American Idle

Times Square Arts Public-Artist-In-Residence Maia Chao developed a live performance for Time Square by observing the social behaviors in the public plazas of one of the city’s busiest centers. The hour-long performance, choreographed by Lena Engelstein, will take place on Wednesday, July 9 at 3pm, 6pm, and 8pm in the middle of Times Square.

Drawing from pedestrian gestures and movements, American Idle meditates on the intimate choreographies of modern life in the hyperreality of Times Square. The piece explores the effects of fractured attention, techno-mediation, sensory overload, and the beauty and struggle of being in an environment designed to distract.

Choreographed by Lena Engelstein
Wednesday, July 9 | 3pm, 6pm, 8pm
Duffy Square | Broadway & 46th St

Choreographed by Lena Engelstein, and devised with dancers Miguel Alejandro Castillo, Marin Day, Benjamin Hard, and Ampersand Paris, American Idle is a movement series drawn from Chao’s studies of the crowds’ bustling patterns amidst the blinking lights in Times Square. Through durational looping and techniques of doubling, glitching, and mirroring, the piece enacts a recursive system where unscripted social behavior becomes performance, and the outline of certain archetypes begin to form — the kissing couple, the tired mother, the lost tourist. American Idle explores how the unique conditions of a public space can homogenize public behavior, including the performance of self for the ever-present camera. In this feedback loop of image and enactment — being seen supersedes being present. Blurring the roles of spectator and subject, American Idle momentarily reframes the commodification of attention, visibility, and movement in one of the most densely populated commercial districts in the country.

American Idle is created in collaboration with choreographer Lena Engelstein and devised with dancers Miguel Alejandro Castillo, Marin Day, Benjamin Hard, and Ampersand Paris.Theater of the Oppressed Facilitation: Morgan Fitzpatrick Andrews + Christian Hayden Project Research and Development: Ree Bradley 3D Modeling: Elijah OberGraphic Design: M SlaterProposal Editor: Blanche BrownCrowd Psychology Consultation: John DruryRehearsal Space: Center for Performance Research.