Co-Creator of a radio play titled: Into the Out of, or I, TOO.
This radio play was commissioned by Zuppa Theatre and Ecology Action Centre for their 50 Things project. Into the Out of, or I Too was co-created with artists Coral Leander Maloney and Blaze Fraser.
Into The Out Of, or I, TOO
An audio experiment inviting listeners to examine and reflect on place and urban priorities.
The Chicken Dance was composed in the late 1950’s by Swiss accordionist Werner Thomas. Thomas originally called it The Duck Dance, being inspired by skiers who reminded him of ducks. Official recordings and covers of the song followed for over twenty years, with titles like “Tchip, Tchip” and “Dance Little Bird.” It is now frequently celebrated on most of Turtle Island as The Chicken Dance since its appearance at Oktoberfest in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1981, 60 years after the genocidal Tulsa massacre. As part of the festival, a German band wanted the dance to be led by a person in a duck suit. Since only a chicken suit was found, the song became known as The Chicken Dance.
Do the Funky Chicken is a song written and recorded by American singer and entertainer Rufus Thomas for Stax Records in 1969. Thomas improvised the song after performing with Willie Mitchell's band at the University of Tennessee, later developing it further. Do the Funky Chicken became a dance trend particularly popular as a way to break up the twist. “I did it in the middle of doing another song... and the words just started to come. I don't know how, they just came out of the blue. I just separated it. 'You raise your left arm up, and your right arm too.' When you're doing the funky chicken you use both arms. You don't just use one. It just happened I separated it. Then I put a little rhythm in between it. The same pattern that you heard on 'The Dog' is here on 'The Funky Chicken' but it is cut in half. That's how it came about.” - Rufus Thomas.
A 3-minute long experiment in sound, Into The Out Of, or I,TOO, asks listeners to trouble their ideas of what makes a good city. Recognizing recent forced and endorsed emergency shelter removal along with the legalized rise in rental prices and “demovictions”, the artists ask listeners to discomfort urban planning and gentrification in Halifax. The outward appearance of the location associated with this piece is expected to change over the course of 50 Things, which will alter the time, meaning and tense of audio segments, and the way audience members relate what they hear to what they see.
50 Things is an app-guided, interactive art adventure in celebration of the Ecology Action Centre’s fiftieth anniversary. Throughout Nova Scotia are fifty original works created by artists from multiple disciplines. Find the ones nearest you or, if you’re up for exploring, find them all!
To start your adventure, download the app below and follow the instructions. Some of the artworks can be experienced directly through your phone, while others are physical objects. All were intended to be experienced in a certain place, mindful of the surrounding environment and the history of activism to protect it.
50 Things takes place within Mi’kma’ki. For many thousands of years, Mi'kmaq thrived here while sustaining this land. We heed this example as we strive to responsibly steward our environment today.
The 50 artworks were created by established and emerging artists from multiple disciplines, commissioned by the EAC, and curated with Zuppa Theatre Co.
How the app works:
After the prologue, you will see a list of 50 things. Tap on them for an intro and directions to each piece. When you arrive at the destination, the intro screen will be replaced by expanded content about the location, the artist, the EAC story, and the art itself.
50 Things is meant to be experienced on a smartphone as a choose-your-own adventure scavenger hunt. We strongly encourage everyone to engage with the art projects in the locations they have been paired with.
Not in Nova Scotia? Don't have a smartphone? Unable to travel? Looking to access content from a computer?
Email info@zuppatheatre.com, they can help!
[IMAGE DESCRIPTION] 6 Images are stacked in a grid formation. All of the images feature the artists Rooks Field-Green, Blaze Fraser and Coral Leander Maloney as well as various decrepit potted plants including a mint plant in a cracked plastic pot, a basil plant with spotted and yellow leaves in a dirty orange clay pot and a strawberry plant with precisely 9 leaf shoots and one bud.