The performance of, “Run Don’t Run,” at the BAM may have been one of the most confusing hours of my life. Lost from the very beginning, I spent most of the performance trying to figure out what was going on. It started out with the dancers carrying each other and escalated from there.
Some of the actions of the dance made no sense to me. One man was running and then face planted into the ground. At first I wasn’t sure if that was intended or if he just fell while he was doing his run. Later on, they were all on their knees doing swimming motions. They spent much of the performance doing something that appeared to be fighting each other. But it was a casual fight and there did not appear to be anyone winning.
I could not pick up on the story. So much was changing so fast and so many actions seemed random to me. Especially when the performance relies solely on dance and no words, relaying a clear message becomes even more important. Unfortunately, I could not figure out what the purpose of the dance was.
As confused as I was, there were many aspects of the performance that impressed me. The strength of the dancers was obvious, as they worked for an hour on a physical dance without any breaks. The timing was also perfect. Many of the dancer’s actions involved interacting with another dancer. Unlike a traditional partners dance, such as a tango or waltz, a lot of the actions between dancers seemed arbitrary. The randomness of the dance moves made the memorization of their own moves even more important. One mistake, and it could effect whatever their partner was doing.
Aside from the dance itself, the effects were striking. The type of music used fit the dance perfectly. The lighting was used extremely well. The spotlights that were focused on the dancers were accompanied by colored lights, which created brilliant imagery. The colored lights changed the colors of the numerous wires being stretched across the floor. The wires changing colors added interest to the performance. In addition to the wires changing colors, how the wires were used and altered throughout the performance was also fascinating.
Overall, I was not crazy about the performance. While the effects and music kept my interest, the type and style of dance is not for me. I appreciate the skill, time, and effort the dancers put into the performance and I understand that it takes a great deal of talent to do what they did. But personally, I would not go see it again.
