"Off the Shelf" is about the intertwined processes of creating and experiencing new short pieces in a very different milieu—a bookstore. It involves neither the mere presentation of previously-made dances in an uncommon space nor treatment of an entire bookstore as a site-specific landscape. Instead, the pieces are brought into being as self-contained episodes that veer between having a lot or little to do with the literary richness amidst which they appear. Yet these do surface surrounded by books: an environment that undeniably influences the movement and how it is shaped and perceived in unexpected ways.
The inaugural performances that included the piece seen here took place at the P.S. Bookshop in Brooklyn, NY on May 9, 2015. They consisted of four different approximately 15-minute-long sets, with breaks in between each. The performers were dancers David Appel and Darla Stanley, and actor/reader Eric Chase.
