The Arts in New York City
When I first learned we were going to watch a performance of “Political Mother”, I again began to wonder what was to be expected. I looked toward the title for clues. It seemed to me that this performance would be portraying the interactions of two entities that would rather remain separated but are forced together. I predicted a representation of two extremes, the “Mother” who for all intents and purposes would rather care for children than participate in say a revolution for example. However, due to circumstances, the two were thrust together. My prediction? A political force on one side and a political awakening on the other.
When I entered the Brooklyn Academy of Music, I was pleased to find that the décor was wasn’t as flashy as in The Metropolitan Opera but it was not as mundane as the Roulette where we had gone to see Spellbeamed.
I had expected to see several clashes and dissonant sounds but my prediction was nothing compared to what greeted us at the opening of the performance. Although I was sitting towards the back of the auditorium, I can unequivocally say that I have never heard anything so loud in my life. The majority of the performance was blaring music that cannot truthfully say I liked. At the same time, as this loud music was playing, a group of dancers would at random come onto the stage and dance in unison, in a drunken frenzy. The music and the dancing seemed to be in stark opposition to one another as if they were fighting to overcome the other in dominance in the life of the individual. The dancers were dressed in different garbs, ranging from that of different places to that of different times. I reached the realization that this battle was not one restricted to New York or America but it was representative of almost all times and places.
In the end, it was not the experience that I came to appreciate but the question it posed that was truly revealing. Do we really have a choice when it comes to participating in politics?
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I too wondered what to expect from the Political Mother performance, but I don’t think I looked that into detail when trying to find the answer. I kind of just waited for the performance to happen to arrive at my answer. However, you seemed to look into great detail into what you thought the performance would be about, especially with your use of the title to come to the conclusion that it would be about two entities pushed together with one side being a political force and the other side being a political awakening. I do agree it was sort of nice to have the performance be at a place with a different feel and ambiance than the opera performance. The music was quite harsh and loud; I could hear it from the outside. Though, like you, I may not have enjoyed such loud and blaring music, I did enjoy the performance that the dancers put on. It was strange and weird, but at the same time, I thought that the way they performed was really cool. I must say that I really did think that it was amazing to see them move in such coordination with each other. I also must say that the question you pose at the end of your post was not one I was really thinking about at the end of the performance, but I definitely think it’s an important question that we all have to think about and answer.
Though I did not have any in-depth expectations for this performance as you did, I was still intrigued by the strange title. Your prediction of a dichotomy between a political force and a political awakening were much in line with my thoughts on the meaning of “Political Mother”. I also agree with you in terms of the interior design of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. It was a nice balance between the other locale we had visited. While I agree that the music was incredibly loud, I felt like the loudness and noise was a great contrast to the more subtle and passive sounds we had been hearing in prior events. Needless to say, the opposition between the dancing and the music seemed to highlight the themes of two opposing forces you mentioned earlier.
I was also fascinated by the title “Political Mother”, and in the days leading up to the event I developed my own expectations about how the political might function in the performance (although these were definitely less distinct than yours). I probably expected the performance to approach the political in a more oblique- or at least abstract- way. I thought that they might try to present dance as something with subtle, unspoken, but still powerful implications as a political force. This seemed to be the case at the performance, although as you made you clear in your description of the confusion that unfolded onstage, it was difficult to draw any certain conclusions from what we were watching. Whatever was intended or actually conveyed in the performance, I absolutely agree with you that any political message was imbued with a powerful sense of universality, that it seemed fundamental regardless of “place and time”. Whatever Political Mother was, it was not narrowly political – or narrowly artistic- in any way.