Darkness. That’s the first thing I recall about our visit to the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on Thursday night.
I remember walking in to a very crowded lobby, trying to fight my way into an elevator, locating my seat, and the lights being switched off. As per standard performance procedure, a few seconds passes before the show starts. However, in this instance, I think a minute or more may have gone by.
Nothing was happening. Everyone was just sitting in anticipation. I was growing impatient. It was awkward.
And then suddenly, light appeared. Slowly but surely, the stage became visible. We were now looking at a series of randomly placed tables and chairs.
That’s what all the suspense was for? Really?
I was less than impressed, but as time passed I realized that the simplicity of the set wasn’t really what was important.
The main purpose was to pay attention to the dancers, so that’s exactly what I did. I noticed a lot of repetition in their movements. Maybe too much repetition for my taste? But I also noticed a lot of raw emotion, and that captivated me.
While the performers movements were insanely abstract – throwing each other against a wall, falling off of chairs, rolling on the floor – they conveyed a sense of want and desperation. They conveyed earnest desire.
Next, was intermission. It was a nice twenty-five minutes to talk to my classmates and get a sense of what their impressions were. From what I gathered, most of them were mildly confused. Which, in all honesty, so was I. I saw the emotion but I was still having some trouble piecing the storyline together.
Then intermission ended and I became slightly more baffled than before. The stage was now entirely covered with dirt and a group of approximately 20 female dancers were standing on it. They were all dressed in these sheer slips and standing in a circle around a single red garment.
The performance progressed and male dancers joined the stage. Through their actions, we could see an internal battle of self-control taking place. The whole idea of this piece was to demonstrate a sexual awakening. The men and women kept advancing towards each other and then retreating. It was as if they wanted to give in to their desire but something was holding them back.
In the end, one of the females did give in. She changed out of her sheer slip and into the red garment and ended up in the arms of the lead male dancer.
Desire won over.
Overall, I have to say I didn’t really enjoy the performance. I was too busy trying to figure out what exactly was going on. However, I did appreciate the commitment of the performers. To get up on stage and do what they did takes a lot of courage and a lot of skill.
Just because I wasn’t the biggest fan, doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t thoroughly enjoy it.
-Alyssa Motilal
I definitely agree that the beginning was very awkward. As we sat in complete silence someone joked that this would be the whole show. I was waiting for it to start as I sat forward in my seat due to the angle that we were in. Unlike you, I was not able to captivate any emotion as I was simply focused on interpreting the piece my own way. I do agree with you that the performers made the piece stand out even more, because you could tell they gave their 110%.
Hello! The confusion you keep talking about in your blog is something I definitely agree with. All of the aspects of these shows were very abstract. The entire stage set up was underwhelming, and I was more focused on why there were chairs and tables, or why there was dirt, to actually focus on what it meant. The dances didn’t make much sense, and like you said again, so much was going on at once it was almost impossible to comprehend any of it! Perhaps if we saw the performance ten more times, I could understand more of it, but until then I was similarly lost and baffled. I do appreciate your insights on desire within the performance, and if I had to come up with any explanations or interpretations, it would include that point that desire won in both acts. Thanks for your post!