I’ve gone through your comments on your “most” and “least” favorites. You revealed a great deal about how you react to various examples within a specific art form, but also revealed a great deal about the challenges of analysis when it comes to any artistic medium. Read these quotes and comments, which will be the basis for a more wide ranging discussion (i.e., not just on dance or even that evening’s performance).
Comments on “Fall for Dance” –
read the quotes (taken from colleagues papers) and then my reaction to the quote. there is much to learn from this experience that you have already tapped into. All of your reactions were legitimate, but we should now view those reactions within the context of our growing sophistication and experience. It is interesting how the reactions to the Dance program could be transferred to the trip to MOMA and reactions to various paintings, to purely musical presentations and to dramatic/theatrical art forms.
Favorite:
–“it did a great job opening the show” Yes! placement within the show is important. Placement (on a particular wall, or spot in a visual art show) is also crucial.
—“the dance tested the dancers’ limits” and “they really tried new things with their bodies” — good comment. Good art is always a stretch of some kind. It involves taking a risk for the artist and the audience.
—“got me excited to see the rest of the show” – Another comment that considers the evening event as a totality.
—“I was struck by how strange and repetitive their movements were.” Being “attracted” by strange is a good trait. The repetition is what gives substance to strange. Pattern is how we observe architecture.
–“it was amazing how they were synchronized” technical skill that is clear and obvious has a high rate of “attraction.” But this can be beauty that is only “skin deep.”
—“the dance wouldn’t have had as much impact if not for the interesting lighting” — good comment. The particulars of the medium and the presentation are crucial. An Art show must be “hung” in just the right way to make its impact, the acoustics of the hall are crucial to a musical performance, costumes and make-up, lighting, etc. are important for a theatrical production, etc. And in the end, the most dramatic impact can be when all of these “artificial” elements melt away and the art itself makes its impact.
—tap/hip-hop — “it was interesting when they were dancing to the same music using different dance styles.” good comment. Poses an interesting rhetorical question: is there only one way to dance to a particular piece of music, or even a particular style of music?
—“after light” slow dance “I found kind of moving” –it is perhaps the most genuine experience/reaction to art when you can’t quite put your finger on why (at least not initially) but you are effected/moved in some way. The abstraction/dissection can come later, but the analysis is meaningful only because the art has already demonstrated its primary “meaning” – i.e. its ability to convey emotion of some kind.
Least favorite:
—slow dance “isn’t what I thought dance should be” — unfortunately, this comment just indicates a lack of familiarity with the medium. They can’t ALL be “Happy and Peppy and bursting with love”.
–“too slow, too long…” knowing this is the likely reaction of the non-sympathetic, “slow” becomes a daring artistic choice, no?
It was interesting that the slow dance was consistently given as a “least favorite” but the first piece (Kiegwin) was too skillful to be anyone’s “least” favorite.
