WITNESS – Hommage à Harry Sheppard (1992)

In 1992, Mark Tompkins created WITNESS in Vienna as an homage to  American dancer and choreographer Harry Sheppard, who worked in Paris and NYC with Andy De Groat, Yoshiko Chuma and Mark Tompkins back when he started out in Paris. WITNESS combines dance, singing, spoken text and extreme physical  performance in a piece filled with joyful and sharp irony. The artist’s  generous and controversial delight in dressing up progressively leads the piece towards an allegory of the violence of the disappearance of the other and the fragility of being human. An exceptional performer, Mark Tompkins moves from one body to another in a game of simulacre and  metamorphosis, from one soul to another, agile as a shape-shifter, and establishes the stage as an ecstatic place and dance as an erotic force.

Source: programme of the CND