Early Mourning Dances
Early Mourning Dances
Created and performed by Julie Atlas Muz and Fred Hatt
June 5, 1997 - East River Park
June 20, 1997 - Staten Island Ferry
July 3, 1997 - Central Park, Belvedere Castle
July 19, 1997 - Coney Island
August 3, 1997 - Central Park, Bethesda Fountain
August 18, 1997 - Fulton Street Fish Market
A series of six site-specific performances throughout the New York City area, each beginning at dawn and lasting for one hour.
(A chashama production)
description of the dances excerpted from "My Interview with Yasuko" an interview of Fred Hatt by Yasuko Kasaki at CRS, May 1, 2010:
"...back in the 90’s, in the days before 9/11, when there was no security anywhere, you could get away with anything in New York City, and we did. I think the specific thing you’re talking about is a series of performances in the summer of ’97. It was a collaboration that I worked out with Julie Atlas Muz, who is a well known burlesque performer and also a really good postmodern choreographer who did a lot of really creative and unusual performances. In that summer, every day that was a new moon or a full moon day, we would go out before dawn, with whatever other performers we could get to come with us, to some location around the city, the Staten Island Ferry, or Central Park, or Coney Island, some interesting location where there were a lot of things to interact with, and we did these interactive, improvisational happenings. Usually the only audience was people that we invited to come along and take pictures or video, but sometimes there were other people around, especially on the Staten Island Ferry where we sort of had a captive audience. The people that were performing could pretty much do whatever they wanted, but at that time of day, five o’clock in the morning, there is this incredible, powerful thing happening, the transformation of night into day. It’s a lighting effect that you couldn’t get from a theater lighting designer. If you had millions of dollars you couldn’t make something that amazing, and each time it was different. The birds are the rulers of that time, and they’re so loud, and human beings are so quiet. It’s the time when everyone is asleep, everyone is dreaming, and so even though you’re awake, you can be in a dream in the real world, because it’s the time when everyone is dreaming, That’s the predominant energy. Really amazing things happened in those performances. It was a struggle to get up really early in the morning and trek out to some place to do this thing, but then when we got done, we had to kill several hours before going to work or whatever."
Created and performed by Julie Atlas Muz and Fred Hatt
June 5, 1997 - East River Park
June 20, 1997 - Staten Island Ferry
July 3, 1997 - Central Park, Belvedere Castle
July 19, 1997 - Coney Island
August 3, 1997 - Central Park, Bethesda Fountain
August 18, 1997 - Fulton Street Fish Market
A series of six site-specific performances throughout the New York City area, each beginning at dawn and lasting for one hour.
(A chashama production)
description of the dances excerpted from "My Interview with Yasuko" an interview of Fred Hatt by Yasuko Kasaki at CRS, May 1, 2010:
"...back in the 90’s, in the days before 9/11, when there was no security anywhere, you could get away with anything in New York City, and we did. I think the specific thing you’re talking about is a series of performances in the summer of ’97. It was a collaboration that I worked out with Julie Atlas Muz, who is a well known burlesque performer and also a really good postmodern choreographer who did a lot of really creative and unusual performances. In that summer, every day that was a new moon or a full moon day, we would go out before dawn, with whatever other performers we could get to come with us, to some location around the city, the Staten Island Ferry, or Central Park, or Coney Island, some interesting location where there were a lot of things to interact with, and we did these interactive, improvisational happenings. Usually the only audience was people that we invited to come along and take pictures or video, but sometimes there were other people around, especially on the Staten Island Ferry where we sort of had a captive audience. The people that were performing could pretty much do whatever they wanted, but at that time of day, five o’clock in the morning, there is this incredible, powerful thing happening, the transformation of night into day. It’s a lighting effect that you couldn’t get from a theater lighting designer. If you had millions of dollars you couldn’t make something that amazing, and each time it was different. The birds are the rulers of that time, and they’re so loud, and human beings are so quiet. It’s the time when everyone is asleep, everyone is dreaming, and so even though you’re awake, you can be in a dream in the real world, because it’s the time when everyone is dreaming, That’s the predominant energy. Really amazing things happened in those performances. It was a struggle to get up really early in the morning and trek out to some place to do this thing, but then when we got done, we had to kill several hours before going to work or whatever."
