down as a barrier while constructing an artistic position on the ground with their body. Some were quite impressive—doing handstands along the way, using the Quad pillars as support, or holding an arabesque position on cement blocks for long periods of time. One interesting aspect I noted was that on the walk to the second location, we walked through a rather industrial construction site on campus where we wound in and out of metal fencing and construction plastic. This had meaning for me as it was so different from a formal dance performance in which one enters a fancy venue, dressed nicely, to watch the performance. Not only were we walking from place to place, but we were walking through ordinary settings. The Rovers did not choose to lead us through an area that was not cluttered with construction, but rather took the normal path despite the somewhat informal surroundings. To add to this informality, the walking caused each member to arrive at the scene at different times, so each member did not see the same thing. In fact, some would miss the beginning—there were no formal start/stop points for the performance. All of these characteristics played on the natural aspect of art—that everything can be viewed as part of the dance. In a way, all the ground we covered was part of the performance—the walk itself was a dance—we were being led to go certain places along a path that had some goal.

It will be hard to describe all of the dances in such a short space, so I will note on how many of them used the environments around them for their stage, for I think this is one of the main things Red Rover was trading on. The first piece began with various pairs spread along a courtyard, with one of the members of each pair standing on a polished stone “bench”—already using the environment as props. As the dance progressed, each member began to run down a grassy hill and dance around the trees—grasping and groping them as they circled around. Then, the Rovers led us to a place where we could see the next piece of the dance more clearly, because the dancers began to frolic down the hill (the change in elevation not allowing us to see their further steps from our original position). The dancers proceeded to enter a shallow pool/fountain and continued the dance in the water. This was one of the most interesting parts of the whole dance as the use of space was incredible. Not only were the dancers in water but the source of the sound was as well—there were three artists using bottles, barrels, coins, and other tools to make water sounds which were then amplified and distorted. It reminded me of Professor Applebaum’s sound system performance. I also enjoyed the fact that not only did the environment affect the dancers, but the dancers in turn affected the environment—creating ripples in the water, and making water prints on the stone as they stepped out of the water.

The second performance was affected by the wind and the sun. There were petals forming a spiral that the dancers ran through, yet which were blown by the wind, blurring the spiral’s lines. The setting sun also shone through an opening between two parts of the building, so the performance had its own natural lighting. The fourth performance used the actual functional aspects of buildings as an aspect of their dance. The focus of their performance was that “the brain is the body” and “the body is the brain”—the writing on their shirts and also the subject of their chants. Ironically, the dance was performed in the main section between the Law Library and Meyer Library. The dancers even used books as props for their dance. In each case, the environment was used for its props and setting. The fact that the Rovers also used props around them and the dances themselves were not on stage but in various parts of campus showed that anything can be used as art and the environment around us can be our stage.