I really enjoyed the performance. I remember watching the videos of performances during class that day and thinking, “Nope, this doesn’t really interest me.” Maybe I was just really tired and didn’t look forward to anything at all that day. But I think sitting up front really helped me keep awake. I couldn’t stop staring at the dancers because they were just amazing. We were so close that you could literally see the sweat flying off their heads as they danced across the stage.
First off, I found their costumes interesting. For the performance, they were wearing very simple and tight clothing, which makes the viewers pay close attention to their bodies (for example, there was one dance where two/three men were wearing nude leggings). As mentioned in class, modern dance has several attributes such as the focus on the body (as opposed to the limbs, which is emphasized by the high jumps of classical ballet, but we did not see many high jumps during this performance), the coordinated breathing and movements (the audience could hear their loud breathing and I remember they all breathed at certain times at a certain beat), and the relationship with the floor. The fact that the dancers were all moving closely together with close contact with the floor really supports the ballet’s claim: “The company’s foremost innovation is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them.”
For me personally, the most interesting part was the second part. I remember it began with no music playing; if I remember correctly, it sort of sounded like a steady ticking or beeping. Because there wasn’t any background noise at the beginning, the audience could clearly hear the dancers’ steady breathing. The more solemn dance was also emphasized by the dancers’ black outfits. I particularly liked this act because I felt that the quieter performance compared to the other two made it more intense and it gave it a suspenseful atmosphere. I also remember a part where there were two dancers in the front, while a lone male dancer was in the back and behind him was a white screen. It was interesting how there were two different things happening at the same time; I remember there were other parts where there were dancers on both sides of the stage and they weren’t doing the same dance. I found this a bit confusing, but perhaps it would have been easier for people who were sitting more far back since they would have a wider view of everything that was happening on stage.

I liked the last part too, especially since I found it more relevant. Their outfits were more like those that we would wear, and the music was also more familiar. I remember during class that day, Professor Eversley mentioned how many of the modern dances that we see today in music videos actually use a lot of the movements used in ballet. I definitely saw the resemblance during the last part.

Overall, I really liked this performance, considering it the very first ballet I ever attended.