Social Dissonance, 203–216

Chapter

The Score

EXCERPT

In interpreting the Social Dissonance score, interpreters shift the ground of the audience, making them unsure of where they are, and making it difficult for them to reorientate themselves. In the midst of this ‘performance’, everything feels like a struggle. Nothing is easy. This difficulty focuses participants on every detail of what is going on in the room. The passing of time is made uncomfortable. The notion of performativity becomes very apparent in Social Dissonance because every movement has meaning and can contribute to the flow of time, either smoothing it out or disrupting it. The devices suggested below serve to make the passing of time rough, unstable, and discontinuous.…