Category: Fall for Dance (Page 1 of 2)

The National Ballet of China’s performance was the Aspirin to the headache produced by the previous avant-garde act. As soon as tonal music started playing again, I could feel my body relaxing back into my seat.
I probably should have read the program before the performance. I went headfirst into The Peony Pavilion thinking like Sherlock Holmes trying to deduce the plot of the story. But the Chinese dancers expressed their art so skillfully I could follow along with the emotions of the tale (if not the specifics of the storyline). I was able to see and feel the mysticality (and creepiness), passion, and pain of the characters and setting.
The dance performance felt like a mini opera without singing (I guess like a classic ballet, then). The costumes were lavish and the staging was minimalistic. The costumes specialized and grouped characters as they were meant to be- peasants (I’m assuming they were) moved as a group and wore a plain uniform of black bottom, green top. The supernatural yin-and-yang characters complemented each other’s with their black and white outfits. The lovers and parents (in the beginning and ending) donned lush and extravagant embroidered silks and flowing materials.
The music, after thinking to look in the program for a description of it (after Elijah and I puzzled over the resemblance different parts of the music made to different pieces and composers), was really masterfully arranged. I could not tell at all during the performance that the music, seeming like one coherent piece, was actually composed of different movements from different musical pieces. This included music by Ravel, Debussy, Holst, Prokofiev, and finished with the Pines of Rome by Respighi. Again, the pieces move so seamlessly into each other and matched the ongoing plot so well.
In addition to contrasting terrifically with Trisha Brown’s act, Son of Gone Fishin’, it provided a spectacle that the audience went wild for. It fitted as a closing act, with its fantastical explosion of flower petals at the end of the performance.

• Short and very well rehearsed while the dancers interact perfectly to the rhythm of the music
• Illustrates a story of early 1900’s party, the dance included mostly male dancers as backup dancers with the female as the lead
• The costume lighting and props were all set up to draw attention to the female lead.
• The music had a jazz feel with the dance perfectly in sync with the lyrics and music.
• Not many props

This dance was very, how could I say it, different. Let’s start with the music, which was performed live on stage. It was loud and full of beats. The movements of the dancers were very rigid and almost messy, but that’s the way it was supposed to be. It wasn’t messy in a bad way, but almost in an everyday kind of way. The dance, as written in the playbill, “explores the notion of an ‘offering’: that is, the act of being willfully submissive towards a deity or force beyond physical comprehension.” This was visible in the way one man acted on stage. With every drumbeat, his body moved in such a jerking way along with it. When the beats quickened, so did his movements to the point where he almost looked like he was going to explode from all this movement.

A common movement between the dancers was a bopping movement in the legs. I’m not sure what it is supposed to be; it was very odd seeing the dancers do it. There were a couple of moments when the dancers lined up and danced in unison. It was a very pleasant sight, because, for once out of the whole dance, it was very fluid and smooth and appealing to see.

The lighting also played a huge role. In the beginning it looked like the sun was out, and towards the middle it darkened to this deep blue, signaling night.

The second part of the dance didn’t seem to connect to the first part. In the beginning, everything was hectic and there were a lot of dancers on stage. In the second part, there were only two dancers and the music became calmer. It almost looked like a couple dancing with each other. This part of the dance was also appealing to watch because of the way the two dancers moved with each other. It seemed as if they were one person, just split up. Maybe they were fighting in a way, because there was one dancer just standing to the side watching the whole thing. Maybe he was observing the fight between the two dancers.

Then towards the end, it seemed as if the dancers were praying to this man on stage. They all danced and raised their arms towards him, while he just bounced on his legs. Overall the dance was very moving, and unlike anything I have ever seen.

The first noticeable element of the evening’s third dance was the music. It was cold, full of odd sound effects, and very modern. The second noticeable element was the fact that the dancers started as soon as the lights turned on. I was pleased with this traditional timing of the choreography, and the good beginning and the interesting music seemed to bode well for the rest of the dance.

Shortly into the choreography, I was struck by the deft movements of the dancers and the slow pace of their motions. Every step was done in almost slow motion. There were none of the lightning pirouettes that were so prominent in the first dance, and none of the playful skipping and dashing of the second dance. Another subtler characteristic of the dancers was their endless motion. They were moving slowly and carefully, yes, but they were moving, always moving with no pauses between motions. This created an extremely fluid quality in the dance. The time that the dancers had allowed them to do everything so carefully, and they carefully, gracefully, kept moving and moving. And the beautiful thing was that they didn’t even seem to be exerting themselves. I was so taken with the grace and fluidity of the dancers that at one point when the music had progressed to an almost grating presence and some people’s heads were throbbing, I decided that their remarkable precision was enough to carry their whole performance because it was so pleasant to look at.

As for the music; while at first I thought it sounded promising, soon I began to notice it for its strangeness rather than for its interestingness. The music turned out to be mostly a repetition of a dull, underlying beat punctuated with odd sound effects reminiscent of a science fiction setting, particularly a spaceship. (In my notes I recorded it to be “slightly discordant.”) The spaceship came to mind also because of the futuristic tones of the costumes, which included shiny metallic colored pants, and the darkness of the walls and the floor. Some of the sound effects in the music sounded like the whirring of machinery or a disembodied robotic voice over an intercom. Since the overall effect of the dance reminded me of outer space, and the dancers seemed to follow a more modern style of dance, in my notes I dubbed the genre of the dance as futuristic ballet.

I must admit that I was slightly confused by some of the aspects of the dance. While I was trying to follow the progression of the choreography, I noticed that every dancer was doing his/her own thing. Effectively, there were a bunch of separate dances going on simultaneously. I felt that there was a lack of a story; the dancers were all focused on their own individual dance, and there seemed to be no connection between what all of them were doing. The only times that all of the dancers were doing the same thing was when they all stopped moving at the same time a couple of times throughout the dance. (This was something I did not really see the point in.)

Another aspect that confused me was the inconsistency in formations. Sometimes a couple of dancers would pair up to dance together, leaving all of the others still stuck in their private routines, and not everyone would get a turn to dance with a partner. Also, although there were seven dancers in total, there were oftentimes only six dancers on the stage. When the dance was finally over and the dancers lined up to take their bows, I did a quick head count to ascertain that there were indeed seven dancers.

Overall, I was impressed with the dancers’ abilities to operate like a set of well-oiled gears. I did not exactly witness harmony among the dancers, but they were all beautifully fluid, if not slightly repetitive. However, the dance was definitely interesting to watch. The choreographer probably had quite a job teaching all those different dances to each individual dancer. I would only venture to suggest one improvement for next time – although I didn’t mind the music terribly, perhaps a more conventional music style would be a better option so that less people would come out of the theater wincing and massaging their ears.

National Ballet of China, The Peony Pavilion

• Because of its traditional and dramatic storyline, it was a thrilling yet beautiful end to the night, not to mention a sigh of relief after its contemporary predecessor.
•  Music:
  • dark and heavy when set in the Underworld, but lighter and more pleasing to the ear in the mortal world
    • This reflects the contrast in themes between the Underworld and the mortal world.
  • Main indicator for climatic events: the ruler of the Underworld permitting the heroine to return to the mortal and reunite with her lover
• Interaction/Expression:
  • Between the heroine and ghosts/the ruler of the Underworld
    • Ruler attempted to stop her, cut off her path
    • Urgency and despair is reflected in the heroine’s actions
  • Between the heroine and her mortal lover
    • The hero mourning for his deceased lover
    • The moment the hero “sees” the heroine: conflicting emotions of surprise, grief, and happiness
    • When they embrace each other, the longing they both felt
• Costumes/Props:
  • More use than the preceding performances
  • Color of costumes acts as distinguishing factor of dead vs. living
    • Black and white for ghosts and color for mortals
    • Furthermore, red for luck and good (wedding act)
  • Designs of gowns
  • The hero’s simple, oatmeal-colored gown seems to be a sleep gown and his blue, more elaborate one should be his outside apparel
• Use of stage:
  • Dancers fill the stage during each act (with the exception of the two lovers’ reunion)
  • Always in action, never stationary

Luis Carrasco                                                                                         MCHC 1001

Prof. Natov                                                                                              City Center

“Son Of Gone Fishin’ ”

This was a choreographed dance by Trisha Brown and the music was by Robert Ashley. I did not look at the given pamphlet because I wanted to have only my own thoughts and interpretation. At the very beginning, the dancers were all set near the center of the stage and this strange music began to play, I did not mind it that much at first, but as time went on the dancers seemed to be in despair and I enjoyed it less and less. The dancers had no emotion, and very little interactions with each other. There costumes were simple and the dark brown to golden shirt they were wearing was the closest thing to a symbol of happiness. Very few props were used. I noticed that every now and then the dancers would jump or have a fast paced movement, and who ever did that would then be slowed down and have this smooth movement right after. I felt as if they were trying to be freed from this dance to a happier dance and they couldn’t. There were only one or two dancers doing the fast paced movement, so I felt the other dancers would show them that they shouldn’t do that. The dancers had a very tight core and there back was almost always straight. I almost thought of zombies dancing at first because the music in the beginning was kind of spooky and jumbled. I personally did not enjoy the performance after the first two minutes at all, especially because the music had sharp tones that hurt my ears. I began to want it to stop and then near the middle, closer to the end, the music changed completely. I felt as if they had played the song backwards in a sense. It was more of a happy tone and although I still did not like it, I felt that it had gotten better. To me there was no story here; they were all on their own, and even when they did touch or work in pairs, I felt it was not very connected. I wonder if maybe that is what she was showing? Maybe we are all alone, no matter how we interact or how close we get. I honestly liked the performance after the change in the music. I feel that maybe this occurred because I felt uplifted, my ears did not hurt, and I wanted to feel happier rather than down.

Now that I look at the pamphlet I see that Trisha Brown says, “This choreography was a ‘doozey.’ In it I reached the apogee of complexity in my work. The infrastructure of the piece was related to the cross-section of a tree trunk. ABC center CBA. Complex group-forms of six dancers were performed first in the normal direction and then in retrograde. Bob Ashley gave us a little library of different tapes to carry with us on tour. The dancers randomly chose we music we would use each performance. Something like having the band along with us.” I realized that I had gotten it and that I was noticing the change. I would rather not go through that again, but I must say it was conveyed perfectly to me.

The Peony Pavilion is perhaps one of the most notable of the Ming era Kun Operas of China, and was presented at the Fall for Dance production in a heavily abridged form, with an emphasis on dance over singing/dialogue. Despite this however, many operatic elements were present, including a glorious spectrum of costumes, makeup, color motifs, and ornate, beautiful props (i.e. the Prince’s gown, falling rose petals, etc.). Because of this operatic heritage, this segment of the show was overwhelmingly more lavish and stimulating than its co-performances, and such exciting grandiosity, along with a clearly conceived storyline, made it by far my favorite piece of the night. The dances themselves were ballet inspired, set to an assortment of distinguished Romantic-era classical Western pieces, including works by Debussy, Holst, Prokofiev, Ravel, and others. This cultural blending between the occident and the orient I found quite powerful, and a novel choice by the company, giving the piece in my opinion a universal context, and which projected a statement of Art as a uniting, global phenomenon. Condensing a 20 hour opera into a fifteen minute dance piece is a Herculean task, and admittedly, while I was impressed, it was somewhat difficult to follow the story. Despite this however, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, both due to the aforementioned reasons and the extreme grace, agility, and flowing movements expressed by the dancers, all of whom conducted themselves gorgeously and professionally, and, especially in contrast to the preceding piece, were able to come together to paint an aesthetic painting of movement, finesse, and chromatic splendor.

SON OF GONE FISHIN’ is a a contemporary dance choreographed by Trisha Brown. I was impressed by the dancers’ use of stage. They never left a part of a stage unused. Also, the lighting near the end was an eye catcher. They used light to portray shadows on the wall of the stage. That was definitely my favorite part. Another part that I enjoyed was when the dancers all stopped a couple of times as the lighting dimmed during the dance. It was interesting to see that the dancers lacked facial expression. I suppose that was done on purpose.

It was the most puzzling dance I’ve seen. The dancers sometimes used the chain effect to create a dramatic effect. However they were not in sync. They were doing separate moves just on one stage. When I saw 3 of the dancers doing the same move I was so happy and then after few seconds, they went off doing their own thing. The music definitely added on to the chaos on stage. It sounded like several sounds jammed together like the busy road in the city at night. However, this confusion is what drew me in. I tried to focus to catch what the dance was about. Although I couldn’t find the answer to the purpose of dance, it was quite interesting.

I didn’t understand the whole story, but different aspects of the performance really gave me a feeling of what was going on. Firstly, I loved the music. It fit each moment in the dance, and was never too overbearing. Each note made me feel the dancer’s sadness, fear, and love. In addition to the music, the dancers’ expressions were so real. I especially liked the main male lead who looked so pained and sad. Even if you didn’t know what the story was beforehand, you would get it from the loss in his eyes; even from the mezzanine.

I liked the different costumes: gold encrusted dresses and gowns. The Chinese style is extremely fine and beautiful. This performance was classical ballet. I am astounded at what these dancers can do. From the jumping and spinning down to the basic standing on point- it was all done so effortlessly, yet with so much passion. Honestly, I didn’t really understand the explosion of peonies above an empty chair, but I did get it was dramatic and beautiful, but not happy. The empty chair symbolized a loss.

After all the peonies finally settled, all that was left was an empty chair

-Jazz Song

-One female dancer among 8 male dancers

-Very sexy choreography

-Female dancer has her own entrance staged for her, after the male dancers have already been on stage

-All the male dancers carry her across the stage; she is always in their arms.

-Dance corresponds to the music, staircase to paradise. The female dancer “walks” on the men, making it look as if she really was walking on an invisible staircase.

-Very fluid, smooth dancing

-Clothing: the men had the same costume, very smartly dressed w/ suit and blazer, while the female dancer had on a very sexy, short, sort of revealing dress w/heels.

-Slow and leisurely paced

-Ballet style, men do leaps and twirls and even cartwheels.

-The female seems untouchable even though she is being touched by all of the men, dances with each one individually

-Incredible incorporation of acrobats

-Males “crawl” on the floor, “chasing” after the female

-Very proud arm lifts—confident, announcing their presence of stage

-Female dancer always seems to be floating—carried in the arms of the men, who would throw her over their shoulders

-Female is very confident in their abilities, no sign of fear when she is spun in their arms

-Overall, very sexy, seductive, flow-y, flashy, bold, very smooth dance; I loved it.