Yesterday, Moulsari and I went to see a dance performance by the Bill T. Jones Dance Company. Moulsari had worked on their identity design when she was still in New York and managed to snag some complimentary tickets for the two of us.
The performance was a blend of image, poetry, music and a hefty dose of modern dance. It was called Blind Date, and it was commentary and criticism on the war in Iraq, patriotism and identity. For long afterwards, Moulsari and I were discussing the medium of dance as a way to convey a message, and stimulate thought on the subject of, and relationship relationship between, patriotism and identity.
My big gripe is that I think dance is a really shitty medium to convey a message in. If you have a message, than choosing dance to convey it is a deliberate obfuscation, or rather, adding unnecessary noise on the line. So, while I sat there trying to figure out what was going on, I kind of felt a little inadequate, since I simply didn’t get it all. My mind was racing in a million different directions, and with the context being as limited as it was, I came to a million different conclusions, and none of them seemed right (or wrong.) Moulsari assured me that there were no right answers or interpretations, and that just doesn’t go down well with me.
In the end, I enjoyed the grace, control and physical acts of the dancers termendously. I also liked some of the poetry and song. The music was pretty good at times. All in all I liked it.
I disagree. Dance is as good a medium to convey a message as any. Of course, you won’t get it “word by word” then, but sometimes it’s even more powerful when certain things are being left to your imagination. It did get you thinking, right?
Yeah, but not about the message of the piece, but about the way in which they were conveying their message.
Nay, first you thought about the message. While sitting there and trying to figure it out. You came up with “million different conclusions” – I’d say that was some hard thinking being done. Only in conversations later on did you start discussing the medium itself. From what I read, that is.
While it made me think, the message of the piece was still a complete mystery (“million different conclusions”), so what’s the point of making me think? So if they made me think of my grocery list, would that be a small victory for them, simply because they made me think? I don’t think so, but that might just be me. :)
If they wanted you to think at the given moment about your grocery list (however hard the connection thereof to the war in Iraq might be unless you put on your grocery list things like UZI), and you did – they totally win! :)
Wild guess here: you were bringing up all the connections between patriotism and identity you could think of and trying to see them in the moves before you. Isn’t it what they wanted to convey? Sure it would depend on an individual and his/her intellectual capabilities with what they will come up with, but they do make you think about what they want you to think. Dance rocks! :D
Thanks for reinforcing my argument a little bit, there! :D
Did it get through, though? :D
Yeah… not so sure about that. But hey, two sounds better than one!