On Saturday & Sunday, March 9-10, 2024, REDCAT presented the World Premiere of Reorient the Orient by Los Angeles based dance artist Lionel Popkin. The 8 hour durational, multimodal performance took place throughout REDCAT’s theater, gallery and lobby allowing audience members to decide for themselves where they would be at any given moment. I arrived at REDCAT a little before 3 pm on Saturday and while there were still no performers to be seen, Popkin’s installation was fully functioning throughout the venue.
Wilfried Souly in “Reorient the Orient” by Lionel Popkin at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
In the gallery there were various video projections on the ceilings and walls of different neighborhoods (“My Walks from Home”), disembodied feet jumping and stomping (“Rembrandt’s Feet”), and a hand drawing black on white contour looping. There was a hanging Wiffle Ball sculpture (“Ballroom”) with a bare lightbulb hanging in the center; short boxes with projected videos (“Rotating Right Angles”); a costume rack with winter apparel, and large Asian rugs placed throughout. Scattered about were small wooden benches with the contour looping design on them and gray pillows for people to sit and observe, and a row of papers hanging on one wall that the audience could take off and read about the making of Popkin’s project.
Lionel Popkin (on platform) and Arushi Singh (on rug to the right) in Popkin’s “Reorient the Orient” at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
The Theater had similar video projections, benches, pillows, and rugs but there was also a hanging sculpture of 5 glass panels with human figures drawn on them; a tall step ladder with the head of an elephant costume on top and the rest of the animal outfit placed on the ladder’s rungs and frame. Adjacent to the ladder was a square platform with a pair of tall rubber boots placed next to a music stand that had a microphone attached to it.
Jay Carlon in elephant suit and Lionel Popkin in Popkin’s “Reorient the Orient” at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
During an interview with LADC, Popkin explained that he “snail mailed” a score to each of the performers who then interpreted that score without seeing what the others were doing with it. This was evident as one walked, stood or sat to observe Jay Carlon, Arushi Singh, Wilfried Souly and Popkin performing on the rugs, in the Ballroom sculpture, on the ladder or on the platform. Within the movements there were recognizable elements but very individualized by the performers. At times the performers wore headsets listening to music that could be the same that the audience was hearing or not.
The title, Reorient the Orient, was inspired by the fact that each of the performers has had a lifetime of dealing with dual cultural identities. Popkin is East Indian and Jewish. Jay Carlon is the son of parents who migrated here from the Philippines, Arushi Singh was raised in New Delhi and relocated here when she was an adult, and Wilfried Souly is from Burkina Faso, Africa.
Arushi Singh in Popkin’s “Reorient the Orient” at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
This was most apparent while Popkin read and performed on the platform while just a couple of feet away a looped video showed an east Indian male dancer performing traditional Indian dance. One synchronized (perhaps consequently) moment was when the Indian dancer performed intricate footwork with bare feet striking the floor, Popkin was executing a very different style of foot stomping expressing frustration and/or anger. Throughout the venue each dancer performed unlike what we might think of as traditional movement from their country’s dance culture; reorienting our preconceived expectations.
Jay Carlon in Lionel Popkin’s “Reorient the Orient” at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
Popkin’s Reorient the Orient was designed so that the one viewer seated in the gallery was observing quite a different performance than the one in the theater – the gallery was a theater and the theater a gallery while parts of the lobby were both. Viewers who arrived at REDCAT at 4 pm would have a different experience than those who entered the building at 5 or 7 pm because each performer’s score was unlike the others. The Sunday performance was unlike Saturday’s.
Lionel Popkin’s “Reorient the Orient” at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
Like strolling through different rooms of painters’ works in a museum, it was intriguing to move about REDCAT and stumble upon Carlon moving about the side of the gallery with his head or his feet never leaving the wall. Or Souly walking around on a rug while bent over, his hands behind his back as if meditating on the carpet’s patterns. Watching Singh seated upon a rug simply rotating her rib cage for minutes at a time and seeing Carlon doing the same moments later. There was a short period when I and several others sat in the theater with only the video projections and sculptures. It was far from boring, however, as it gave one the opportunity and time to really take in what was taking place in the videos.
(L-R) Wilfried Souly, Arushi Singh, Lionel Popkin, and Jay Carlon in Popkin’s “Reorient the Orient” at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
Reorient the Orient was an inventive living art installation that was impossible to see in its entirety unless one had the stamina to stay for the full 8 hours two days in a row. Even then, one’s experience would be unlike that of anyone else’s.
The Original Sound for Reorient the Orient was by Tom Lopez; Video Design by Meena Murugesan; Lighting Design by Christopher Kuhl; Costume Design and Visual Consultation by Marcus Kuiland Nazario; Artist and Archive Consultation by Cori Olinghouse; Stage Manager was Paige O’Mara; Production Assistant was Jackie Davis; and the Map Design was by Jesse Bonnell, Foghorn & Co.
For more information about Lionel Popkin, please visit his website.
To learn more about REDCAT, please visit its website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Arushi Singh in Reorient the Orient by Lionel Popkin at REDCAT – Photo by Angel Origgi.
