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Contrary Collective: Little Big Man Remix
Convivial and affordable dinner starting at 6:30 pm
Performances begin at 8 pm
As part of Viva! Art Action (October 1 – October 6, 2013)
Facebook event
Project Description
The Contrary Collective is an ad-hoc collective comprised of Terrance Houle, Ulysses Castellanos and Cathy Gordon. The name is derived from the Contrary character portrayed in the 1970’s Hollywood film Little Big Man (Arthur Penn). As well, the term is apropos to the individual personalities of the collective and their position within the arts community.
Little Big Man Remix is a 70-minute multimedia performance examining concepts of traitorous behaviour within our own identity and our relationships with each other and with the earth.
“A Contrary was a member of a Native North American tribal group who adopted behavior that was deliberately the opposite of other tribal members. The Contraries are related, in part, to the clown organizations of the Plains Indians, as well as to Plains military societies that contained reverse warriors… When Lakota Indians first saw European clowns, they identified them with their own term for clowns, heyoka.” – “Contrary (social role),” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (July 23, 2013).
The original film follows the fictional life of Little Big Man (as opposed to the historical Lakota warrior of the same name), a white man saved as a child by the Cheyenne. Throughout the film, the character switches sides depending on who is winning the fight between the Native tribes and the Cavalry. To this end, each of the members of the collective plays into their filmic “type” as well as “against type.” For example, a Latin American portrays General Custer, a Native Indian portrays Little Big Man, a Caucasian portrays a Native Indian, switching position to create alternate scenarios that reveal multiple implications.
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