Blue Alice is a durational movement piece by dancer and choreographer Irene Hsaio. With a sculptural costume made of tarp and Mylar, Hsiao continuously shape-shifts throughout the performance. Often performed in gallery spaces, Hsiao crafts her performance in response to the artworks on view, often operating on a spectrum between human and object. Blue Alice’s expansive Mylar dress creates a sound similar to the ocean or a monsoon as it moves, drawing attention to the fragility of the materials, and the strenuous nature of durational work. Thinking of the costume as a shell, a shelter, or an armor though which viewers glimpse the shining creature hiding inside, Hsiao’s improvised performance plays with expected norms for how to interact with art and performance in a museum setting.

Blue Alice is performed by Irene Hsiao with costume design by Vin Reed.

Chicago Performs is organized by Tara Aisha Willis, former MCA Curator, with Laura Paige Kyber, Curatorial Associate.