Recently, Untitled Group chose to rehearse part of our new work on the badminton court near the east gate of Di Tan Park, which is located just outside Beijing’s Second Ring Road. It’s a public place for outdoor activities, surrounded by green shades, and the neighborhood is mostly Beijing locals. Every time dancers come from home to rehearse, there will be a crowd of spectators. This court serves as an important facility for the “community culture” with regular players, and with our intrusion from June, we started to observe and influence each other.

It is not rare to perform outdoors, nor is it uncommon to see and be seen in this city. Many creators choose to "link" with public spaces, through the presentation of works or improvisation, and most of these occurrences are mutually selective. The performers chose an aesthetically appropriate place, and the audience was basically a predictable crowd, no matter it was a prepared performance or a flash mob. The crowd was a constant flux of passers-by, thus there was rarely any feedback or communication.

Due to limited conditions and the needs of the work, the rehearsal had to be moved to an appropriate outdoor setting. Because of the nature of rehearsals, the unchanging timing and content made the crowd almost “audience in residence”. This new type of “public square dancing” was unexpected for the public, and the audience was new for dancers as well. This seemingly passive yet continuous progress formed an interesting environmental phenomenon. The change brought curiosity to the crowd, and they tried to start conversations with questions: “Little masters, what are you practicing?” “This takes a lot of practice!” “May I ask if you are practicing martial arts or Tai Chi?” “Are you working out?” No one seemed to connect this with dance. No matter how we answer these questions, as long as we give a statement or definition, they wouldn’t dig into it. Some would even take the initiative to explain to newcomers when we were focused on the rehearsal, and they seemed to know what they were taking about.

Day in, day out, the sun rose and set. We feel the temperature change and the movement of tree shadows, and it was more than just an emotional feeling. It became our direct interest, when it rained or the wind blew, whether it was sunny or cool, just like how the weather would impact farmers and plants. We entered the public environment, and it drew our attention to the things that we had not noticed before, such as the weather and the moving crowd. Different crowds would come at different periods of time, including elders, children, students, sanitation workers, badminton players, dating couples and those who watched rehearsals for hours. Some came to play badminton, yet they sat and watched for a long time silently. Some passers-by stopped for a while and left. From morning till night, we were accompanied by a guy sleeping under the tree, and several barbers, who would sometimes play badminton or kick the shuttlecock to rest.

We gradually blended into the community, and the residents had adapted to us “new species”. In the evening, when the street lights were on, the crowd started gathering, and the rehearsal became a performance. On the last day of this outdoor rehearsal stage, an elderly woman asked: “Are you going to be here tomorrow? I have watched you several days in a row, including today. I like what you are doing a lot. It seems to express relationships among people, with entanglement, confrontation, support and involvement. I really like it.”

Photo created by Hua Dong

Our choice welcomed those who choose to come and see us,

They were active and mobile.

Most of them had no experience of paying money to get into theaters,

Yet they were quite, respectful, curious, but not obsessive about what it is.

We were influencing each other within the month,

Until the summer heat finally came in July.

This rehearsal was a really fun challenge,

With the venue, audience, and dancers always changing.

Everything is yet to be accepted, starting from scratch.