Time Piece
Time Piece
1977
About
Time Piece is a group piece, choreographed by Karen Jamieson and danced by the entire company of Terminal City Dance.
The People
Composer: Henry Kucharzyk
Reviews
“Time Piece. Ahh…um…ungh…whew…hoo…fff…I mean…mmmm…nnnnh…huunh. This is the one. The one where you’re right at the top, looking down, breathless, and your stomach is sitting a few seats back. The one where you’re too busy reacting to bother to think. It’s all so much and so fast.
Time Piece started with eight people running in and out of two doors at the far end of the room. They then formed a horizontal line at that end and began slowly, very slowly, to cross the space toward the audience, most of whom were seated on the floor. The line consisted of Terry Hunter playing a conga, a flute player, a woman continuously reciting some sort of proclamation, a man who yelled out the time at one minute intervals, a woman with a camera and flash unit, another man playing conga, and Karen Rimmer and Savannah Walling alternately walking with, or dancing in front of, the rest of the line. The beat pounded out by the two drums was positively hypnotic. The flute, the recitation and the camera flashes provided a strange counterpoint to the rhythm. And the man yelling out numbers gave an ominous tone to the whole progression.
All the time the group advanced on the audience. Slowly, painfully slowly they approached. ‘Five'.’ The beat grew louder. At last the line was right in front of the people on the floor, and still they were advancing. ‘Six.’ The power of that horizontal form was immense and irresistible. They started to walk right over the audience. ‘Seven.’ People had to move aside or get stepped on. The dancers weaved in and out of the rows of seated people and lay among them as the line continued to push through. ‘Eight.’ Eventually they reached the wall and the audience was twisted around looking at their backs. ‘Nine.’ One woman ‘trapped’ between a conga player and the wall. She held her ears as he continued to beat out the same strong and endless rhythm next to her head. ‘Ten.’ All the noise stopped, and the line filed out the entrance door. They were followed by howls of delight, cheers and raucous applause from the audience. I could hardly clap. I was too busy picking my jaw up off the floor.”
- Paul Heraty
“Four long arms with practice pads”
The Peak, November 4, 1980
“Miss Rimmer’s Time Piece had the dancers and several guests playing music, dancing, walking, and even, in one case, chattering non-stop about members of the audience as they descended upon us. In true Terminal City style, they all swept right through to the back wall, where they tried with all their might to break through even its limits.”
- Alina Gildiner
“Terminal City stretches its dance points too far”
The Globe and Mail, April 10, 1981
Excerpt from Terminal City Dance...At Work
1981 Documentary by Michael Goldberg
Distributor - VIVO Media Arts Centre (https://www.vivomediaarts.com)
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