Rite of Spring

Last night after DDE auditions, Mary Chris, Brian, Pavel, Meryl and I attended the Rite of Spring by the Marie Chouinard Company. I had no idea what to expect, other than it was very avant guarde and some of the dancers had been in Cirque du Soliel. It began with stage covered in little yellow curved horns that were sticking out from the floor. Dancers began to emerge, making animal-like movements, to the first "music" piece, which was a recording of someone writing frantically on a chalkboard, then erasing and starting over. This part was conceptually interesting (although the chalkboard noises were unnerving at some points) because it really gave me the sense of life being created in this jungle of horns, of the creator messing up, and beginning again. The movement was unique and captivating, and accentuated by the fact that the dancers, both male and female, were wearing only black shorts and were otherwise naked from the waist up. Interestingly, the nudity made the entire cast appear androgynous; half the time I wasn't always sure who was male and who was female (let's face it, dancers aren't known for their boobs) which added to the animal like state. Also, it gave the audience an unusual view of the human torso which allowed them to fully appreciate the movement. Even when everyone was facing away, lying on the floor, it was awesome to see the individual vertebra snaking down their spines, and watch their ribs expand as they breathed. I also liked, at the end of the first piece, how each dancer proudly presented themselves to the audience, as if to say, "I am a new being, and I'm here, so look at me." I was in the front, row, and was captivated by their eyes in that moment. They were so wide, commanding, and joyous.

The second half was less storylike, performed to "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky. I felt that in this piece, the dancers represented the actual sound of the orchestra more, interpreting it almost as a dance version of the movie Fantasia. My opinions on this were mixed; there were individual elements I absolutely loved, and things I felt were useless. For instance, my favorite part occurred during the most famous musical section of Rite, that scary staccato horn part that's in all cartoons. During that, a solo performer danced in a center spot, and in the background a male dancer with long hair thrashed around to the music like the Incredible Hulk. That was awesome. There were also moments that felt emotionally beautiful, in which the music and movement came together in that unspeakable way, such as when the entire company curved downward during a cymbal crash. Also, there was a section were everyone ran in place in a highly stylized manner, as if they were moving cave paintings, which was very effective. Finally, the use of props was beautiful for the most part; they used the horns to make all sorts of amazing images.

However, it wasn't consistently great, nor did it have any sense of build to it. I hated a lot of the random kung-fu like movement; it took me out of the animalistic theme and brought me into a conscious action technique which seemed out of place. I think the movement was much more successful when it remained organic and stylized. Putting in recognizable Jackie Chan moves brought me out of the piece. Also, the horns were used incredibly until they started holding one on their heads and one on their pubic bones, simulating penises. That was way too predictable and easy, in my opinion. They had done some unique representations of carnal sex at other points in the piece which I liked, but that was just dumb. It was like they sat down and thought, "Oh I know! These horns look like dicks!" Well, DUH. If you had given one to a 5 year old that's probably the first thing they would have done with it. I remember kids doing that with hot dogs in the first grade. So that was uninspired. I also thought the entire thing lacked a sense of build which it would have benefited from. It was long, but it cut off and was suddenly over. I know that avant guarde works tend to be non-linear that way, but I think it had the potential to be a really moving piece and it wasn't.

All and all, very cool, and worth seeing from a creative point of view. I think the old people sitting behind me were horrified, but they aren't dancers I guess. Worth checking out if you don't mind not getting it.