After an hour of trains and then walking the wrong way, I finally got to Joyce Theater. When I saw Professor Eversley, she said we hadn’t gotten the best seats. Just our luck, right? But then we went inside and it was kind of a shock for me. After seeing the performance of Carmen in the Metropolitan Opera, it was disconcerting to realize how intimate this theater was. But it was also a lot less formal, which I personally liked.

Moving on to the show. WOW. There were definitely some parts where I was like, “HUH?” because usually there’s a story for everything we watch. But I realized that when dancers perform, their movements tell the story. The audience is touched not by the words coming out of their mouths—because frankly, there are none—but by the way their bodies become the story.

In my opinion, as the show progressed it became more interesting. In the beginning, I was watching the performance but not really into it. The whole Company was dancing, there were so many people on stage that I didn’t know where to look, and the music wasn’t really that exciting. But after the first intermission, things started getting more interesting. The performance of Testament was very interesting because it was probably supposed to have religious implications and Andrew Brader, the male dancer, had a tattoo of a cross. Now I don’t know if this was done on purpose, but it was something that caught my eye and got me thinking.

Throughout the whole show, there were couples dancing together and I realized that dancers really need the support and trust of their fellow dancers because otherwise no one would move! But then again in What Come, Thereafter, the dancer danced alone and that took guts and stamina I was very awed to see.

My favorite performance of the night was definitely The Groove. It was very exciting and I feel it left everyone with a lot of energy. The music, dances, and chemistry on stage just lit it on fire. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

I definitely learned a lot watching these dancers and aspire to be as strong as they’ve become!