March 2006

Leggo My Ego, Act One

The 7-foot wooden behemoth was attached to my body with a harness and a canvas shroud. I dragged it behind me, vulture-eyed and snarling:

I cut a hole at my abdomen to extrude 13 long and shiny strings:

Laurana Wong - Leggo My Ego, Act One - She pulls out a fistfull of colored strings from a hole in the shroud, a look of pain and worry on her face

As the colored mass snaked out of the hole and onto the ground, I cut myself free of the shroud and offered up strings to members of the audience:

Laurana Wong - Leggo My Ego, Act One - She clutches a rainbow of strings that are tangling and snaking around her body

Laurana Wong - Leggo My Ego, Act One - She arches back in ecstasy, the rainbow of strings wrapping around her body and entering the audience

The piece ended with someone reeling me in...

Back then, I let performances unfold on stage and in the moment. I didn't practice ahead of time.
As a result, this complex piece was rife with "technical difficulties". I felt like crying afterward and wanted to make a quick escape from the club.

Before I could run away in shame, I passed my friend Braille who reminded me of the title of this piece...
I let go of my ego a little bit more and realized that everything had happened as it should.

Laurana Wong - - concept, costume, props, performance
Liz Landis - - production assistant
Kerry Brown - - production assistant
Braille - - music
Goldfrapp - - music
Mary Kathryn Burnside - - photography
Pearl Niteclub in Dayton Ohio - - location