Weird in a Good Way?

In the beginning of the show I remember wishing that I spoke the language that these dancers spoke, because then I might have had more or less of even the slightest clue as to what I was watching. It was very strange and eerie and I couldn’t really make sense of what the artists were trying to convey. However, as the show went on, I made a few theories.

I reasoned that the men in black were supposed to symbolize technology, and the male lead was supposed to resemble a bird, or the idea of nature. This was because the male lead was the first thing we saw as audience members, as to signify how things were in the beginning. Then, a man in a black robe came out, as if to mark the advent of technology and its integration into the natural world. The dancer’s quick, sporadic movements seemed robotic and unnatural, which led me to this conclusion. When the man in black disappears, we see the female lead, whom I figured also symbolized a bird. Her voice was so powerful and angry, it was as though she was fighting fate itself.

Then, we see the male lead seeming as though he’s trying to fly, but he smacks himself backwards, as if to show how technology has affected his ability to fly in his own habitat. Later on, more men in black show up, which to me represented the growth in technology. And, with these advancements made, came the introduction of the three women in black, or as I saw, technology’s mistress: death and destruction. These women usually showed up after the men in black made an appearance, as if to show how the effect of technology leads to devastation in the ecological world.

The show went on like this, and the entire time I kept trying to figure out what the title meant. In the end, I decided on several different perspectives. One of which, was that if the sky were a mirror, what would it show? What kind of image would it display? If we could see our world by looking up, if we could see the honest truth, would it be beautiful or ugly? And I guess that the director was trying to say that birds have the power to possess “sky mirrors” because they can see exactly that. With the power to fly and see the world on high, they are able to see our faults, our failures and weaknesses. They can see the ugliness that we hide away in landfills and islands buried in waste. They can see it all. But even they’re falling victim to the gravitational pull of pollution.

In retrospect, there are a lot of things to say about this show. It was very thought provoking. But personally, I thought it was disturbing, scary, uncomfortable to watch, and definitely not one of my favorite events. However, I’m glad I had the opportunity to be exposed to this kind of art. I appreciate it as an expression of emotion, and respect the creator for taking such risks and being able to evoke such a strong reaction in his audience members.