Tall, blonde, ladies. Check.
Presented in association with FADO Performance Art Centre
Part of Buddies in Bad Times’ Hysteria 2009
Festival runs until October 31 @ Buddies in Bad Times
By Daina Valiulis
Tall Blonde Ladies, composed of Anna Berndtson and Irina Runge from Sweden and Germany, is a collaborative performance project that “inverts female stereotypes through the composition of absurd and unexpected performance gestures, incorporating a range of accoutrement from high-end fashion to sports gear”, according to the show’s press release. “Their works present diametrically opposed concepts; beauty and grace are juxtaposed and diminished through brute action and athleticism, tacitly disrupting and challenging gender-based categorizations.”
Well, that’s a fancy explanation for two tall blonde ladies wearing corsets and cleats, sitting or marching in right angles in the middle of the room. They don’t interact, they don’t change the rhythm and they do this for an hour. Frankly, to tack on this much meaning to something so ridiculous is lazy and obnoxious.
The audience’s reaction to the relentless marching was the most interesting thing about the performance. People shifted about uncomfortably, some read the program, some marched along and one lady yelled at them to stop. Finally, about half an hour in, some audience members made their escape and rightly so. It would be easy to come up with a concept like TBL. All you’ve got to do is think of the most annoying thing you could possibly do for an hour, do that, and tack some highly intellectual explanation onto it. Viola! Art!
Needless to say, Tall Blonde Ladies was extremely unfortunate. There are better ways to provoke an audience that involve more work and thought. Controversy and pushing boundaries is more than acceptable in the theatre, particularly when exploring gender issues at a place like Buddies. Catching the last half-hour of Shawna Dempsey from Winnipeg talking about her performance art was the highlight of the evening. She was whimsical and lightheartedly funny, her performance art thoughtful and gently anti-capitalist. It’s a good thing TBL was only on for one night, sparing many people from the tap-dancing insanity.
