One thing I really liked about Eunice’s critique is how she chose to start it. She opened with a paragraph very focused on the sensory elements she experienced which also transported her readers into that experience as well. She focused on what she saw, heard, and felt mixing the actual happenings of the performance with what she was expecting and how she reacted as a result. She followed a logical chronology of the show as she commented on it which made it easy to understand regardless of whether or not you had actually been present at the performance. She did an excellent job of comparing what things changed and what remained constant throughout the performance commenting on things such as the number of dancers on stage, the tone of the piece at different times, and how the dancers seemed to interact with one another. I really liked how she chose to comment on the finality of the piece based on the final number selected and how/when in the song “Say Something” the final dancers left the stage. She clearly payed attention to the performance, and was thoughtful in how she recorded her reactions to the piece both in detail and as a whole.

When we first sat down in the theatre the dancers were already placed and although the stage was dark we could partially hear and see them stomping rhythmically. This didn’t strike me as out of the ordinary being that I have been in several performances where the stage is “pre-set” with actors/dancers as the audience enters the performance space.It did surprise me when I later marveled at the sheer duration of their performance and physicality because for them the show didn’t start at 7:40 when we finally found our seats and got quite. The performance started for them ten or twenty minutes before we even realized it had begun. These dancers have an incredible level of endurance maintaining nearly constant motion for upwards of two hours. The were jumping and swinging and exploding from lunged positions to standing within seconds. Also, much of the traveling across the stage was done during their rhythmic sequences of hand/foot/leg slapping and therefore was accomplished by long single-footed hops spanning several feet at a time. These dancers if nothing else are incredible athletes and their endurance and physicality deserve copious recognition.

There was an interesting contrast between conformity and independence in the piece as well. The dances were very rhythmic and repetitive creating a sense of unity and order among the dancers even if they were doing the motions in a cannon or facing different directions. But if one dancer introduced a variation to the set of steps they were looked at strangely, and it often took several counts of this new motion before anyone decided to follow the “trend-setter.” They spent the entire performance both acting and reacting to their fellow dancers in a way that was both unified and independent. They all wanted to do what the group did and have the group do what they did, but when these two actions conflicted they were forced to either stick to their convictions and continue dancing unlike their partners, or stop their introduced variation and either return to the sequence everyone else was doing or stop dancing all together.

Sitting in the front row gave us a really interesting perspective on the performance. The dancers allotted the majority of their eye contact to one another, constantly looking at their partners to make sure they remain in sync as well as pick up on any various or introduced choreography. But the time they did spend looking at the audience was almost entirely over our heads. We were sitting at stage level and because they were standing they looked over us into the rows higher and further back almost exclusively. This enhanced my feeling of looking in on the performance. We made very few connections with the performers and they had such strong connections with one another that it was a very unique experience to be able to watch their interactions and not necessarily feel like I was connected to or part of the performance. I loved how much they seemed to enjoy dancing, frequently smiling and laughing as they looked at one another. It seemed completely authentic and I felt myself smiling as well. I found a lot of joy in feeling like I knew they loved what they were doing and loved doing it together. Their level of sync and connection with one another could not be achieved without a certain level of trust and mutual friendship. The level of physical endurance this performance took required them to work together and feed of each other’s energy- a goal that could not have been accomplished if they didn’t really enjoy dancing together.