Mouse Auditions, 2010, Whitney Museum, New York
photographs: ©Paula Court

Mouse Auditions is a meta dance, where the process becomes the product, as Ring holds auditions for a fully imagined but never to be performed work based on Kafka's novella "The Metamorphosis."

Originally shown in the series Live on 5 Songs curated by 2010 Whitney Biennial artist Martin Kersels, whose sculpture, 5 Songs, led a double life as a stage for performance throughout the duration of the Biennial. Mouse Auditions was further developed through a commission from Headlands Center for the Arts for performances staged there.

In the interim — experimenting for a Judson showing — I focused on the very beginning of the story, the time just before, and just after, Gregor Samsa, the main character, wakes-up with an alien physicality.

March 5, 2010, Whitney Museum, New York
April 2011, Movement Research at Judson Church, New York
November 2012, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

Profile - San Francisco Bay Guardian, Robert Avila
Interview - The Off Center, Jesse Hewit
Review - Hyperallergic, Brian Karl
Review - Hyperallergic, Nancy Agabian

Script from Movement Research@Judson Church Experiment
Audition Questionnaire

Whitney Museum performers: Aaron Hodges, Ashley Wallace, Aston Kyle, Clyde Forth, Elle Erdman, Ellie Kusner, Eva Schmidt, Gale Turner, George Venson, Hilary Brown, Inka Juslin, Jen Harmon, Jeremy Olson, Jessica Cook, Joey Kipp, Katie Dorn, Kristin Hatleberg, Laura Diffenderfer, Laura Lamp, Maria Carlsson, Marilyn Maywald, Melinda Buckwalter, Moa Hanssen, Nancy Agabian, Pedro Jimenez, Pennylyn White, Rebecca Wender, Renée Archibald, Robert Yahner, Roland Schmidt, Sarah Sadie Newett, Siobhan Burke, Wanda Gala

Movement Research at Judson Church Performers: Alexandra Albrecht, Anna-Luella Zahner, Brendan Drake, Elisabete Finger, Enrico Wey, Inka Juslin, Joseph Kipp, Jeremy Olson, Robert Yahner

Headlands performers: Brianna Skellie, Cassie Thornton, Chani Bockwinkel, Christian Nagler, David Wick, Elyse Poppers, Emily Tareila, Esmeralda Kundanis-Grow, Justin Morrison, Kyra Rice, Laurie Van Wieren, Mara Poliak, Maryanna Lachman, Olive Mckeon, Phoebe Osborne, Paul Rucker, Sarah Pritchard, Sophie Reiff, Zoe Donnellycolt




© Melinda Ring 2022