It’s always Spring when we think “where did I put that vacuum cleaner?” This Spring, I’m harkening back to “Pie, Picket Fences & Purgatory, ” a production I choreographed through the mediums of film and performance art. It attempted to reveal how the euphemistic “American Dream” falls between the cracks of the perfect picket fence/apple pie-idealism. The image of Annie vacuuming, donning her June Cleaver-like costume, reminds me of the false hope that Trump is toting around as he dares to sell bibles in an effort to “clean-up” his act and suck all the money he can out of the American people’s pocket books in an effort to pay off his court fees — blasphemy at its finest. Extend your leg as high as you can go, pretend to be vacuuming, and wear your Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, as you try to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes — this is our new purgatory, and there’s no salivating over freshly baked apple pies here!
I digress. Back to Spring cleaning. Last May after a move I made, I reluctantly cleaned out my costume closet, and away went years of ACD’s most revered pieces. It rattled me at first, but eventually that uncomfortable feeling turned into intrigue for new exploration. Don’t you hate that adage, out with the old, in with the new? It says everything, I guess, but when I think ahead with the elections coming up, I cringe that the old will remain, and the new will hobble into hiding. Here’s where imagination comes in. So, back to creative thoughts on vacuuming and dusting off that porch furniture so you can enjoy the fresh flowers and proverbial picket fences in your yard. Maybe tongue-in-cheek will help us through this period of time right now, until we can find our true direction. Until then, I’m watching a documentary on Dante while wearing pearls, eating pie, and picking dust bunnies off the floor.
Featured photos: Fay Li
Performers: Annie Heinemann, Dori Jones, Milan Misko