Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There

Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There is an interactive performance installation, uses four televisions, 12 headsets, a sturdy bed and over 100 classic musicals to explore issues of isolation, community, secret pleasures and the age-old question, When are you alone and when are you lonely? Hold My Hand links Depression- era Dance Marathons, where contestants danced until they dropped in pursuit of fame and fortune, to young boys dancing in their bedroom after school, where they too dance until they dropped, often hoping for fame and fortune.

Short Documentary about Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There, in New York City, by Suzanne Hillinger

An interactive performance installation involving four televisions, 12 headsets, a sturdy bed and over 100 classic musicals
Read a review in Exeunt about the performance in Edinburgh.
Read a feature in the Tribeca Tribune about the installation in New York.
Audio from Jemima Young's Fragment project at Forest Fringe.

Photos below by Ves Pitts (New York), Alison Henry (London - Shunt), Belinda Lawley (London - Sadler's Wells) and Christa Holka (London - QMUL)

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 1.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Shunt Vaults, London - Photograph by Alison Henry.JPG

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 5.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 2.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 3.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 4.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 6.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Sadlers Wells, London - Photograph by Belinda Lawley 7.jpg

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Shunt Vaults, London - Photograph by Alison Henry 1.JPG

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Shunt Vaults, London - Photograph by Alison Henry 2.JPG

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Shunt Vaults, London - Photograph by Alison Henry 3.JPG

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Shunt Vaults, London - Photograph by Alison Henry 4.JPG

Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There - by Brian Lobel - Shunt Vaults, London - Photograph by Alison Henry 5.JPG

About

The average duration of Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There is four hours – in the New York City edition of the performance, Brian danced non-stopped for 8 hours a day for 5 days, the equivalent of an average work week. The piece is both fun and frightening, exhausting and exhilarating and a reflection on loneliness, labor, and labors of love. Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There reminds us that, even in these frightening economic times, the best things in life are still free.Hold My Hand and We're Halfway There has been at: Forest Fringe | Edinburgh (2016) | Live at The Scala | Bangkok, supported by the British Council (2013) | New Visions Festival | Hong Kong (2014) | Carpe Diem | Lisbon (2015) | Santarcangelo Festival | Italy (2013) | British Film Institute, for the Lesbian and Gay Film Festival | London (2013), Recyclart for Nuit Blanche | Brussels (2012) | Swing Space, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council | New York City (2009), Sadler’s Wells | London (2009), Forest Fringe | Edinburgh (2009), Supper Club at The Basement | Brighton (2009 & 2011), Shunt Vaults | London (2008/2009), Queen Mary | London (2008)

Video

Hold My Hand and We’re Halfway There at Shunt Vaults, London: