Art & Authenticy

I cannot deny that I underestimated the art, beauty, and elegance that there is to dance; however, I would have been more impacted if Jodi Sperling had presented Loie Fuller’s amazing work in a different manner.On a Monday night in October, I attended my common event, a presentation of Loie Fuller’s work by Jody Sperling is an artistic director and interprets the dances of Loie Fuller in colleges, festivals, and conferences in New York City. I think her work is amazing and I could tell that she really apprecitaes and embraces Loie Fuller’s style, but Jody Sperling began the night by showing us pictures in a slide show. I felt like it was just one picture after another, and I was not able to really appreciate the dances. She would explain the camera angles, and lighting used to capture dances like the Butterfly. The dresses were also very beautiful, but I was not captivated by anything since she would just show one picture and go to the next without giving us that wow factor. Finally, Jody began to show us some videos that she did like the “Serpentine Dance” originally performed by Loie in 1891. I could see the detail in the dresses, and how graceful she looked when she moved. Previously, she had explained to us the basket which is basically when they create a basket shape with the dresses, but I could not see it in the picture. When she showed us in the video, I was able to understand it so much better and I understood how beautiful it actually is. She did the flag, the butterfly, and others. This is when I became really engaged, I just wish she had done that from the beginning. I love that type of dance because it is fierce, graceful, beautiful, and not as soft as ballet.