Prior to my visit to the New York City Center for the 15th Fall for Dance Festival, I had never seen multiple choreographed dance performances in real life. My prior engagement with dance consisted of watching popular, mainstream dance challenges that circulate through social media. The dab, the nae nae and the quan to name a few. I was never a big fan of the dances themselves, but I did find the way that they were choreographed with the background music interesting. Stomps of the feet and movements of the hand aligned with the bass drops in perfect precision. These movements were systematic, yet were fun and lively. Eventually, these dances got overplayed and tiresome and left me bored with it all. The Dance Festival resurged a new liking for dance and its symbolic values. I noticed the importance of lighting, symmetry, and music for each group that we watched. And with these tools, the choreographers and dancers were able to exude ideas and controversial topics in the modern day. Some of the ideas explored in the dance performances were unconditional love, sexuality, and cultural identity.

I particularly found myself fascinated with Ballet Hispanico because of the way they portrayed identity and love. Mexican-American was the primary focus of the group choreography. The artistic director, Eduardo Vilaro, highlighted this through the garments the dancers wore and how they were presented. During one scene, a sombrero masked the face of a woman while she was under a bright, white spotlight. She moved quietly on the stage, yet had power in her strokes, in her arms and feet. The sombrero was a symbol of her Mexican identity in the United States. By masking her face, the hat represented how her Mexican identity overpowers her American identity, while they are both equally as important. To the audience, we were not able to see her face; the hat captured her Hispanic identity. In the United States today, people who are first-generation Americans of parents are sometimes judged by the race of their parents and not their American identity. For example, a Mexican-American will be labeled as Mexican and not American. The dance developed the idea, as well, on how to balance these two cultural identities. The background song of one of the acts went something along the lines of how one has to be more American than Americans and more Mexican than Mexicans to conform to society. The symmetry of the dancers in the sets was beautiful and organized. A cynical side of me wanted one of their flamboyant, pink sombreros to fall down while they were dancing, so I could see how they could improvise their performance on the spot. It didn’t happen, unfortunately. My favorite part of Ballet Hispanico’s performance was the dance to a cover of one of my favorite songs, “Creep” by Radiohead. It explored the dynamics of a relationship where the love between two partners is abusive, and in some cases one-sided. The woman in the dance banged on the chest of the man, while the lyric “I wish I was special” played in the background. He held his chest out when he was being abused and stayed still as a statue. The woman loved the man, but he could not reciprocate the same feelings.

From my experience to the New York City Center, I was enlightened by how powerful dance is and the natural beauty of human anatomy. I will make sure to go to more dances in the future.