Geometry of the Circle (1993)
For this second work together, Ahmed Hassan and I started by reversing the rules we’d established for Sanctum, in which we were set far apart, each confined to our own small rectangle of space, and for which Ahmed’s music was comprised purely of percussive sound. For this new work, we had sculptor Janet Morton create a set of three objects to define the circumference of a circle, and Ahmed and I discovered and pursued one another within this miniaturized world. We thought of ourselves as entities with distinctly different modes of expression and communication: Ahmed a creature for whom sound was primary, and me a creature of gesture and action. Wearing a wireless mic, Ahmed careened about the space in his manual wheelchair while I bounded and scampered away from him and toward him, finally meeting face to face, stepping inside the footrests of his chair, grasping him by the shoulders, and lowering myself to squat back on my heels while we met eyes and he “sang” to me.
An invitation to revive Geometry of the Circle for performances as part of the cultural celebrations for the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver led to a decade of rich collaboration with the vocalist Fides Krucker. First interpreting and reconstructing Ahmed’s extraordinarily eccentric vocal score, Fides then taught it to performer Mark Brose, coaching him in the intricacies of a virtuoso performance that he shared with two exquisite dancers: Alison Denham and Sahara Morimoto.
Geometry of the Circle is as dear to me as a love letter, inscribed with the disappearing ink of live performance. - PB
"Hassan...earthbound...confined to a wheelchair... (Baker) his velvet-jointed sylph...a celebration of mutual power, and of constructive differences." - Robert Everett-Green, The Globe and Mail
credits
choreography and performance:
Peggy Baker
original music and performance:
Ahmed Hassan
costumes:
Peggy Baker
set design:
Janet Morton
lighting design:
Marc Parent
subsequent performers:
Alison Denham / Sahara Morimoto with Mark Brose (vocalist)
premiere
Quebec City
March 29, 1993
Les Lundis de l’Institut
subsequent presentations
media links
See 1993 in the media and awards archive
photography
As credited.
