Dress A Day, Day 9: Mercy Martha

Friday, May 14

On this particular Friday night I came back from rolling on a tarp covered pile of gravel in Greenpoint with my partner in sublime, Erin Ellen Kelly, and was called to this dress, which reminded me at the moment of my Martha Graham past. I giggled at the thought of following my dumpster yard gyrations with a dress that my orthodox sister would approve of and some movement that an academic would have a category for. But when I put it on and started moving it was Dominque Mercy, my favorite Pina Bausch dancer that called to me from within. We all danced together: Ophra, Dominique, Martha, the dress.

I got this one at my first ever clothing swap, in early 2004, soon after arriving in NYC. Actually, I missed the clothing swap but ended up at Rae's house a couple of days after the event and dug through the gynormous pile of rejected clothing, in total awe of the very possibility of so many clothes being thrown out. I found enough clothes to create a new wardrobe for myself for the next two years, and for a moment was so grateful for the local culture of excess, which made the shoestring I was living on that much prettier.