As I entered the BAM Theater, I did not know what to expect. I have never been to an opera house before so walking into that beautiful opera house had me awestruck. On my way up the elevator, we stopped on the mezzanine level and there were spectacular lights and food displays that looked very high class. As we reached our balcony seating, I looked up and saw that the ceilings of the theater were amazingly high and the details of the architecture on the walls were beautiful. Soon enough the lights dimmed and the First Act began. The First Act was genuinely confusing to me. Even after doing the reading and trying to make sense of what was going on, I was still very confused. The man and woman who seemed to be the main focuses of the dance were repeatedly running into chairs, the walls and each other. The interpretive dancing could relate to the dynamic of a relationship, which is the only connection I could really make. The First Act was very confusing to me and I am not sure that I enjoyed it very much.
The Second Act of the show began after a half an hour intermission. During the intermission, you got a sneak peak of the show because they had to set the stage for the dancing. Large dumpsters full of dirt were rolled onto the stage and spilled onto the floor. Once the stage was set, the dancers came out. This half of the show was much more appealing to me. I found there to be a story behind the dancing and the red dress that the men and women were fighting over. They started off the dance being afraid of the red dress but soon enough embraced it and wanted to be in possession of it. One woman eventually became in complete possession of it and became the focus of the dance. The music and dancing created a very intense atmosphere that I enjoyed very much and am thankful to have been a part of.
Lejla, I as well was fascinated by the architecture of the theater it added to ambience of the opera. I was lost and didn’t comprehend the opera fully, although I did understand the passion among the man and woman. A cool aspect as well that you mentioned was when the were setting up for the next scene by bringing out dumpsters of dirt, and how intense the second scene was. Great blog!
I agree that the atmosphere had became very intense once the woman had put on the red dress. I saw this as a symbol that she had succumb to her sexuality and lust and that was deemed as a sin in their society thus she was killed for it. Red in particular really set the mood for that part of the dance since it is so pigmented and aggressive versus the neutral colors the rest of the dancers were wearing.