Human Animal at the UK Pavilion, Shanghai Expo

I first visited China in 2009 on a British Council Connections through Culture grant where I collaborated with local artists including DaDao Live Art Festival director, Shu Yang and independent dance artist Xiao Ke. As part of the collaboration, we presented Human Animal Beijing.

For two hours we lay in holes in the ground inside an old military machine building factory – now the 798 Art Space. Viewers would stumble upon us as they walked on the glass that covered the coffin sized holes, and would witness our enclosed human behavior.

Human Animal Shanghai is a different view of human behavior as our eight dancers and one Human Animal keeper work in and outside of a large Perspex box that is enclosed in a pen keeping the audience (almost!) at a safe distance.

The unique thing about both of these improvised pieces is the breaking of the fourth wall and the switch of the audience/performer roles.

Very early on we (the performers) began to observe our audience watching us in a unique way – it became a ‘who’s watching whom’ experiment.

Like all our work, Human Animal Shanghai is a totally interactive experience, which transcends any language barriers  and delights all ages. I also hope that it brings some deeper reflection on the connection of humans and animals to some people.

For those who can’t make it to Shanghai, I wanted to provide a virtual experience with a blog showing a week in the life of a Human Animal. I trust you’ll like it!

Diary of a Human Animal

Saturday June 19
Tonight we were moved – all eight Human Animals  - to our new enclosure in the Urban Park of the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo. Our pen is in front of the beautiful Seed Cathedral, the most exquisite backdrop we have been given so far. It was hot and balmy and hundreds of Chinese human animals watching and snapping away with their fancy cameras. These humans stare at us and engage in intense eye contact. They speak a strange vocal language but their body language is similar to ours. Very few of them seem to be shy, especially not the children.

Sunday June 20
Our Human Animal Keeper is ill. We were served very boring food tonight – just carrots and celery. Some of us were hungry and angry. Xiao Ke, one of our Chinese Human Animals translated some of the comments she heard from the watchers – ‘If you eat their food you are an animal’.   They are confident watchers and stare at us for hours. They are hard to intimidate.

Wednesday June 24
Today we had to beg for food from the watchers. Our Keeper tried to stop them feeding us but we are devious and cunning. We received sweet potato, chocolate and cake. We were surprised to witness a teenage girl growling like a tiger at us for over an hour and a small child punching his mother when she embarrassed him. It has been very quick for the audience to become the performers. Not many of them have noticed this but they are very entertaining indeed!

Thursday June 25
Lazy animals today.  Lots of lying around. We locked the Keeper in the box and he called for help on his mobile. A child tried to join our pack but eventually we returned him to his mother. She seemed unfazed by the fact that he was with us in our pen for a long time despite the signs that warn we can be dangerous. I guess she had witnessed that we are actually very safe and really kind. However, as we are all women, some of the men do look scared! We find this very amusing!

Friday June 26
There were too many puddles for us to enter our pen today. Instead we went to a strange human animal market in downtown Shanghai and watched hundreds of local human animals at work and play. Very entertaining. It was fun but slightly intimidating to be in the open space. I am glad we found our way home. We are beginning to appreciate our Human Keeper.

Saturday June 27
Today we were upstaged by a famous vogue model and a Chinese celebrity. Our watchers quickly turned to the stars and we were devastated.  The ground was still wet, the food was still boring and now our entertaining audience had disappeared.

We began to stake out our territory and noticed that two men in suits were watching from the hill, arms folded as if they were superior to us.  I stood on the box arms folded and staring to out rank them. They did not approach our pen. It worked. We realised later that one of them was Peter Mandelson!

Sunday June 28
Soggy grass.  We were wet all over. In an attempt to escape we locked our Keeper in the box and ran away. One of the watchers set him free. We were not impressed.  We begged for food again but only received sweet, unhealthy morsels of the kind that makes our keeper very upset. We are beginning to appreciate his fruit and vegetables. Our box was wet and slippery and steamed up constantly.  It was difficult to have five inside. There is no privacy for an enclosed creature. From all sides those intense eyes stared at us.

Still, we have enjoyed our stay in Shanghai and look forward to the upcoming week of adventures in our enclosure. The Expo is very busy and crowded. However, in our pen, surrounded by all these open and warm people, we feel quite peaceful. They are very playful – not only the children!

Janis Claxton is the director of Human Animal Shanghai, one of the British Council-programmed performance events for the UK Pavilion at Shanghai Expo. Human Animal Shanghai is supported by the Scottish Government, the British Council and the Scottish Arts Council.

With set design by Noel Perkins the work has been devised and performed in collaboration with Janis Claxton Dance company members Tamsyn Russell, Damaris Verdjuin, Skye Reynolds, Adrienne O’Leary, Fiona Jeffries, physical theatre performer/clown Clive Andrews and special guest dancers from China Xiao Ke and Sun Yue. Human Animal plays from 19 June – 5 July 2010 in Shanghai.

For details of other events at the UK Pavilion in Shanghai visit http://www.ukshanghaiexpo.com/en/news/events/