Watching the Pascal Rambert piece was a very unique experience. I wasn’t expecting the type of performance that I saw and while my immediate reaction was a wave of confusion, after seeing the whole thing, while still disappointed, I at least understood a little of what I saw. The piece, instead of a dance, was more of a theatrical lecture on some of the basic principles of economics. It began very dramatically with one French woman speaking about what I interpreted as the death of her father. I actually liked this opening scene and it got my hopes up to see something very intense but after I saw what looked like everyday people walking on from different sides of the stage mimicking her actions like zombies I was quickly let down.
During the performance there were various demonstrations where a man would come out and explain some theories. It was interesting how in the beginning he stated that he didn’t want us to feel like we were being lectured however that was exactly what he did. Surrounded by people doing the oddest movements, I guess in the directors opinion, dancing, he would get out his notebook and give a lecture. The informational sessions seemed to drag on and on and it was very easy to block him out and watch what looked like people mimicking everyday activities, or writing for some unknown reason. It may have interested some people but what he was saying didn’t catch my attention enough to correctly process all the information that was given.
At what I thought was the end, the performers read what they had written during one of his final speeches and then after a strange change in music choice, they acted out a scene of an angry man whose family had just been evicted. While it was one of the most clear scenes in the whole piece and very striking, still after expecting a dance performance and then seeing all that I had throughout the whole thing I still wasn’t very impressed. Honestly I think that if we had been properly informed in what we were about to see, I would have appreciated it more. How can economics be expressed though dance was our classes question and after watching the Pascal Rambert piece I still don’t know.
-Yasmin
