After watching the opera on the first night, I had higher expectations for the Fall for Dance. I liked watching dances, and looked forward to watching the dance performances. To my surprise, Fall for Dance was not how I anticipated it to be. Out of the four acts, I only enjoyed two of them. Fall for Dance began with Three Movementsby the company Rafaela Carrasco. Once the performance began, I was instantly intrigued by the woman’s voice. The woman’s singing sounded more like cries, and was not like the melodic music I’ve been accustomed to hearing. This piece felt long and boring, until the dancers came on stage. Their tapping and their swift movements stole the show. I was amazed by their footwork, and how well it coped with the music playing.
The second act was the “Red Angels” performance by the New York City Ballet. This ballet dance was better than the youtube video we watched in class. The flexibility and agility of the dancer’s movements were incredible, and their red color scheme was creative. The ballet was interesting, but what caught my utmost attention during this dance was the violinist. Her violin performance matched the dance very well, and it was so great that I thought it was a recording at first.
Next was the “Duet” by Bill T. Jones and the Ernie Zane Dance Company. This was my least favorite dance. In this act, the dancers were trying to mirror one another’s movements, but the background audio was like a dialogue. To me, this performance did not fit well together and I didn’t understand the purpose of the dance.
Last but not least, came the last dance: “ID:Entidades” by Companhia Urbana De Dance, which is shown in the picture. This dance was more of a modern, contemporary dance. Each dancer shared the same costume of wearing black and having an afro. At the beginning, I was impressed with the choreography of the dance, but as the dance progressed, my interest slowly diminished. It was my favorite dance, nonetheless, but I felt that it was too long.
I anticipated Fall for Dance to be better than Rigoletto, because personally, I enjoy watching dance more than singing. However, I was wrong. Even though I only liked two of the dances (“Red Angels” and “ID:Entidades”), it was still interesting to watch the various types of dances.
I expected to enjoy Fall for Dance. I appreciated the art of dance since I started dancing at the age of 4. However, I’ve never had the opportunity to watch something like Red Angels or the flamenco dance. I liked that this wasn’t the typical ballet that I would usually go to. These 4 dances were relatively short and the different styles of dance kept me awake.
My favorite of the night was the flamenco dance. All the music was live and I was able to see a musical performance as well as the beautiful dance. It was particularly memorable because it’s not very often that I get to feel so energized watching a dance. It was refreshing to see something nontraditional to the culture, which explains why people enjoy watching flamenco and why it was in this event at all. I wasn’t sure though if they were tap dancing, or if that was purely flamenco dance. Nevertheless, the dance was exciting and passionate. I would like to see more of this type of dance in the future.
The Red Angels was also worth mentioning. The dance was more traditional but not quite. I would categorize as modern dance, but it still shows the athleticism of a ballet dancer. The dancers showed off their muscles and curves in their red unitards, which I suppose was one of the aspects of the performance. Their moves were a bit rigid for my taste and I’m still unsure of the stylistic choice of the choreographer. But the dance speaks of equality to me, both of the sexes and of their movement. I’m sure there are many more themes that I wasn’t able to pick up right away; I consider that a success.
Sadly, I have nothing interesting to say about the other 2 dances of the night. I couldn’t relate to these dances and found them strange and boring, especially the last one. It was painful to keep my eyes open by the end and almost ruined the whole experience. Luckily the last dance was finally over, but I was still able to take away a new experience and a new interest in flamenco dance.
The Fall for Dance Festival was an event held on September 30th, 2010. Its purpose was to showcase a variety of different dance genres from across the world, hoping to appeal to those who have not yet enjoyed the world of dance. With this in mind, the festival included performances by Company Rafaela Carrasco, New York City Ballet, Bill T. Jones & Arnie Zane and finally, Companhia Urbana de Danca. Each company introduced a unique form of dance, allowing the audience to compare them side-by-side and perhaps leave the show with a newfound appreciation and interest in this form of art.
I have never gone to a dance performance before. Hoping to become more culturally attuned and broaden my own perspectives, I attended the show with an open mind. Although I’ve seen professional dancers before on TV, I had no idea how different it would feel seeing them perform in person. The first company to go on stage was Rafaela Carrasco, performing a traditional flamenco dance. Their display of flamenco successfully blended vibrant, energetic dancing with simple, yet intricate instrumental music. I was enthralled in the music and the dancers’ heels added a deeper flow to the performance. Although I enjoyed the actual dancing, what impressed me more was the athleticism and precision that both the dancers and the musicians possessed. I never realized, until seeing the sweat pouring off each of the performers faces and necks, the amount of physical endurance and synchronicity that professional dances needed to develop.
The second dance to be performed was Red Angels by the New York City Ballet. Staying true to the festival’s mission statement, this dance was nothing like the flamenco dance just before it. Titled, “Red Angels,” this was a ballet dance which seethed with raw, sexual nature. The music that was played during the dance added a somewhat ominous feel to the performance. The dancing itself was mesmerizing and unpredictable, yet after it was over, I realized it was also easily forgettable. As impressed as I was by the flexibility and grace that the dancers exhibited, I personally found the dance to be just that, a demonstration of human physical capabilities. Whereas the performance by Rafaela Carrasco inspired some sort of emotion within me, this dance did nothing of the sort.
The third dance, performed by the Bill T. Jones & Arnie Zane Company, was the only dance of the evening to leave absolutely no impression on me. From the beginning to the very end, the dance was boring and lackluster. The music and later on, the prerecorded dialogue, had no apparent connection to the actual dancing, and only succeeded in confusing me even more. When the performance finally ended, I found myself clapping for the simple reason that it was finally over. However, I am glad that I saw a performance I did not truly enjoy that night, because it allowed me to understand what type of dance I did or did not like.
The Companhia Urbana de Danca performed the final dance of the night. This was a completely different variation of dance, which may be compared to urban, hip-hop styles. It featured a variety of music, ranging from techno to slow drum and bass. The dancing was highly acrobatic and interesting, and I found myself drawn in from the very first second. The dancers seemed a lot more fluid in this performers than in the others, giving the stage a freer and open feel. Personally, I felt that this style of dance allowed the performers to more honestly express themselves.
The festival in itself can be considered a success if it gave people the chance to at least formulate a concrete opinion about dance. That way people may come to understand and even analyze different performances, eventually growing to deeply appreciate this form of art. Even if someone hated all four dances, at least it made them realize what they may like in the future. After all, in the world of art, apathy is far worse than hatred.
I’ve always had a lot of appreciation for dancers and choreography. Seeing how it feels as though I have two left legs, I’m always amazed by how well some people are able to dance. When I heard that we’d have the opportunity to attend Fall for Dance, I was pretty excited from the get go. I walked into the theatre with high expectations for an incredible show.
Fall for Dance began with the Three Movements piece, arguably my favorite piece of the night. I tend to watch a lot of hiphop choreography videos, and the Three Movements piece was very similar to many of the hip hop videos I had seen. This piece did an excellent job syncing the music with the performer’s movements and made it entertaining to watch. The woman’s voice was also interesting, although I wasn’t too fond of her voice, I thought it was interesting that ballet was able to mix so many elements of dance and performance into one piece.
The next piece was the Red Angels piece. I remember watching this in class and being really surprised at how well defined the ballet dancers were. However, in the actual show, the electric violin caught my attention first. It was the first time I had heard an electric violin live, and it was pretty interesting to listen to. However, as the piece went on, I began to notice the dancer’s bodies more and more. I was astonished that they had such muscle definition from dancing, and it made me think about just how much work they must put into practicing for these dances to have such a well defined body. Although the performance wasn’t as entertaining as the Three Movements piece, the Red Angels piece still made for interesting lighting, interesting effects, and an enjoyable mirror performance.
Duet, the third piece of the night, completely lost my interest. The piece was so random and it didn’t really make any sense to me. I didn’t find it interesting in the slightest, and it put me to sleep pretty quickly so I don’t have much to say about this piece.
The final piece, ID:ENTIDADES was completely phenomenal. There were multiple performances going on at the same time. Although it wasn’t as organized as the Three Movements piece, it still managed to be clear and entertaining to me, as opposed to the Duet piece. The dancers had graceful movements, and I found the break dancing to be incredibly entertaining to watch. Having had watched so many hip hop videos, I found it really enjoyable to finally be able to see dancers performing windmills and flares in person.
Ballet isn’t quite what I thought it would be, but it’s a good kind of different. I always thought ballet had to be slow, graceful, boring dancing, but the Fall for Dance completely changed my previously ignorant view on ballet.
The beginning of the Fall for Dance show felt rather out of place, to tell the truth. Rather than a dance performance, the audience is given a singer and a guitarist, performing what I assumed to be an original song made by them. Although the singer sang very well, I was a bit lost as to what the purpose of the song was. I didn’t understand the lyrics themselves, and the performance was a bit dull, to be fully honest. I was slightly disappointed with the way Fall for Dance opened up; the singing was stellar but the appeal to the audience didn’t mesh the performance together as much as I’d liked.
The second act of the Fall for Dance brought us back on track with a couple performing what seemed to be a flamenco dance. The two dancers heated up the stage with their passion as they tap danced to the beat. I really loved the way each tap of the shoes synched with the beat so well–though at times I could’ve sworn I heard more clicks than my eyes could follow. The amount of time that the couple put into making the performance so well done must be extraordinary. I give my props to them.
The third act of the Fall for Dance performance was very familiar to our class. The Red Angels put on a show as two guys and two girls performed ballet for the audience. I was so amazed as to how well the guys were able to stretch their bodies. In fact, I think the guys moved more fluidly than the girls did, and that’s very counter-intuitive, to say the least.
The fourth act of the Fall for Dance show was quite strange, to tell the truth. The audience is given a couple weaving their arms and legs to express their emotions as an audio tape plays in the background. The audio in the background was really random in my opinion, and just like the first performance, I was left very confused as to what the message of the piece was. Though the man and woman on stage moved with precise, effortless fluidity, I had no idea what the purpose of all the movement was.
The last performance was a lot more relatable for the modern audience; a group of break dancers strut their stuff and ended the show with the bang. I really enjoyed their precision, but in general, I felt that this last performance just went on way too long. There must’ve been at least five times when the performance looked to be done, until we see the dancers return on stage and dance again. The dancing itself was superb, but it would’ve been so much more enjoyable if they ended their performance appropriately.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
watching the opera on the first night, I had higher expectations for the Fall for Dance. I liked watching dances, and looked forward to watching the dance performances. To my surprise, Fall for Dance was not how I anticipated it to be. Out of the four acts, I only enjoyed two of them. Fall for Dance began with Three Movements by the company Rafaela Carrasco. Once the performance began, I was instantly intrigued by the woman’s voice. The woman’s singing sounded more like cries, and was not like the melodic music I’ve been accustomed to hearing. This piece felt long and boring, until the dancers came on stage. Their tapping and their swift movements stole the show. I was amazed by their footwork, and how well it coped with the music playing.
