“House Divided”, directed by Mirianne Weemes was a theatre performance which incorporated ideas from John Steinbecks famous novel “The Grapes of Wrath” and applied them to the modern mortage crisis. It was performed at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Harvey Theatre.

The performance included large digital displays, and a house structure that also acted as a digital display throughout. Performers would act within the house structure as well outside of it. The setting of the house was in Columbus, Ohio, where the Joad family had to travel from. As in “The Grapes of Wrath”, the Joad’s had to make a long journey to California, where most of the lower class were migrating to for work and land during the time of the Great Depression. They were kicked off of their own land, and suffered with poverty and sickness throughout their path across America. The worst form of sufferering was that of homelessness, and leaving behind land that had history and meaning to the family.

“House Divided” alternated between fictional scenes of the Joad families hardships and non-fictional scenes of modern day people dealing with Americas current mortgage crisis. The modern scenes include interviews with businessmen who make a profit from foreclosed homes or invest in them, a young woman acting as a foreclosing agent, and dialogue between two stockbrokers.

With watching this performance, I would have to agree with Phelans view on liveliness. Phelan believes that the human body is unique and that live performance cannot be shared with media. On the other hand, Auslander states that there is no clear cut distinction between human and technology in a production, and that the two can be morphed. In “House Divided”, the media overpowered the personal feel that a live performance usually leaves the audience with. Without the media, I usually find myself running through several emotions like when watching Pina Bausch’s piece last week. After “House Divided”, all that I left the theatre with was thoughts of the digitalized house and images, and the performances connection with “Grapes of Wrath”. I do not remember the performers faces or clothes. Although I do not wish to demean the value of the performers and their hard work, they were overshadowed by the media. Even when some of the characters were speaking, I found myself looking at their projected faces on one of the screens rather than their actual faces.

When listening to the directors talk after the show, I would have to side with the first older woman who seemed to be bashing on the piece. I was not left feeling wrath, or even any other emotion. I was simply left with a little more understanding of the foreclosure crisis in history and modern times of America. Rather than a performance, I would almost call this piece a type of documentary because of the lack of emotion that I felt. Overall, I would agree that in “House Divided”, media plus live performance amounted to simply media.

Walking into Roseanne Spraldins “Beginning of Something” at the NYC Live Arts Performing Center, the audience is captivated by the atmosphere right away. The stage is a slightly raised rectangle, with a blue floor. Walls with small mirrors and a curtain of beads surrounds the audience, sitting around all four sides of the stage. A naked woman is already sitting on edge of the platform, slowly playing a bass in the dark while the spotlight is on some shiny material on the stage.

The seats fill up, and it becomes silent as the audience is captivated by the mysterious feeling inside the room. The woman seems to be playing a somber tune. The seats are level with and in a close proximity to the stage, with some of the audience members sitting on the floor. The dance begins with a high level of intensity as the woman hands over her bass to the band and puts on the beads as a head and shoulder piece. She walks across the stage naked, with such confidence, it is almost intimidating. At one point, there is no music and only the sound of the beads is heard. The dancers presence seems to be screaming “look at me!”.

Three more clothed dancers come onto the stage, not as confidently as the first woman. They perform a series of dramatic movements, to highly energetic music. The feeling is hectic and chaotic as they all move differently. At one point, the first naked woman with the beads reaches out to several members of the audience. This really involved the audience and showed that there was a point to the dance – these four women wanted their message heard and they needed the audience to sit and feel with them.

Eventually, all four of the women took off their clothes and very empowering music was playing. At this point in the performance the audience had already felt the dancers’ frustration as some of them seemed to be slowly building confidence and courage like that of the first woman. Finally, all of the women seemed confident. They even walked together across the stage like runway models, one of them screaming “do it!” and “now!”. It seems that the obvious point of the performance was the empowerment of women. However, the audience was supposed to also be involved in the journey that these women take, with powerful moments portraying the struggle and chaos.

In the middle of the dance, the mood became somber and chaotic again. The women seem to be convulsing, or stomping around the stage with no order. Yet they come together in unison at intervals. These moments are beautiful and almost make the audience feel a sense of ease until the dramatic and chaotic movements start again. The naked women leave the stage one by one, and come back clothed in a very feminine fashion. They strut up and down the stage again, a repetitive movement throughout the performance. They depict a sense of unity at those moments since they are walking together. They each start to take off their clothes again, in a dramatic way by walking forward and convulsing their bodies. Then they proceed to step backwards, still convulsing, and putting on each article of clothing again. This portrays the ups and downs of life, which is part of human nature.

Reading Oliver’s and Jowitt’s writings really helped me interpret the dance. Even though it was a new experience, I came in with an open mind and tried to really focus on the meaning behind the dance, not just the actual movement. I paid extra attention to elements of the performance that really make it an art such as the stage, music, and everything collaborating all at once. I even read into the booklet given to us prior to the dance. It was interesting to find that many of the dancers and musicians involved in Roseanne Spradlins “Beginning of Something” were very well rounded, some with degrees in Harvard and Columbia University. This made me respect them even more because the audience can really tell they enjoy what they are doing and put in a lot of energy and emotion. The performers do not use dance as their last resort, but are truly passionate about what they do.

This particular performance had deep emotion involved in it.  Even though the performance was very feminist, it was also very real and human. Although I thought it was very powerful, I was unsatisfied with the ending of the dance. The dance ended the same way that other scenes in the performance ended. I feel that the ending lacked emotion and power. There were many key moments that stick out in my mind but the ending is not one of them. Although I remember the dancers taking their bows, it is hard for me to recollect the few minutes before that. Regardless, the moments that I did enjoy and recall made the dance very beautiful and powerful. It was a great opportunity to experience a dance in a way I never have before. Overall, Roseanne Spradlin choreographed an effective and heart touching piece that really captivated the audience into connecting with the emotions of the dancers.