Disorienting, insane, strange, awkward, entertaining… confusing?

“I don’t believe in outer space” was a one of a kind experience. I don’t think I have ever seen a performance as complicated, but simple at the same time. To say that words cannot describe the dance, is a total understatement. The underlying theme of the song “I will survive” throughout the different “scenes” was so cleverly done, because at times, the song was used for comedy purposes, but what stuck out for me was the ending scene. It was very depressing, how one of the main performers started listing out things that people might have to live without, for example, No more parties, No more husbands, No more barbecues, No more drinks, No more love, No more smiles… It was a huge emotional shock, since the scene before it was a comedic one. It was very cleverly done that this song had the flexibility to fit into angry scenes, sad scenes, scary scenes and funny scenes. But I do feel as if the actual song wasn’t as important as the underlying idea that this whole production was completely random, and goes against all societal expectations.

This production, for me, definitely related to Nietzsche. Though it wasn’t completely Dionysian with regards to music and the inner self taking over, it was a very good bridge to join together reality and the surreal. First of all, this performance had no linear plot (maybe I’ve missed it…or something?) and though our human brains are trying to make some sort of connection between all this chaos and emotions and loud music, our brains really can’t come up with something this disconnected. It forces us to just enjoy the dance, and not question where all these ideas were coming from. It honestly felt like a dream sequence. One minute you could be scared out of your mind because of “the new neighbor wanting whisky” or the next moment you could be wondering “As if by chance…” It was truly a roller coaster ride. Nothing seemed to make sense together, (not that this should be analyzed) but thing’s seem to make sense part by part.

I was really amazed at the talents of these dancers, because it seemed graceful, but at the same time, it had that awkwardness to it, which seem to contradict each other, but it worked very well in this performance. Also, I was wondering the whole time how one of the performers (can we call her an actress?) memorized all the lines to “As if by chance…” It all seemed to correlate so well with the dance movements of the other performers, that she could not have possibly improvised any of it. I actually did find myself trying to imagine what would happen if “everything fell” or if “nothing fell at all”.

After it was over, it was the first time I felt myself lost for words after a performance. I couldn’t come to terms with what I just saw. And when one of my friends asked me what the play was about, I actually could not even give one concrete detail of it, except that “At first I was afraid, I was petrified”