Tami Spry: The Force of (Co-)Performing

Abstract

In this short article, we work with the notion of Tami Spry as force. There is a tension here: We have come to recognize, both through the writing of this article and through our many years of encountering both Tami herself and Tami’s work as performer and writer, how we find ourselves needing to de-personalize and de-individualize: we are drawn into the beyond, the uncontainable, the “more-than,” of Tami and Tami’s work. At the same time as this impulse to de-personalize and de-individualize, we recognize—and cherish—that Tami Spry’s work could not happen without Tami Spry. We experience, and seek to convey here, our respect, our gratitude, our love, both for a person we are privileged to call our friend and for a body of work, whether performed, written or performed in writing, that is committed to the personal, the vulnerable, the intimate and the embodied.