Course Blog #19: Dance Review (Jess)

I found out through the course of the concert that I prefer ballet, though I can find much beauty and astonishment in modern dance. Every time I see feats of physical prowess and athletic ability, I feel a kinesthetic response that I place somewhere in the area of longing. Though I've taken some modern dance classes (and loved them), I have never been very athletic. When I see dance, there is a part of me that yearns to do what they do, because to me, dance is almost more important to the performer than the observer. It's such a joyous, ecstatic thing, to be moving the body in these increasingly difficult, yet emotionally explosive patterns, and absolute passion showed in every one of the performers' bodies. When performers land on their feet or bodies in a forceful way, my bones feel like I've stuck a fork in a toaster. When they stretch their limbs to the limit, I feel the ache in my own muscles. When they leap, my heart leaps with them. During this production, I felt the same kinesthetic response as I usually do when witnessing physical feats such as these.

In addition to my body's visceral response, I noticed that I kept trying to piece together a narrative, even in the absence of one. That may be one of the reasons why I prefer ballet to modern dance; I appreciate classical ballets like Swan Lake and The Firebird because they have these fables woven into the dance. Also, ballet dancers are some of the most spectacular athletes in the world. I am constantly in awe of them.

The piece I responded to the most was the third piece, though not so much because of the narrative. Each dancer used the other's body to perform these complicated and sometimes dangerous movements that highlighted their incredible athleticism. I did appreciate the weaving of humor into the dance, and the creative use of the mattress as a prop. It was a blend of passion, joy, humor, sadness, grief, all wrapped up in a very basic narrative of a love story, perhaps a marriage, going wrong. In the end, I found truth to be located in each dancer's body, the meaningful in the narrative, and the subjective in the designs.