More Dance

I used to hate modern dance. Well, dislike it. And ballet. There seemed to be a lot of pretense and silliness associated with it. An over-seriousness. I remember seeing a movie, or more accurately a part of a movie, Indian Summer, which I had to stop watching simply because I couldn't deal with what I felt was ridiculous whining -- oh my lithe body's breaking down!!! (In retrospect, my assessment seems very harsh and a bit disrespectful towards a film that came at the tail end of the AIDS crisis.)

The costumes didn't help, either:

Then a friend told me she was going to Mark Morris, and I said, "oh I don't like modern dance," and she said, "no, you just haven't seen good modern dance." And she was right.

Years later, I can reflect on this, and be amazed how my perspective has changed. During the opening night performance of Emanuel Gat's performance of K626 at the Joyce, there was a moment of such immense beauty, as 8 dancers transitioned from chaotic individualistic movements into synchronicity just as the chorus of Mozart's Requiem began intoning the mournful first words "Requiem..." that I spontaneously started to cry.

There is still bad dance out there, I am now just able to differentiate. Or a least I have an opinion. Not all of Emanuel Gat's K626 was successful - at one point it meandered and lost my attention - but overall I was impressed by the choreography and the dancing and I would see the company again.

I, ahem, even liked the costumes.