We Have Been There (Cloud in Hand)
I thought going to see Footnote Forte would be an enjoyable experience as I have a background in music and dance.
The stage was empty which gave an atmosphere of being closer to the dancers as there was nothing to distract from watching them.
The first ‘dance’ began with music that sounded like an untuned radio. Noise. There were long periods of silence. The dancers walked in one at a time to this music and formed poses. Many of these poses were simple, every day stances but others looked awkward and alien-like (think arching back, bending arms around the wrong way and creating claw like hands). As the performance developed there was some more synchronised movement where the positions flowed together and times when the dancers grouped together to wrap their arms around each other whilst moving in an often unnatural way.
Lisa Densem mentions in the program that they are aiming to create a ‘state of heightened "attention" that can occur while dancing, improvising or performing’. She also points out that the way in which the ‘performer perceives and responds to the action around them’ creates a ‘charged space’ that can be experienced by the dancer performing and the audience watching. As an audience member I felt confused and awkward; I was on edge and uncomfortable the whole time.
Maybe I'm just uncultured, or I don't get it but after half an hour I decided to leave rather than stay and continue to experience what I was feeling at the time. I appreciate dance is a form of art, but unfortunately this style of dance was not my cup of tea. I can only hope that the performance developed as it went on, and that the majority of the audience enjoyed their experience.
Footnote Forte Cloud in Hand 7&8 March 2013 8.00pm
Wellington Opera House
Choregraphic direction – Lisa Densem
Choreographic assistant – Melanie Hamilton
Performance and Choreography – Lucy Marinkovich, Manu Reynaud, Emily Adams, Olivia McGregor, Alice Macann, Levi Cameron
Music – Andrew Thomas
No comments:
Post a Comment