"Slow Dance with the Teacher" Continued...

Diane, I hope you didn't mind my taking your picture, it seemed appropriate :) While the performers/artists and the public did a lovely job at dancing and appearing like they were enjoying themselves, I found the images on the screen to be the most interesting part of the performance/installation. The thought of a student slow-dancing with a teacher calls into question the relationship between power and authority. I think it is pretty fair to say that personal relationships between students and teachers are frowned upon in society. We've all heard horror stories in the news of teachers abusing their position of power and taking advantage of students, usually sexually. So any sort of intimate or physical contact between instructor and pupil, even dancing, would seem somewhat taboo and sketchy. This notion of a relationship of power, of authority, of dominant and submissive certainly came to mind while looking at the images projected on the screen. The first thing that I thought when looking at them was that they appeared to have an S&M quality to them. Now I admit to not being an expert on bondage, however I do feel that I might know enough to make a valid connection. The images are in black in white, and erotic photography can often be in black and white. Black is also the colour that I first think of when I think of bondage, as in black leather outfits. There is always a dominant and a submissive in S&M. In a typical power relationship between teacher and student, the teacher would be the dominant and the student, then submissive. However, here it appears that the roles have been reversed and it is the student who is the dominant and the teacher who is the submissive. I write this because it seems as though the viewer is looking down at the teacher's face, giving him/her a sense of power. As can be seen in the first picture, it appears as though Ms. Wells looks up at us. The angle of the camera make her shoulders look quite narrow, as though she can't relax them, and so perhaps her hands are bound behind her back and she is on her knees. Another key point is that her name and discipline are covering her eyes like a blindfold. Blindfolds are often used in S&M and make her more vulnerable, as we have the power of vision while she is deprived of hers. Hopefully, I've made sense and have not come across as pervy. Anyways, I found these images to be the most provocative part of the performance/installation and I found them to be quite effective in raising questions about power and authority.