BRIDGE 3

Dress me by Alicia Lee, Alexandria Ditavong, Jordan Savage, Aziza Rozi

The true nature of this project was an interactive, live performance. We stood in a row, blind folded, dressed in simple black undergarments, providing a blank slate for the audience to interact with. In the middle of the room, we placed more or less than ten of our own personal apparel, ranging from casual to cultural items that represented certain stereotypes. Our goal was to see how the audience would dress us according to their personal beliefs and perceptions. Beliefs and perceptions could be determined by several factors, such as body shape, skin tone, hair, etc. As the performers, we felt like sculptures as we had no control during the performance. We had no sight; therefore our emotions were affected by the audience’s touch, motion and dialect. For example, Alicia felt a variety of emotions according to where the clothes were placed on her body and how she was touched. In some cases, she felt more constricted, while in other cases she felt comforted. Alexandria felt vulnerable due to her elongated exposure of her body in front of the audience. Her thoughts wandered to envision how the audience perceived her body type and connected it with the clothes laid out. Aziza and Jordan felt as though they were dressed according to their race unconsciously by the viewers. For instance, Jordan was wearing a gold chain with an African print bracelet while Aziza had on a traditional Kimono top. Overall, this performance was powerful in its outcome of portraying the aspects of perception, interaction and improvisation.