American Idle
Concept & Direction by Maia Chao
Choreography by Lena Engelstein
Performed in Times Square on Wednesday July 9th, 2025, at 3PM, 6PM, and 8PM
Footage taken from inside the performance by Iliana Penichet-Ramírez and Paola Castro
Edited by Iliana Penichet-Ramírez
Music: Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul - HAHA, Swirl - Nina Ryser
Times Square Arts Public-Artist-In-Residence Maia Chao developed a live performance for Time Square by observing the social behaviors in the public plazas of one of the city’s busiest centers. American Idle constructs a choreographic score of public behavior in one of the world’s most iconicized, and most photographed, urban landmarks. Mirroring the 24/7 loop of billboard ads, the piece explores a world of repetition and copies–of gestures and images. It examines how this site of spectacle homogenizes collective behavior. The choreography lovingly attends to the constant performance of the self for an ever-present camera. In this feedback loop of image and enactment, one’s experience gives way to its representation.
Costume Design: Zoë Chao
Sound Design: Lavinia Eloise Bruce
Creative Assistant: Amanda Horowitz
Performed by Aeon Andreas, Miguel Alejandro Castillo Le Maitre*, Paola Castro, Marin Day*, Jack Dexter, Nyeema Raynn Dimitriou, Natalia Heaven Dimitriou, Benin Gardner, Isa Goldberg, Ben Hard*, Katrina Leung, Bob Murphy, Yurika Ohno, Iliana Penichet-Ramirez, Ampersand Paris*, Molly Ross, Parker Sera, Lisa Tracy Taber, Nicholas Troncoso, and Coco Villa. (*Devising Partner)