Kira O’Reilly

When looking for inspiration for our performance, our group looked towards performance artist Kira O’Reilly and in particular her performance that surrounded stairs and the exploration of movement on them. Obviously as our chosen space for our performance is the library’s back stairs, this was extremely relevant to us. Watching the performance, it became clear how although a simple part of a building, the stairs can be explored in many different ways. O’Reilly presents this by ‘falling’ down the stairs in slow motion, which creates a sense of pure concentration on each step and the impact that has on her body. A particular theme that I took from the performance was danger and how that fitted in with stairs and the movements we take when exploring that space. I found that the slow motion of the piece really helped to focus on the damage that can be done to a body when falling down the stairs. O’Reilly also interestingly focuses on using the entire staircase, taking particular care to go step by step, touching as much of the stairs and handle rails as is possible with her body.