This past week at the ADF we saw:
Tao Dance Theater perform 2 (2011) in Reynolds:
Hmm. Tao…I'm still not quite sure what to say about it. But it definitely left an impression that I've been thinking on occasionally, which is great! Leaving an impression (of any kind) is probably the best achievement a dance can have.
Okay, first I will say that the way these two dancers move is really amazing and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like they have no joints (hips and shoulders especially), their skin and muscles are made of rubber, and they’re attached to strings that are being controlled by someone else. They just flopped about in ridiculous ways and it was great and so interesting to watch for a while. After about 20 minutes of the same vocabulary and repetition of some phrases, I started to zone out. They were on the floor the entire 50-minute piece and there's only so much you can do with your body by staying within such a restricted field.
The program notes for this piece said that the music was composed based on a recording of these dancers having a conversation and its rhythm. I was looking forward to hearing that in the music but it was so severely electronic with beeps, pops, static, and extremely high pitched whistles that it was uncomfortable to listen to.
Regarding the title of their piece, 2, they made it clear that you could interpret that any way you wanted.. It could mean the number of dancers in the piece, how many works these dancers have done together, etc. Obviously you make your own perception of a title for any piece of dance you see, but when the artists bring that idea to an audience's attention, I think about it in a different way. I appreciate their talents and certainly their passion, just not necessarily for me.
We also saw:
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company perform Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder (1959) and Vespers (1986) and Evidence, A Dance Company perform On Earth Together (2011) and Grace (1999) in DPAC.
This was a nice show to work on because the dancers were really pleasant and friendly, which makes all the difference. I was on rail for this show so I brought the curtain in/out after/before each piece and changed out drops when necessary. That curtain is SO heavy that my hands, arms, and torso were super sore and aware of all movement all week long. I wore my work gloves but even they had layers worn off by the time the run was over. Just glad it wasn't my fingers that had layers worn off.
I enjoyed DCDC's dancing more, but grooved to Evidence's music more. DCDC brought two of their classics from years and years ago that were both beautiful. Rainbow was danced, mostly, by a group of men. The piece is about a chain gang and tells a very clear story. There's a really interesting dynamic when a group of dancers in the present day learns and performs a work that was made so long ago. It feels like a tribute. It's such a marathon piece too. Those guys were absolutely heaving by the end. And I'll just say that we always had to do a quick mop of the stage before the next piece.
DCDC's second piece, Vespers, opened the second act. This one was my favorite of the show. It was performed by a group of totally fierce women. The sound score is two tracks of thick percussion that begin right away with one special focused on a woman in a chair upstage right. The first section consists of a solo for the first dancer which develops into a duet when another dancer enters about halfway through. The second section consists of several women, two preset chairs for each. This piece is a runaway train with the consistent pounding percussion, challenging and precise choreography, and the tangible power and drive these women have. Really great to watch from backstage. All their faces were so intense the whole time. Epic blackout at the end. Gave me chills!
Evidence's style is one that I admire simply because I've taken African dance classes before and have severely stuck out with my whiteness. It's effortless and relaxed to watch but for some reason when I've tried to replicate it, I end up embarassing myself! Both their pieces were in that style and the music was rockin'. For On Earth Together, all the music was by Stevie Wonder and their last piece Grace had pumpin' beats that totally had me groovin' in my chair backstage.
My favorite part about these companies was how nice the dancers were to us. Crew folk tend to be forgotten so it's always so nice to be thanked after a show run since we worked so hard to make it possible for them. The DCDC dancers that weren't in the other DCDC piece being performed would sit backstage or stand in the wings and dance along or give encouragement, which was so cute to watch.
Coming up this week: ROSIE HERRERA in Reynolds and PILOBOLUS in DPAC. This week is going to be the best of the summer...I can feel it :)
Tao Dance Theater perform 2 (2011) in Reynolds:
Hmm. Tao…I'm still not quite sure what to say about it. But it definitely left an impression that I've been thinking on occasionally, which is great! Leaving an impression (of any kind) is probably the best achievement a dance can have.
Okay, first I will say that the way these two dancers move is really amazing and I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like they have no joints (hips and shoulders especially), their skin and muscles are made of rubber, and they’re attached to strings that are being controlled by someone else. They just flopped about in ridiculous ways and it was great and so interesting to watch for a while. After about 20 minutes of the same vocabulary and repetition of some phrases, I started to zone out. They were on the floor the entire 50-minute piece and there's only so much you can do with your body by staying within such a restricted field.
The program notes for this piece said that the music was composed based on a recording of these dancers having a conversation and its rhythm. I was looking forward to hearing that in the music but it was so severely electronic with beeps, pops, static, and extremely high pitched whistles that it was uncomfortable to listen to.
Regarding the title of their piece, 2, they made it clear that you could interpret that any way you wanted.. It could mean the number of dancers in the piece, how many works these dancers have done together, etc. Obviously you make your own perception of a title for any piece of dance you see, but when the artists bring that idea to an audience's attention, I think about it in a different way. I appreciate their talents and certainly their passion, just not necessarily for me.
We also saw:
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company perform Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder (1959) and Vespers (1986) and Evidence, A Dance Company perform On Earth Together (2011) and Grace (1999) in DPAC.
This was a nice show to work on because the dancers were really pleasant and friendly, which makes all the difference. I was on rail for this show so I brought the curtain in/out after/before each piece and changed out drops when necessary. That curtain is SO heavy that my hands, arms, and torso were super sore and aware of all movement all week long. I wore my work gloves but even they had layers worn off by the time the run was over. Just glad it wasn't my fingers that had layers worn off.
I enjoyed DCDC's dancing more, but grooved to Evidence's music more. DCDC brought two of their classics from years and years ago that were both beautiful. Rainbow was danced, mostly, by a group of men. The piece is about a chain gang and tells a very clear story. There's a really interesting dynamic when a group of dancers in the present day learns and performs a work that was made so long ago. It feels like a tribute. It's such a marathon piece too. Those guys were absolutely heaving by the end. And I'll just say that we always had to do a quick mop of the stage before the next piece.
DCDC's second piece, Vespers, opened the second act. This one was my favorite of the show. It was performed by a group of totally fierce women. The sound score is two tracks of thick percussion that begin right away with one special focused on a woman in a chair upstage right. The first section consists of a solo for the first dancer which develops into a duet when another dancer enters about halfway through. The second section consists of several women, two preset chairs for each. This piece is a runaway train with the consistent pounding percussion, challenging and precise choreography, and the tangible power and drive these women have. Really great to watch from backstage. All their faces were so intense the whole time. Epic blackout at the end. Gave me chills!
Evidence's style is one that I admire simply because I've taken African dance classes before and have severely stuck out with my whiteness. It's effortless and relaxed to watch but for some reason when I've tried to replicate it, I end up embarassing myself! Both their pieces were in that style and the music was rockin'. For On Earth Together, all the music was by Stevie Wonder and their last piece Grace had pumpin' beats that totally had me groovin' in my chair backstage.
My favorite part about these companies was how nice the dancers were to us. Crew folk tend to be forgotten so it's always so nice to be thanked after a show run since we worked so hard to make it possible for them. The DCDC dancers that weren't in the other DCDC piece being performed would sit backstage or stand in the wings and dance along or give encouragement, which was so cute to watch.
Coming up this week: ROSIE HERRERA in Reynolds and PILOBOLUS in DPAC. This week is going to be the best of the summer...I can feel it :)
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