Last Tuesday, we went to see the contemporary ballet, Complexions, at the Joyce Theater. The first thing I noticed was the very sculpted body of each dancer. The dim lights and shadows emphasized the muscles even more. This made me think about how much effort each dancer has to put in their moves. Even a skip, a hop, a spin across the stage required the utmost concentration and focus. The amount of discipline and energy in making the difficult look effortless was remarkable.

There were a lot of quiet almost silent moments in the second segment that made me uncomfortable because it threw me off. After minutes of music in the background, the sudden quietness startled me. I didn’t know what to concentrate on anymore. However, after a few minutes of silence I began to focus on the heavy breathing of each dancer. There was this one part when the dancers ended an act by breathing heavily in sync with each other and facing the audience and I found this part especially captivating. Another part that I particularly remember was when at the end of one dance all of the dancers walked all the way up to the front of the stage and just stared into the audience. Their methods of engaging us was different than most shows that I’ve seen. By causing slight awkwardness and discomfort with us – the audience, is the dancer able to capture our undivided attention. However, despite the silence, the second segment of the three part ballet was my favorite.

Compared to the first and second parts, the last segment of the ballet was lively and upbeat. However, I did not find it particularly memorable. It was fun to watch but compared its previous counterpart it was more predictable, making it almost boring. Overall, this ballet was a good experience and definitely helped spark my interest in the art of dance.