A Scenario Of A System Off by Ixchel Mendoza Hernández examines perception and reality, both through dance and in words. The piece can be seen from 18 to 21 December 2025 at radialsystem.
Three undulating structures formed from white threads, three white chairs in front of them. Three performers in white take to the stage and sit on the chairs. They survey us, initiating a repeating loop that frames the evening. Greetings are exchanged until a robotic voice from offstage calls out: “What just happened?” And it all begins anew. Together with the music, the scene strongly reminds me of a computer game where everything is somewhat buggy. With each new repetition we are introduced to a slightly different reality. Sometimes the focus is on colleagues, sometimes it’s friends, sometimes it’s physical characteristics. During this scene, I think about how subtle changes to the narrative can change the meaning of what is happening. And yet I feel there is a certain lack of depth.
The performers start with rhythmic poses and small gestures, bringing a hand to their neck, their upper body to their legs, standing up. The relationship of the three to one another is further explored through dance and also called into question. With flowing movements, they circle around one another on different levels. Just like the structures on the stage, the dancers are woven into one another forming their own entity. Their and our perception and realit(y/ies) are mutually dependent. When all three retreat behind the thread structure, there is a sudden drop that shatters the system. All three fall to the floor only to be shortly lifted up as if on invisible threads. They won’t escape this created reality that easily.
Upstage, they find one another and lose their connection. The reality that they build together and call into question keeps unraveling. Are those your or my memories? Is that your or my hair? “You are me but I am me”. With concise staccato movements, the spoken word is underpinned and distorted. Words are elongated with languorous movements, almost sung, and then clipped with fitful movements. The sound of words is reflected in body language. It is not only the meaning but also the framing that influences our perception of what is happening.
The whole scenario escalates into confusion until it is no longer possible to distinguish between narrative, retelling, perspective, perception, and what actually happened. These points blur more and more – is there any difference at all? We end at the beginning, the performers back on their chairs. My association with a buggy computer game returns. I like the idea that we are sometimes all walking through life like NPCs, with our own perception and the gaps that we can’t see. Nevertheless, I leave the theater without a real aha moment. If we want to create a new reality, where do we begin? Do we start by seeing things differently? Understanding differently? And is that enough?
English translation by Melissa Maldonado
A Scenario Of A System Off, by Ixchel Mendoza Hernández was shown from 18 to 21 December 2025 at radialsystem.
