Ballroom Lessons was part of Golden (Lessons), a research residency at Beaconsfield, London, punctuated by a series of live events and performance interventions. Movement artists/choreographers Annie Pui Ling Lok and Jenevieve Chang were invited to improvise, on different occasions, along the theme of ballroom instruction. Taking cues from a range of teaching materials, the object of these improvised ‘lessons’ were strictly DIY: do-it-yourself ballroom.
These invitations resulted in an initial hour-long non-stop improvisation by Annie Pui Ling Lok, later followed by an open ‘lesson’ in which ‘instructor’ and various ‘pupils’ attempted to decipher and translate steps from paper to floor. Jenevieve Chang invited in turn a fellow performer, Amadeo Rosenheim, to partner her in an improvisation that played on the gendered dynamic between dancers, teacher and student, and the notion of amateurism.
Ballroom Lesson, 1 November 2006, with Annie Pui Ling Lok
SPSL 