2022
The Meanwhile Clock and Other Impossible Dances
About the Show
For the 2022 show, Paperhand took an adventurous dive into the paradoxical nature of time. Paper, cloth, and cardboard were transformed into creatures and characters of all shapes and sizes, then came alive in a parade of primordial pageantry!
Paperhand was thrilled to work with the amazing performer, writer and activist
Eli Nixon!
We were inspired and informed in our work creating this summer’s pageant by Eli’s incredible book Bloodtide.
Bloodtide attempts queer futurity, without mythologies of settler
innocence, and with sustained recognition that time extends through our ancestors: recent ones, bog bodies, slithering fern dwellers and primordial beasts with telsons ruddering behind. It’s a holiday marking our relation to place and thus the necessity of making reparations and contributing to land return projects. Bloodtide promotes horizontalist structure building practices through pageantry, crabaoke (altered lyrics), naturedrag, cardboard sculpting, feasting and other hands-on locally oriented, commemorative & survivalist practices. Bloodtide posits that shared homage and attention to horseshoe crabs might further all repair efforts and other insufficient necessities for our collective and individual healing/transformation.
The main character of our 2022 summer show was based on the book Momo by Michael Ende. 'The Meanwhile Clock' follows the story of Momo on their journey as they form deep bonds with a town, battle against the men in grey, explore the endless possibilities of time, and teach us the deeper meanings to be found in slowing down and immersing oneself in the interconnectedness of the world.
Did you enjoy the music from The Meanwhile Clock and Other Impossible Dances? If so, you can keep listening to it by procuring the album online on Bandcamp!
Fun Fact:
Red Knots (Calidris canutus) are also known as "Moonbirds." These beautiful birds were prominently featured in this show.
While the real birds don't walk and dance on stilts like ours do on stage, they do perform an amazing feat - one of the longest migrations of any bird. Each year, they travel more than 9,000 miles (14,000 km) from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America!
One particular Red Knot (#B95, born circa 1992) earned the nickname of “Moonbird” because it flew the equivalent of the distance to the moon in 21 years of migration between Argentina and Canada. It was the oldest known member of its species.