Heart-stopping Thud
I guess my total lack of any prior experience with viewing ballet (aside from the knowledge I gained from the readings) may be the main reason why I greatly enjoyed all three of the pieces, even though I noticed that these pieces weren’t 100% traditional ballet pieces but more interpretive dances. I remember thinking through the entire night that the way in which the dancers moved was so beautiful and I couldn’t help mimicking their hand movements in my head. I was completely shocked with how the dancers maintained the ability to not get dizzy, especially in the Selon Desir piece, where they mostly thrashed their heads in a rock-and-roll sort of fashion. I can honestly say that watching that piece left me feeling lightheaded.
My favorite piece would have to be the Salon Desir because it was just so intense, especially with the female dancer all in blue who appears first on stage. For me, the way she moved her body, especially her mid-section, looked almost painful because it seemed like she was almost inverting her entire stomach-area. I couldn’t help but wince whenever she and the rest of the dancers did that movement. I also loved the way the rest of the costumes were all a combination of mismatched dull colors (like browns, grays, and other pale colors) except for the blue-clad female dancer who I thought of as the main dancer or even maybe the main dancer of this piece. Truthfully, upon seeing the male dancers in skirts I laughed out loud but then it got me thinking as to what the point for making the males wear skirts could be. I think that the point for making all of the dancers wear similar clothes was to portray a scene in the blue-clad dancer’s mind maybe of her confusion about who she is because I noticed that in between the dances, one character would be in the background wearing this totally lost and befuddled expression while about 10 dancers in the foreground continued to intensely dance. I also couldn’t help noticing the sort of crucifixion movement of when 2 male dancers picked up one female dancer by her midsection and she would then extend her arms in the same outstretched manner of Christ. I also really loved the part when all of the dancers would huddle in this circle and once there they would jump at the exact same time, which caused this loud stomping noise that felt like it traveled straight to my heartbeat—I’m guessing the point of that movement could have been to make the audience feel like a part of the performance and not only be viewers. In addition, I also really enjoyed the different music that was played because it altered the mood for that given amount of time, which I thought was really cool.
-Marianna Davydova