Identity

For my Dance and Media class this semester, I have to design a completely independent final project on any theme I want.  After one of the most amazing dreams I've ever had, I decided to comment on identity
In my dream I was a choreographer for my college's dance department, and I was auditioning for a piece to the song "Brothers on a Hotel Bed" by Death Cab for Cutie (Listen here).  I've always loved this song, so it's no surprise that my subconscious was choreographing to it already.  I remember about 20% of what the choreography was, believe it or not, and shortly after I watched the group of men  (it was all men for some reason) auditioning, it fast forwarded to the actual performance.  I had apparently been working with someone who liked to add elements of surprise to it, and in the front of the stage, an old gentleman sat on a park bench smiling, whispering to the audience about his childhood.  He looked like he was homeless, his hair was long and dirty, he was unshaven, but he looked warm and friendly.  Somewhere in the background were about six or seven young women dancing in wedding dresses, and then in the far stage right side of the stage was a group of twenty to thirty young men in a triangle doing some really beautiful choreography that I had apparently done.  I was really moved by the whole image.

When I woke up, i spent about ten minutes musing on what my dream had just given me.  I've dreamed about performing before, and I had dreamed impossible choreography as well, but this was all so clear.  I meditated on it all day and it evolved into a commentary on identity.  The line of the song I remember the most is the opening line: "You may tire of me as our December sun is setting/Cause I'm not who I used to be." it continues talking about trying to escape the body one is currently in.
We're bombarded daily with images of what our bodies should look like, who we should be modeling after, what men or women we should idolize if we want to be successful, and I think it's all bullshit.  My idea is to take my good friend "M" (what I'll call her for privacy) and sit down with her to talk about how she perceives identity.  I want to give her some choreography and then let her go with it, move free, and then move restricted.  I want images of her wearing a paper bag over her head with a big black question mark drawn in the middle.  I want to put this paper bag over other people's heads and then record them removing it to show that identity is universal and we should own whatever identity we want.
I'm very lucky to have M's participation in this.  She's an incredibly strong dancer, and a physically strong athlete (she bench pressed me last semester.  I weigh a little over 100lbs, she could have done more).  She dances en pointe, has crazy extensions, and is all-around beautiful.  I have wanted to work with her for awhile now, and I really hope that this project turns out well.