Gliding across the shining floor of the Doudna Recital Hall on Tuesday were Zara Lawler and C. Neil Parsons, performing “The Flute on its Feet,” a live performance fusing three different flutes, choreography and poetry.

Lawler, a flutist, dancer and instructor, has displayed her talent in Hong Kong, New York and across the Midwest before showcasing her skills at Eastern, which requires a high level of discipline and endurance.

“There’s certainly an aspect of being in shape and developing your endurance, but a lot of it has to do with strategizing,” Lawler said. “Where you’re going to take a breath and the audience won’t notice, or where you’re going to take a breath and the audience will notice, but it won’t matter.”

She said there is a psychological aspect where she had to repeatedly tell herself she was not going to die.

“And so far it’s totally worked,” Lawler said.

Memorizing music for the performances can take a few weeks and long-developing elements, such as a Japanese Haiku piece that she incorporated and has been developing between two and three years.

Parsons, her partner on stage as dancer and choreographer, cited improvisational skills as a key to the show.

“Improvisation is immensely useful in the process of developing,” Parsons said. “To figure out the movements, a lot of it just happens in the moment.”

Parsons said things change in the performance and he has to be flexible as a performer.

“There’s a danger in expecting that you know all the answers at the outset,” he said. “There’s evolution.”

Compositions by David Loeb, Lowell Liebermann, Edie Hill and Georg Philipp Telemann rounded out the duo’s performance, which was met with heavy applause at each break. The final set, “Telemann: Fantasies,” ended with the greatest applause and saw Parsons moving on all fours supporting Lawler on his back while she continued to spring notes from her flute.

The duo will be on campus at 3 p.m. today in the Recital Hall of the Dounda Fine Arts Center for a workshop that will teach the elements of their performance for all instruments, or for anyone interested in their work.

Joshua Bryant can be reached at 581-2812 or jpbryant@eiu.edu.