For the four hour duration of the opening of the show “Ladyparts,” I danced all over the gallery to music being played in noise cancelling headphones while blindfolded and cross-dressed.

I intended to conceptually address how gender is an independent and creative journey, one in which one should “dance as if no one is watching,” but what occurred was something I was not expecting. Similarly to Abramovič’s “Rhythm 0,” my performance turned out to be an endurance of anonymous teasing and bullying from audience members. And although this was a personally disturbing experience, it perfectly conveyed many social issues, particularly the abuse of other’s consent. What symbols or contexts gave permission to these individuals to be aggressive towards me? Would I have been maltreated had my gaze been apparent? What if I wasn’t dancing or if I was dressed as a “man”? What if it wasn’t in the context of “art”?