I  workshopped Bound Feet Blues at The Centre for Solo Performance with 6 other solo performers and two facilitators. What was fascinating was that after my piece ended, in addition to giving me feedback on my performance and the structure of the script, the others in the group started talking about contemporary issues of body modification, body mutilation, the outward signifiers of feminity and masculinity and the eroticization of different part of our bodies in different cultures and times.

The facilitator had to interrupt the animated discussion to bring everyone back to the task at hand ie focusing on workshopping solo performance! But for me, that spontaneous discussion was exactly the hope I have for Bound Feet Blues – that it would prompt the audience to engage in this kind of thought and enquiry after the show, drawing parallels or taking issue for themselves with aspects of contemporary culture that bind  or restrict or cripple us without our even realising it.

 

 

Photo:  Bound feet compared to normal feet, thanks to http://sanodox.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/foot-binding-was-custom-practiced-on.html 

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noymsp