Clark won praise for the ways he's incorporated punk culture into his eclectic vocabulary. His choice of music reflects his love of rock, particularly '70s rock. The audience was warned Saturday night that the music would be very loud on the second half. It was, particularly the throbbing bass, but wasn't a problem.
4 comments:
I do get a sense that this performance strived to be unique and innovative, but I do no think the article did a very good job of describing what exactly is so special about the piece. Perhaps is is because there is so much going on in the performance that is becomes hard to explain, but there seemed to be many contradictions amongst the descriptions, which leads me to believe that the author either did not do proficient research or did not full understand the performance. For example, the article praises Clark's use of punk culture in his work, but then later goes on to say he used mainly 70's rock the music of David Bowie, and if you've seen Labyrinth, you know that Bowie’s aesthetic is about as far from punk as you can get. The article did attempt to draw the audience in with intriguing descriptions such as "a chair into which a dancer wraps himself" and “the dancers performance with exuberance before an attractive green back wall.” Descriptors like this were interesting, but did nothing to make me understand the goal or aesthetic of the performance. All in all, I think the article was unsuccessful in giving me a picture, positive or negative, of the performance, however it did interest me enough to research the choreographer further, and his website is actually pretty cool. http://www.michaelclarkcompany.com/productions.php
I agree with Anna in her evaluation of the article's lacking descriptions. The show itself really interests me, because although my knowledge of it is very limited, I have always found modern dance exciting to watch. One thing that stood out to me is the warning that the audience received on Saturday night about the very loud music, as it isn't something I would necessarily consider at a dance performance. This demonstrates the opportunities that arise when classical art forms, in this case classic ballet, are combined with contemporary styles. Generally, the author seemed to be praising the performance, aside from his feelings that the show was receptive. He didn't give much of an explanation as to what about the performance he found to be repetitive, addressing it only for two sentences. And yet, apparently this had such an impact on his experience that he mentioned it in the title of the article. I would be interested to read a better developed article about this performance and would especially be interested to see the piece performed.
Having no context before reading this article at all, I find is encouraging that some is successfully combining modern music with traditional dance. Personally feel ballet is a older form of dance, kind of like "classical music". I could be completely wrong but that is my perception of it anyway.
I am glad the show was well received and hopefully continues to be a success. Maybe doing more joint ventures such as this dance company and groups like Trans Siberia Orchestra people can grow an appreciation for the classical as well as the modern. Thinking of the green page article recently about the importance of Orchestra in culture and how it is dieing. So hopefully this would inspire some people to take up dance, which feels like to more much more competitive then professional sports. Either way glad people enjoyed it.
Trying to imagine what a performance was like by reading the reviews is always an odd sort of experience, especially when the show was so based in movement and visually reliant. The review can say that the performance was as repetitive as he wants, but that could mean a multitude of different things unless I've also seen what he has. Anyway, the concept behind Clark's choreography sounds really cool, and I would love to be able to see what it is that Mark Kanny is talking about. I did think it was interesting that he said there was not as much of an emotional connection to the performance, given that the music choice was such a big part of the show -- I've always found that music is often the biggest factor in creating an emotional piece.
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