Act I: Metro Corridor¶
Conceptual Framework¶
This project explores how an intimate and partner-based movemement danced by two women can temporarily reorganize the behavioral and spatial norms of a narrow underground corridor. This location is selected for its physical and social conditions; long, poorly ventilated and continuously filled with random commuters. In this environments it is expected to follow linear trajectories, avoid contact, and prioritize efficiency over presense. By inserting a slow and responsive dance into this space, the intervention tests how the existing flow of public transit can be disrupted without blocking it. The act is not a performance staged for and audience; but a momentary reconfiguration of an everyday flow. The dancers’ presence introduces a non-functional movement that contrasts with the corridors utilitarian logic.
The act creates a temporary autonomous zone within a highly regulated environment. This temporary zone emerges through the embodied action where normative behaviors are suspended or replaced with proximity, attention and co-presence. The act is neither a performance for spectators nor an attempt to disrupt transportation. This framework positions the intervention as a method for observing how commuters negotiate, resist, ignore or absorb this autonomous zone and how dancers manage vulnerability within an unchosen audience. It focuses on how such an ephemeral intervention reveals the tensions between individual movement and the way the infrastructure dictates behavior.
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To create a temporary autonomous zone within a narrow underground metro corridor by dancing tango between two women, observing how this embodied interruption reorganizes public flow, social behavior, and spatial perception.
Protocol¶
Preparation Phase¶
Visit the corridor at different times of day (rush hour, off hours, weekend). Identify potential “micro-nodes” where the corridor widens slightly or foot traffic temporarily loosens.
Document: Density of movement, Typical walking speeds, Commuter demographics, Security presence, Light, sound, temperature, airflow
Internal Rehearsal¶
Practice a compact tango walk suitable for limited space: Minimal steps, contained upper body, slow pivoting. Define the mode of interaction between dancers: Close embrace or open embrace, Tempo slow enough to not fully obstruct the corridor
Agree on communication signals: Start/stop, Adjust proximity to commuters, Safety withdrawal
Legal / Informal Boundary Check Confirm that no local laws strictly prohibit non-blocking movement-based activities in the metro (the intervention must remain non-obstructive).
Set a contingency plan if approached by security: Maintain calm, Clarify the action as non-commercial, non-political, non-obstructive movement.
Intervention Phase¶
Choose a time when the corridor is busy enough for meaningful interaction but not dangerously overcrowded.
Typically: 8:30–10:00 or 17:00–18:30.
Duration: 5–10 minutes per cycle, 2–4 cycles spaced apart.
Begin at the midpoint of the corridor. Stand parallel to the main flow, then gradually rotate into the dance frame. Maintain mobility never fully blocking the corridor.
Start a slow tango walk with music from headphones (to avoid public amplification). Allow the dance to unfold as: A micro-slowdown in a high-velocity zone, A momentary pause in the logic of transit, A temporary alternative rhythm within the regulated space. This is where the Temporary Autonomous Zone emerges: A short-lived pocket of autonomy created not by permission, but by the softness, slowness, and non-functionality of the action.
Documentation: A discreet third observer recording from the edge. Field notes from dancers and observers before and afterward.
Documentation focus: Commuter reactions, Flow disruptions or detours, Moments of hesitation, curiosity, discomfort, or avoidance, How long the TAZ remains unchallenged.
Controlled Exit¶
Stop the dance gradually while still in motion (exiting through walking rather than pausing). Rejoin the commuter flow seamlessly.
Within 15 minutes, write down or record: Sensations during the dance, Shifts in atmosphere, How the corridor “held” or “resisted” the TAZ, Physical or emotional responses from others
Optional Second Cycle Repeat at a different time later the same day or week to compare conditions.