The PROP series

PROP 1

After an encounter with Ulises Carrion's seminal essay, The New Art of Making Books, Redgrave set out to make a book that held a dance that a dancer could hold - a PROP!

The first in what became a six part series. This book is primarily hand written, bound, and embossed. It contains a score for a dance that the holder of the book enacts. It is a solo.

It has been performed for an audience three times: once by Jonah Kagan at the Temescal Art Center in Oakland, once by Miki Mappin in Saskatoon, Saskachewan at the Public Library, and once by Peter Redgrave at the Whole Gallery in Baltimore, MD.

PROP 2

PROP 2 builds on the temporal quality of books. It is a group work. It can be enacted with as few as four people.

In performance situations, it is an invitation to anyone who wants to play. No instructions are given before hand, although in all three of the situations where it has been presented, other PROPs have been shown.

To date it has been publicly enacted three times, in Oakland, in Saskatoon, and in Baltimore.

PROP 6

Here the PROP series takes a turn. Rather than a book, the format for number 6 is a newspaper. It is also a piece that is created for a particular performance. It is a duet.

Each paper in the set is created by one performer for the other. A large piece of newsprint is folded into eight sections. One has the title and one is blank, leaving six sections to hold short scores. The performers write six scores for the other performer.

During the performance, each performer chooses one score at a time either from their own paper or their partner’s. When one performer wants to close the piece, they put the blank side up and begin to find an ending.

There have been two sets created: one with Jane Selna (performed in Oakland) and one with Kyle Syverson (performed in Saskatoon)