The Feeling of What Happens

Piece description: Have you ever wanted to go back and experience a moment over again? Either because it was such a pleasurable one or because you wish you had done something different. The Feeling of What Happens is a performance based on this human impulse and the fantasy of the redo. It harnesses the container of the stage to indulge in exploration and to escape the confines of decision commitment.

The Feeling of What Happens was first created online in 2021. It has since been translated into live space using the original film recording as a jumping off point. The piece evolves and recreates itself each time it is performed using previous versions as a source for the choreographic material. The dancers explore the freedom of reorganizing memory as they replay moments and mix in discoveries. Much like a choose your own adventure book, the dancers take charge of directing the outcome. As we follow them on their trajectories, we witness their capacity to embody the present moment and remember the past. To negotiate that contradiction, they follow their gut with each choice.

Presented at an online production of Prospects, (2021) and at The Cotton Factory, Hamilton, ON for Prospects (2023). Prospects is hosted by Aeris Körper Contemporary Dance.

Choreographed by Megan English

Performed by Sid Ryan Eilers and Mayumi Lashbrook