Marina Nebro: Arts and Culture

Fall for Dance 2012

One of our field trips for the Arts in NYC seminar was to the New York City Center’s annual season of Fall for Dance. Each performance is specialized – each featuring different dance companies and different types of dance. The October 11th performance featured Shen Wei Dance Arts, Laboratory Dance Project, Circa, and the María Pagés Compañía.

SHEN WEI DANCE ARTS
Artistic Director Shen Wei
RITE OF SPRING 

I’ve heard Stravinsky’s composition before – most recently on WQXR and in an orchestra rehearsal last year. My first reaction to the piece was – ugh! It’s not a pleasant piece of music. The Rite of Spring is extremely dissonant, busy, and rhythmic. And for me, hearing it without any context was difficult and I couldn’t enjoy it. In class, we had watched a version of Rite of Spring choreographed by Maurice Béjart. The dancers were in nude bodysuits and the dancing was very provocative. I quite enjoyed the performance seen on YouTube because there was a story behind it and seemed to have a logical progression. Shen Wei’s choreography was abstract. I don’t deal well with abstract. I couldn’t focus on any one person in the performance. All the dancers had similar costumes, and none of the dancers had a main role. There was no “main character.” The entire dance was around fifty minutes and seemed extremely repetitive. There was no meaning behind the movements. I couldn’t sense a story. Overall, not one of my favorite performances.

LDP – LABORATORY DANCE PROJECT
Artistic Director Chang Ho Shin
NO COMMENT 

Unlike Shen Wei’s choreography, I thought that the choreography for No Comment conveyed a story or a message. The piece started off with two men, beating their hearts. One man stopped and started a convulsive dance on the floor. As he struggled, people walked in from the side of the stage in almost tragic defeat. It reminded me of people coming into a hospital room saying their last good-byes. I took this interpretation of the beginning of the dance and extended it throughout the entire piece. There was one point when a light blue light shown on a struggling dancer – was he struggling to pass on? The end of the performance represented the freedom of final salvation – maybe? All of the dancers ripped off their shirts and moved acrobatically with jumps and flips. One really cool thing about the entire piece was the music. It was interesting to listen to Indian, almost Bollywood inspired, music without seeing the accompanying Bollywood dancing. Despite the lack of traditional dance, I think LDP really pulled it off!

CIRCA
Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz
CIRCA (adopted for Fall for Dance) 

I must say that the audience liked this performance the best of all. I’m not surprised about this. Unlike the previous dances, Circa was more similar to a circus act. The program even says, “CIRCA combines amazing circus skills in new and startling configurations.” The first act was funny, daring, and an overall spectacle. A man lay flat on the floor in the center of a lit up rectangle – hinting at a mattress perhaps? A girl comes out. The audience gasped. Being up in the “nosebleed seats” (a term I just learned, meaning we were REALLY high up), I didn’t know why they were gasping. And then I saw her heals. The act involved her stepping all over this guy. Every time her heals hit another part of his body, the audience would freak. The way the act was performed seemed to create a story. The awkward movements of both woman and man made it seem as if this was an awkward sexual encounter – perhaps a first sexual encounter. The second act was the main act. It was filled with acrobatics – jumps, flips, and stacking. One of the coolest moves was when the men would throw the tiny women around. It was as if these women were weightless! It reminded me of when I used to be thrown around due to my small size. The last act was a hula-hoop act. It’s a cliche in the circus. But this hula-hoop act was different. It was filled with humor as the girl moved along with the music and tried her hardest to impress the audience. In the end, all of the hoops fell to the floor – oops!

MARÍA PAGÉS COMPAÑÍA
Artistic Director María Pagés
DESEO Y CONCIENCIA 

There are only two types of dancing that I can appreciate – dances with stories and dances with technique. This is why I couldn’t appreciate the first dance performance – the dancing seemed to just be ordinary movements with no technique. Flamenco, on the other hand, has a very difficult technique and therefore I can appreciate the effort put into it. This was the one performance that had live music – a cellist, guitarists, and singers. There were also multiple acts – three solo flamencado acts featuring María Pagés and two traditional flamenco acts with a group of six. I appreciated the traditional flamenco more so than the flamencado – having a flare of flamenco but deviating slightly. The traditional had much more rhythm and visible technique than the solo performances – in my opinion. The last act slightly bothered me because María Pagés was wearing a dress with a tail and hence had to kick it around throughout the dance . To me, it detracted from the dance. But, overall, I enjoyed the music. Whenever I hear flamenco music, it reminds me of my Spanish roots.

After the entire performance was over, I met the dancers of LDP and Circa in the lobby and got their autographs. I even met the choreographer of LDP. LDP originates from South Korea, so they had a translator. I had an enjoyable time, but coming home from the city late at night is difficult. The bus didn’t come until 12:14!

Marina B. Nebro