Catherine Galasso

UNDERCOVERS
a Dances with Books project at Olin Library
INSTRUCTIONS
There will be three 6x6 ft squares of red velvet stretched on the ground
in a line down the center of the terrace of Olin Library. 8 people,
dressed in black, will make repeated trips in and out of the library to
gather as many books as they can carry, check them out, bring them out to
the terrace and carefully line them up on the squares of velvet. There
will be one person per square lying on their back, and they will gradually
be covered by a carpet of books. If all runs smoothly, it should take
about an hour for all 3 squares and people to be completely covered.
PERFORMERS:
Please wear ALL BLACK. You will also need your ID CARD to check out
books, and a pocket might be useful to keep it in.
Weather is supposed to be partly sunny, highs in the upper 70’s; ideal
conditions for outdoor performance. In case it’s cool and you have one,
you might want to bring a black long-sleeve shirt.
You will start in a line, side by side, facing the library with the velvet
squares in front of you. Satya will be the first to gather books. While
she is gone, the rest of you will each have one book and will very slowly,
while maintaining the line, begin to balance or hold your books in varying
and unusual manners. (I will give a brief demonstration if necessary
before the piece begins.) Experiment, improvise, have fun with this,
holding each pose as long as you can, and moving slowly in between poses.
YOU WILL KEEP DOING THIS UNTIL IT IS YOUR TURN to gather books.
When Satya returns with the first stack of books, whoever is first in line
starting on the left will lay down belly up on the first square on the
left, while whoever is 2nd will go to gather more books. The rest will
continue with the book posing. As the 2nd person returns with a stack of
books, the 3rd person will leave the line and so on.
Lay the books OPEN, FACE UP on the OUTSIDE of the person, and
FACE DOWN on top of the person. Lay them one line at a time, making sure
that they match up with the edges of the square, which in some cases might
mean laying a book closed. Of course, be GENTLE with the books as well as
with the person.
As soon as the first square and person are completely covered, whoever
places the last book on that 1st square will lay down belly up on the 2nd
square. Squares will be covered one at a time.
When the 3rd square is almost covered, and you can see that more books
won’t be necessary, help those who still have books to lay to finish.
CAMERA PEOPLE:
I would like you to record the entire piece from start to finish, without
turning the cameras off, so that all 3 can be projected simultaneously
afterwards, and match up time wise. Try to film them in the elevators,
in the stacks, and possibly at the circulation desk, catching bystanders’
reactions, etc. There is a policy against video and photography inside
the library, so if you could be discreet as possible… In case they ask you
to stop, you could make excuses that you’re documenting a performance and
see what they say, or just leave the library and film the rest outside,
but above all KEEP FILMING!
I AM EXTREMELY GRATEFUL TO YOU ALL FOR MAKING THIS PIECE POSSIBLE!!!

Type: Dance-Installation
Running time: 1 hour
Date of Creation: September 2004
Direction/choreography: Catherine Galasso
Music: various, mixed by Catherine Galasso
Performances by: Kathleya Afanador, Eugenia Chun, Elizabeth DeSantis, Bernd Goehring, Justin Rashid, Kate Shearman, Satya Stainton, Robert Turner