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Ropewalk was a performance about friendship, identity, and trauma, created by Rajni Shah and Kris Grey, performed with cellist Fili 周 Gibbons. The performance was commissioned for the VIVA festival in Montreal, by partner organisation Studio 303. Rajni and Kris also offered a workshop to accompany the performance, entitled 'Undoing Ourselves'.
Rajni and Kris have been friends for many years, and have slowly unfolded conversations about gender identity, outsiderness, and community-building while living on different continents. They come together with artist Fili for this live action.
During the performance, which was based on a series of visions and dreams, Rajni and Kris wove a golden rope over several hours while Fili accompanied their actions with cello and vocals. During the ropemaking, Rajni, Kris, and Fili listened to a soundtrack that only they could hear, and this soundtrack brought them together into a shared audio landscape, affecting the movements of their bodies, and their attentive state.
The soundtrack (which was edited together from voice notes Rajni and Kris had exchanged in preparation for the performance, based on a series of written prompts Rajni offered) was not intended for a public audience, but rather was intended to help the performers remain tethered inwards as they performed the creative action of making a rope of sound and golden thread together. You can listen to the first part of the (quiet, slow) two-hour soundtrack below.
The performance lasted two hours (ropemaking) with a performative finale of approximately 30 minutes. A small snippet of video is available here and you can see more photos on Kris Grey's website.