Aquabatics

Abstract

By moving through the water, we create vortices: a swirling external fluid motion. Vortex turbulence produces the restrictive friction that supports movement and propulsion. Without turbulence, the body remains suspended in the water at the point of neutral buoyancy, much like an astronaut in the microgravity of space. Through a form of performance known as Aquabatics, this article proposes a singular agency between the performer and a body of water in a mutual state of flow. Accordingly, the underwater realm collaborates with the performer, to provoke new techniques for adaption and syncopation, to work with the unique stressors on the body, and perform beyond them. Artistic performance in water is not therefore restricted to the affective relationship to turbulent environments rather it becomes it. This extends Arthur Kroker's observations of our post-Heideggerian technological ‘body in drift’, and posits an evolution towards post-turbulent performance.