Up & Down – an escalator Action

Is this a machine? Is this an assembly line? A playground?
What is this strange place in between?

Every day people face these two stories high metal monsters, without blinking, fearless. Our minds turn these futuristic dragons into little ponies that we ride to get to the next clothes department store. Through everyday practice we master these huge, gigantic machines in the same way we master a walk down the park. Today everyone has an escalator driver’s license.

Up & Down is a performance where we play with the rules and possibilities of the physical and social space of an escalator and the pictures you might, or might not, see there. By using and mixing the common and expected elements of the specific site, we investigate how we can create uncommon and extraordinary situations and reActions.

Through dance, movement, acrobatics and playfulness, we question the rules, behaviors and logic of an escalator:
What would happen if the up would become down and the down would become still?

With humor, we open the space for reflection and discussion on routines and paths, life facilitators and how to deal with the unexpected in everyday life.

Here we wait. Without walking, here we go. Up and down.
Forever going, always staying…

Up & Down

Up & Down is an escalator Action by ReAct! – Actions moving, where we test the possibilities of the relation between audience and performers, welcoming and inviting interactions.

The whole performance takes place up and down an escalator stair, without blocking its usage for the public. It starts with some “invisible” actions and builds up to an interactive piece with a big finale.

Duration: about 25 minutes. Premiered at Move be Moved festival 2013 (Stockholm, Sweden)

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