BAM: Les Ecailles de la Memoire

The Urban Bush Women dance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music was a unique and interesting interpretation of a traditional dance performance. The show combined traditional African dance with modern technique and contemporary themes. The themes however, were not portrayed that clearly and while the dance was superb and quite intricate and impressive the story line was not. It was only present at times and at others it was non-existent. Although I do not believe that the show as trying to tell a story, the plot that fell in and out of the show was confusing and distracted from the elegance and strength of the dancers. It was apparent to the audience that the dancers were highly trained and very technically skilled.
The way that the dancers tried to portray some kind of plot or e or storyline was a bit of a stretch. The only time in which the message was clear was during the scene in which it was more of a modern dance scene. In this scene, the emotion and the passion were clearly portrayed to the audience and also the elements of humor that were added really enhanced the dance. The dance also subtly touched upon the idea of slavery and the bringing of the slave from Africa. This was evident in the scene in which the dancers were lined up on top of a bench. They seemed to have their hands bound behind their backs as they jumped up and off of the bench. These themes were very slight and could easily be missed. I believe that the dance would have been enhanced and benefitted from a complete lack of plot. If the main focus was on the dance and did not shift back and forth the dance would have been able to shine center stage.
The only criticism in regards to the dancing that I can make is that there was sometimes too many dancers doing different dances at the same time. It was hard to distinguish who the main focus should have been on. In this case, there was too much of a good thing. It would have been more effective if there had been less going on, this way the talent of the individuals could have been better appreciated.