Choreography:

Boy Meets Girl (1981)

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In an interview, Francois Truffaut asked Alfred Hichcock if he ever used his dreams for film material. Hitchcock said, no - never. Truffaut asked why. Hitchcock said that once he woke up in the middle of the night after a dream containing a brilliant idea for a movie. So he got up and scribbled it down. In the morning, he remembered he'd written something down, and read his note. It said, "Boy meets girl".

This is the piece Alfred Hitchcock didn't make. It's about all the little double-edged things that happen between a man and a woman. Everything in it starts with an idea and gets taken elsewhere through movement and performance. Lights and a soundtrack are used to add ambiguity, tension, complexity and confusion to what ends up being a harmonious and untypical relationship and performance.

Performed by Stephanie Skura and Ishmael Houston-Jones at Interaction Arts Foundation and Performance Space 122. Performed by Skura and Brian Moran at Musee d'Art Contemporain, Montreal; Emelin Theater, Mamaroneck, NY; Pyramid Art Center, Rochester, NY; State University of NY at Buffalo; and Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI.

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"Skura & Houston-Jones rollick through real-life scenes as if they were outtakes from the 'I Love Lucy Show'" Allen Robertson, Soho Weekly News

"She's a damned good director" Peter Brosius, Artistic Director, Minneapolis Children's Theater

"Conventions are simultaneously enforced & broken down in their brilliant characterizations�In their honest intimacy we can see movement imbued with meaning, we can see dance. Skura's warmth has a 'good touch' among the abused notions of popular performance art today�What pleases so much is the simplicity in exposing ideas without esoteric abstractions�strangely & commendably non-sexist." Nancy Pollina, The Buffalo News

"Stephanie Skura is conversant in more forms than normal people would know what to do with. She's a dancer, musician, & raconteur. The special pleasure of watching Skura & Houston-Jones work together is that they seem so relaxed about the whole business�commenting, complaining, clearly enjoying the wit of each other's presence. Mere proficiency is a cold thing; Skura & Houston-Jones break through that barrier to a public intimacy." Barbara Baracks, Performance Criticism: Studying Mad Pursuit

 

"Boy Meets Girl was one of the highpoints of the Spring for me." Norman Frisch