The Politics of Art & Authenticity

I am not big on dance.  It is an art form I find hard to get into unless there’s interesting music, music that’s upbeat that will keep me awake, or something always going on.  Even an interesting set might keep my interest.  As for The Barnard Fall Project, I was very unsure about what was going on.

Going from dance to dance I was very confused.  There was music and then there was no music.  The movements were hectic and then there was no movement.  There was silence and then there were small bursts of words and a little speaking.  It seemed more than just unorganized.  At first it felt as if the dancers were just using random movements.  What was with them saying “swim” and “and”?  I could not wrap my mind around it.

In order to make sense out of it all I created a small storyline for the entire thing, despite knowing the same dancers were not used for every dance.  During the first dance the dancers kept saying “swim”, the stage was a tint of blue and their movements mimicked that of swimmers in the water.  This, I decided, was a swim scene or some sort of swim class.

The second was of four girls in dresses.  Toward the end of this second dance the four girls are walking in lines childishly skipping each other to be in front.   Then they sat down and pulled their hair out of their ponytails, toyed with their hair, and then sit beside one another.  This made me think of four sisters or even friends finishing their day and getting ready for bed at a sleepover of sorts.

The third dance was a little strange.  The dancers were lying down and in positions that made it seem as if they were sleeping.  They even brought out a blanket at one point.  Also, the stage was somewhat darker at first to make it seem as if it were night.  As two dancers came out and slowly started moving I felt this showed the movement of time for after a while the lights grew brighter on stage as if morning had come.  That was when those who had been sleeping finally got up and joined the dancing.

Then finally the final dance where the dancers danced in radical ways across the stage, this somehow made me think of school.  At first they started in a group with one person at the front, like a teacher or some sort of instructor.  Throughout this dance they continued to follow each other, as if learning from one another.  In other words this recital went through an afternoon, night, morning, and day of a person.

My favorite dance had to be the final one that seemed to have the most energy.  I like how they set up lights in front to cast shadows of the dancers against the back wall as they leaped across the stage, twirled, and danced in unusual patterns.  I also liked when they lined up in rows of three.  The first row moved fast while as the rows went back the dancers moved slower and slower.  Then the dancers spun and reversed the effect, the dancers in front moved slowest while those in back moved fastest.

Overall this was an interesting recital.  After reading the dancer’s bios did I actually get a clue as to what was going on.  What went on were types of dances I have never seen nor heard of before.  Most likely I probably would not have gone to see it if it were just me but I am glad I was able to experience it.

Source

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