Spinning Still

Avery Wheless

Dec 5

November 12, 2023

Rusha & Co. is proud to present Avery Wheless: Spinning Still. The inspiration for the piece was rooted in Wheless' dance background, which heavily informs her studio practice. Spinning Still captures the performance piece, created on-site by dancers Cami Arboles, Anne Arellano, Devon Cherry and Adeola Heyman for Avery Wheless’ solo exhibition “So does everybody else” at Seasons LA. The work synthesizes pole dance, acrobatics, contortion, and hand balancing to push the boundaries of the female form in movement.

"We wanted to create a dialogue between paint and flesh by bringing moving, breathing bodies to interact with the painted work—creating a piece where a moment frozen in time joins the present through movement. "

The figures in the film articulate an emotional need for inertia. Their continuous flow from one position to the next mirrors an internal dialogue, one in which we don't always know if they are falling or floating, pushing or pulling, yet they are always in rotation, propelled by the yearning for what lies just around the corner.

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When things don’t add up subtract

Spinning above to get perspective, yet still rooted.

Catching a glimpse as we twist in mid air, I don’t always recognize my body as separate from yours.

A relational balance of weight //push and pull.

Who is holding who?

Reaching up is difficult when intertwined with someone afraid of heights.

Unsure how we began the spiral down when my focus was at what was on top.

I wish I knew the exact color of my eyes, but they change—a gray area in between the clear.

It’s difficult to trust myself even when I know,

How do you see me?

When I let go, do I fall or float?