Blog: Cooler Than the Red Dress
A piece of writing detailing our upcoming digital performance of “(.) Period” at City Moves’ Dance Live Festival on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October, as well as an ode to a Shaper/Caper veteran – our red parachute dress!
To make sure we’re clear: whilst we of course absolutely love the floor filler dance tunes from the diamonds of the 00s that is the Sugababes, this blog is not a critical review of the members’ life and times (although what’s to critique in the first place, they are AMAZING!) but we shall be chatting about a subject loosely related to their 2006 hit single: Red Dress.
Somewhat of a staple for Shaper/Caper are our almost signature parachute dresses. One in white, one in red, they have featured across multiple performances including children’s interactive production Paper Moon, Halloween horror dance feast CUT, the opening ceremony of the V&A Dundee featured on BBC2, we could continue our list really! We use these parachutes, when relevant, for many reasons, of course one of which is ensuring we practise being as eco-friendly as possible. By frequently revisiting archives of costumes and props to rework what items we already have, we can breathe new life into what may have become yet another piece of landfill and instead use these items to influence what movement we do in our pieces.
Our most recent reinvention of our crimson red parachute will be featured in the upcoming digital dance festival Dance Live hosted by City Moves from 15th – 18th October 2020. Here, we will be presenting a series of films relating to the often dysphoric and dysmorphic experience that menstruating brings transgender and non-binary people and how such a private and personal issue is being not only discussed but debated in mainstream media. With such a powerful subject matter, of course we needed a powerful visual spectacle to mirror the soundscape and words spoken in the dance film we are showing on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th October.
And so while our parachute dresses have previously been:
Cinderella’s Ballgown
The Waves of the River Tay
The Moon
This time, the red one shall make its debut as *drum roll please* ……… A Menstrual Cycle?
Affectionately known during the R&D process as ‘The Period Parachute’, the imagery of the billowing burgundy material is easy to become used to, almost forgetting about how powerful the image could be, especially for those who perhaps maybe feel slightly uncomfortable at the prospect of discussing what is often seen as a private – and in some instances even a taboo – matter. For something that seems so innocuous, given that dare we say almost all of the world’s population will experience menstruation either directly themselves or through family members, friends or partners, it is still shrouded with shame and sometimes disgust; adverts for sanitary products exclusively use blue liquid to illustrate the product’s use; there’s almost never a mention of the word ‘blood’ itself; Tampon adverts are still being banned and complained about and any public conversations around even the general subject of reproductive health are sometimes stifled and strained. This is hard enough for cisgender women to have to endure and fight against. In addition, Trans and Non Binary people also have to put up with not only all issues previously mentioned but also the societal commentary, with famous celebrities using their twitter accounts to decide who does and does not get a ticket at the Menstruation Station (doesn’t that sound like a hip new hang out place? Book your tables now!)
We wanted to embrace the strong crimson of this parachute and considering how striking the colour is against the natural backdrop we have chosen for the film as well as the muted costume colours of our performer (Shaper/Caper’s Dance Artist Alex), it is very clear what the colour and this material physically engulfing the camera is representing. There are moments in our blooper reel from our super socially distanced, 2 people crew filming day where Alex is repeatedly swept off their feet by the parachute – the whole day was filled with trips and stumbles, slips and tumbles all because of the material being caught by the fierce coastal wind or enveloping Alex a little too much. But ultimately, even these outtakes represent the piece and the theme – the unpredictability of menstruating as a Trans person; the moments of calm vs the moments of chaos. The Period Parachute echoes the piece in such a way that no other costume or prop could and show visually what is often difficult to express verbally. I guess that is where the Sugababes got it completely correct – I suppose in “(.) Period” we really are cooler in the red dress.