PERFORMANCE

The Backstage Performance | The Village at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens The fantasy winter home known as Vizcaya Museum and Gardens required an entire staff to upkeep the grounds and tend to the guests that frequented James Deering’s estate. The staff resided across the street in The Village, supporting the production that is Vizcaya.

Considering Vizcaya as a production, one can imagine that the staff emulated stagehands. In remembrance of the support his staff provided his guests, I directed a Backstage Performance at The Farm Quad in The Village. The performance reenacted a hair and makeup station where actors are prepped before they appear on stage. Objects used included a fabricated mirror, vanity, hair and makeup tools, two to three stools, five spotlights. The team consisted of Director & Lead Hairstylist Solange Sarria, Lead Makeup Artist Mariana Pineda, Assistant Hair Eva Taiibi, Assistant Makeup Heannys Denis, and Photographer Pati Laylle. The performance depicted complete 1920’s Hairstyle and Makeup Sessions on two models each by Solange Sarria and Mariana Pineda. Guests of the opening night enjoyed mini hairstyle and makeup sessions with the team assistants. Guests chose between Slicked Hair, Finger Waves, Pencil Thin Eyebrows or Heart Shaped Lips.

Instructions on giving a haircut

In this performance, I act as a client instructing a ‘hairstylist’ on how to cut my hair. I use detailed technical instructions that only a professional would know, to make requests of my ‘stylist.. The stylist performing the haircut is not a professional stylist. I began by explaining his objectives in the clearest way possible. Throughout the haircut, the stylist experiences a rollercoaster of emotion as his competency and execution is challenged. The intensity of the power dynamic is heightened as my energy remains calm while my stylist becomes flustered. I consciously refrain from reacting to his emotions, as a professional stylist would if the roles were reversed. In a professional salon environment, it is common for the stylist to experience a controlling client who believes they know how to direct the professional. This video flips the roles and gives the consumer a taste of their own medicine.