TOILET is a dance film. The images I used in the choreography were smell and voyeurism. Smell is a primal sense. People and animals can often locate their own kind by using scent. The movement I created was very minimal - flat and sparse. TOILET is intentionally dark visually, to create a sense of voyeurism from the viewer, that of a surveillance camera. The audience is never too sure what is happening because often they can only see a flash of skin - never too sure who the body part belongs to or what sex they are.
TOILET was initially performed live in the spring of 1996 as apart of the Dances for a Small Stage series at Toronto's Rivoli Cafe. I became extremely tired of seeing dance pieces that dealt with heterosexual couples dealing with:
1. the dating process
2. the woman being dumped by the man- she then goes mad- goes through a dark period and then finally recovers as a stronger person
3. a happy hetero couple which ages nicely together - a happy ending
For myself, there are so many other interesting things to create choreography for that I wanted to choreograph a dance about something that happens every day but is not discussed publicly.
When TOILET was first performed live I received a phone call from an anonymous woman who said that I was "a vulgar person of the first order".
Life can be dirty.

conrad