Mourning Games
A public performance.
Developed for NSCAD’s Mourning Week, a city-wide exhibition.
Halifax, March, 2014.
Concept & Choreography by Lillian Ross-Millard, Patrick Blenkarn & Bryn McLeod, .
Participants: Eric Braul, Miranda Jones, Laura Gallagher-Doucette, Eric Cunningham, Philippe Mesley, Lillian Ross-Millard, Bryn McLeod, Patrick Blenkarn.
Photos by Jacob Baker Kretzmar
Mourning Games – A group of strangers gather at a cemetery in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia. They have been told to arrive at 10am sharp. Wordlessly, they are taught the moves of a mourning dance. Once they have all learnt the dance, in single file they follow the woman at the front wearing sunglasses and a long black coat. Another woman (also wearing a long black coat) pulling a wagon with speakers on it stands at the back of the line. Sad and slow music plays for the dancing mourners and the passersby. The woman at the front leads them several blocks over to a city square, the kind of square where a municipality would typically hold Remembrance Day ceremonies. The man in the fedora and the trench coat holds up a series of signs printed on cardboard. The signs teach the participants the rules of Mourning Games 1-3.
MOURNING GAME #1
Pass the black shoes.
MOURNING GAME #2
Someone is it. Hug a friend for protection.
MOURNING GAME #3
Come into a circle. Close your eyes. Reach out and grab two hands. Open your eyes and detangle the group.
Say goodbye silently.
