With "Sleeping Beauty" I wanted to explore different threads woven together in my subconscious. After reading Sue Monk Kidd's "Dance of the Dissident Daughter," the concept of women being taught to be asleep throughout their lives stayed with me. At the time I created this piece, I was also undergoing hypnotherapy for treatment of chronic migraines. This piece is an exploration of that passive state, the idea of being bound in a state or to an idea, not fighting the binding but allowing it to happen.

"Sleeping Beauty" began as a walk through the woods. Actress Allison Whittinghill and I took a walk in April to take photos for the video. I was influenced by the use of still photography in the film "La Jetee," and wanted to do something similar, using still photos for the bulk of the video and moving images for key moments. These were edited together along with other images I created or altered. An image from a childhood book inspired the idea of a tree growing out of a book, though I wasn't sure if that was part of her dream or reality somehow intruding. Original music was composed for the piece by Kimberly Bird, student at USM.

Originally I thought about having the performer prune bonsai trees (a miniature, controlled version of the forest) and other botanical activities, but I wasn't happy with the piece as I saw it. I took inspiration from installation artist Midori's "Path-Web-Choice," in which the artist bound the gallery's visitors into the piece itself. I decided to use fabric to bind the performer in place as she fell asleep reading - we see her fall asleep live onstage, but she only wakes up in the video. The fabric was also to be used as a projection screen for the second video, a collage of plants growing and seeds sprouting. This worked more for added texture and movement, and a light source for the performer, than for the actual images in the video. After the dress rehearasal the fabric was replaced with ribbon. The ribbon was much easier to work with in performance and winding it on a "spindle" tied it in further with "Sleeping Beauty."

In 2007 "Sleeping Beauty" was resurrected to become part of "Transformations." To see images and video from that performance, check out the "Transformations" page.

special thanks to Allison Whittinghill for her work on this piece

|| originally performed April 2007 in the ActLab Studios, Austin TX | created, directed, and designed by Megan M. Reilly | words by Lisa Haynes | performed by Jessica Kincer ||