My First Modern Dance Experience: Complexions Contemporary Ballet
Three weeks ago I had first opera experience and now I just had my first modern dance experience seeing Complexions Contemporary Ballet at the Joyce Theater.
The first thing I noticed about the performances were the dancers. All of them were very flexible, and even though I knew beforehand that modern dance requires dancers to be highly flexible, seeing the flexibility in person was astonishing. One of the moments that surprised me was when one of the dancers stood and maintained her balance on her left leg while lifting her right leg into the air until her legs formed a straight, vertical line; it was something I could never imagine myself doing.
The second aspect I noticed was the constant shifting of music in pace and tone. The shifts were sudden and they happened not only between each performance but also in the middle of the performances. For example, during the first performance, Head Space, the music shifted from a slow, gentle tone in the beginning to a more upbeat and faster tone and then to music that sounded alarming and instilled a sense of danger. At first, the constant shifting of the music was confusing and the shifts made it difficult to try and understand what was happening, what was the underlying message or theme in the performance. However, I realized that the constant shifts in music were not used for a theme. Rather they reflected emotions and how in humans, emotions can constantly and suddenly change.
The final aspect I noticed was the lack of a concrete story line and a defining idea for each of the performances which emphasized the idea of freedom associated with modern dance in contrast to traditional ballet. There were no descriptions of each performance in the information booklets given out; each member of the audience was left to decide and interpret the meaning of each performance based solely on what they saw. Although some performances such as the biblical allusion of The Testament had a general tone to the performance, most were open to many different interpretations.
Overall, my first modern dance experience was definitely something that was very unique; I had never seen people move their legs and arms in that kind of way before so watching modern dance was seeing something that was completely unfamiliar to me.
Aaron, these are some really good points about the dance performance. I like how you speak about the idea that the dances were predominantly focussed around emotion. I first attempted to make some sort of sense in what the storylines of the dances were, but I was unable to formulate something concrete. Once I realized that emotion was the focus of the dances, it became easier to watch. I felt slightly more comfortable with what I watching; I was slightly more comfortable in the seemingly random movements by the dancers. And lastly, watching some of those moves absolutely hurt me physically during the performance! I see where you’re coming from.
Aaron and Josh, I agree with your points. It was very difficult to comprehend a storyline throughout the performance. Thank you Aaron, for making me realize that it was more focused on expressing an emotion than a story. Unfortunately, I was unable to realize or see that during the performance, so that didn’t work out too well. I’ll definitely be thinking more emotions rather than stories as I continue to try to make sense of yesterday’s program.