It's Personal

ATLAS B2 Center for Media, Arts and Performance (2023)

“It’s Personal” is a dance-based intermedia work consisting of four sections, in which a singular live performer engages with multiple digital versions of herself as she undergoes various physical tasks in which failure is the only outcome. Such tasks are presented as a live-action video game, races against the avatars/duplicates of the performer, one of which always wins, an attempt to teach the audience to dance while simultaneously setting up a pizza party in the lobby, and a return to the video game with shifted rules. The audience is implicated in the event immediately upon arrival to the venue, through the use of live feed surveillance projected in the main performance space and the opportunity to wear a heart rate monitor, allowing them to see their biometric data projected on the screen. The audience is fully implicated in learning a dance mid-performance, shifting them from observer to participant.

Created at a collision point of many themes and disciplines, the research behind “It’s Personal” spans queer theory, feminist theory, stand-up comedy, physiology, psychology, dance, and more. From Jose Muñoz’s queer utopia to Sara Ahmed’s feminist failure, Legacy Russell’s Glitch Feminism, and Hannah Gadsby’s standup expertise, this work asks both the performer and the audience to lean in and risk and be seen trying. This piece is queer around the edges, the effort of those involved is made visible, and the payoff comes from doing the thing in spite of all of the reasons why not to. “It’s Personal” exists as a model to embody aspirational values, where the multiplicity of self is on display, and the viewer is not exempt.

Created and performed by Anna Pillot during a B2 Center for Media, Art, and Performance Creative Residency

Intermedia Collaboration: Brad Gallagher

Dance Break Choreography: Caroline Butcher, Anna Pillot

Video: Anna Pillot, Kate Gomez Moore

Delivery Support: Caroline Butcher, Kate Gomez Moore

Costume Support: Department of Theatre & Dance

Technical Direction: Cooper Braun-Enos

Lighting Design: Stephanie Castro Rivera

Stage Manager: Thomas Gaither

Assistant Stage Manager: Kylie Good

Light Board Operator: Kerouac Xuan Awbrey

Tricaster Operator: Alex Collin