“Bastard Piece” was a choreographic investigation of facsimile and memory. The piece took shape around three centers of exploration: the idea of doubling and tripling similar bodies and movement; verbal and visual processes of remembering; and the creation of spatial and interpersonal relationships derived from the imagery from a box full of found photos. As the piece unfolded, performers grappled with different strategies for remembering the details of a particular picture, using both verbal and physical description in attempts to reach a feeling of stability. The attempts of each performer to do so were constantly frustrated by the other bodies in the space, each carrying out their own journey towards clarity. Repeatedly engaging with the tension between unison and dissonance, the piece ended with a climactic unison dance number, reveling in the simple pleasure of the body occupying physical space and the momentary satisfaction of situating oneself within the hazy currents of memory.

Performed in an empty white room with three doors, the piece played with physical as well as contextual associations and dissociations, using false starts, extrapolation and misinterpretation of proposed movement and spatial transposition to create an experience of gentle confusion. This experience was supported by the design of the space, which used sudden bursts of highly saturated colored light to both aid in and undermine the performers’ attempts to remember and define space.