TEST SUBJECT

TEST subject

Dancenorth

Program Note

Inspired by personality cults and the obedience experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram throughout the mid to late 20th century, Test Subject re-contextualises human behaviour experiments inside contemporary dance in the tech heavy 21st century to examine our relationship with supercomputers.

Test Subject celebrates the inherent obedience dance practitioners master as they work to improve their abilities as movement specialists. At its core this piece is about the moment of performance, its meaning only existing because of the care and depth that the dancers give each moment. It is an invitation to watch dance as a behaviour. It asks us, the spectators, to meditate on what participation in a social construct can be, and how individualism plays a role in group activity. In a world increasingly focussing on personal truth, Test Subject asks us to sit on the outside of a performance situation and bring our personal truth to its meaning.