Performative Scores in Pandemic Times1

Abstract

In this essay, we explore the performative score 'INviteME Online' and discuss how the method of scoring may create spaces of connection and collective care in pandemic times of uncertainty and restriction. The practice of scoring takes its point of departure in the performing arts, in particular the dance-practice Contact Improvisation. Here, scores are seen as a set of gentle instructions for a collective activity, which allows participants to explore and improvise within a certain framework. Situating the practice of performative scores within a framework of the biopolitics of COVID-19, we highlight how measures taken by the state to control the epidemic and uphold biological life, alter the way social life can unfold. With INviteME Online, we suggest ways of being together at a distance, while retaining some of the affective properties of physical closeness. Through interviews with 11 participants from the INviteME Online score, we find that the score engendered experiences of intimate togetherness and collectivity for those that took part. These experiences were based in introspective explorations and spatial attention, as the score guided the participants' attention from their own bodies, through the space around them and towards the other participants. With these findings, we argue that the method of scoring may act as an antidote to the social disconnection and anxiety caused by the biopolitics of pandemic measures, as it suggests a way to ensure physical distance while retaining social closeness.