Thoughts on a Dance Concert in Time of War
"I think my generation lacks the quiet imperative. I think we absolutely thrive on melodrama." — Tania Isaac, Stuporwoman
"I love this piece," said the light board op. "It’s one that I really want to see again and again."
"Really?" came the voice of one of the stage hands. "See, I like it because it’s a piece I’d love to dance in."
Both of them are undergrads at the University of Wisconsin here in Madison, and they’re part of my crew as I stage manage the 80th Anniversary Gala. The gem of the concert is Tania Isaac, whom I’ve raved about here before, but really, the concert is unusually strong in its offerings, ranging from the disturbing and existential "Cassandra’s Cry" (choreographed by Lisa Thurell of Kanopy Dance) to the absolutely delightful absurdist piece by a Minnesota choreographer (and UW Alum) called "Deja Trois". Tania shows off her choreographic mien with "Standpipe", a piece full of both gentle undulation and frenetic desperation, which features her own voice and writing. This is also a part of her piece "Stuporwoman", which I would call a commentary on our generation’s multitasking imperative if it wouldn’t be a disservice to what is actually simply a beautiful and meaningful dancework.
"As your brain implodes, you realize what it is you don’t know. They don’t teach you how to stop, change, slow down, brake, balance, and stop feeling like no matter how you choose you’re making the wrong choices."– Tania Isaac
But what really strikes me about this concert is the feeling, overall. I’ve been dancing and working in University concerts since the mid-90’s. I don’t remember one with this much feeling of general sorrow, of mourning, of frustrated impotent sadness. Perhaps I’m projecting, or simply reading too much into the very direct subject of the anti-war "Cindy" (by Claudia Melrose and danced virtuosically by Karen McShane-Hellenbrand) and letting it spill into the other pieces…but really, it seems that the general feeling of our country has permeated the art I’m seeing produced here by choreographers returning to their roots for "celebration".
It’s not a bad thing. In fact, I think it lends a strength to the entire concert, even in light an joyful pieces like "Bench Blast" a bright and pastel romp like the Electric Company and a belief in goodness that seems so…70’s. But the final piece, "Aya", by Chris Walker, brings it all together, with an opening that is an allegory of connection and helping each other cope with fear and sadness, and ends with a celebration of spinning color and happy joy of the "batty bounce". The dancers in that final piece took the energy and pushed it out to the audience and I swear the place just glowed. The art that night had a healing role that I don’t see enough of in the theatre, and I suspect that everyone left feeling just a little better about a world where such creations of movement and light could exist.
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