Modern Love for Modern Dance

0 CommentsMonday • June 13, 2011 • by Imei

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Every so often, I catch a kid playing with his mobile device or gameboy during one of my dance shows. I don’t blame him. The games are captivating, give players thousands of points, and have no “down time”. Dance shows in family-friendly restaurants have moments where you can’t see the stage from every seat in the house, and there’s no giant screen with multiple cameras making it possible to catch every movement. How can I compete with a game console? But if you haven’t noticed, Seattle is a mecca for theaters, and we’re gaining the reputation as a city for live performance art, concerts, and shows. Maybe all we really need to learn is how to show some modern love for modern dance.

Where (And When) It’s At
Some of the best dance I seen around town is happening at the Seattle International Dance Festival and On The Boards. With the SIDF, performances have been taking place in the South Lake Union neighborhood and streetcar (SLUT), and Cornish School For The Arts’ Raisebeck Hall. The SIDF continues through June 19, 2011. Weeklong workshops for the public are happening now, and the above link includes location information. On the Boards happens in an intimate theater on Queen Anne Hill (right near The Sitting Room).

Money’s Not The Issue
One can’t argue that money is keeping anyone from attending these dance and theater performances. On The Boards early subscriptions drop ticket prices to nearly $10 a ticket, and even if you don’t get in on it early, regular priced tickets are $14.

Dance Theater Is Action Packed
If you haven’t attended a dance performance in ages, you’re really missing out. Modern dance performances are action packed, with story lines, costuming and lighting, athleticism, props, and challenging music.

The complaint I hear from some people is that going to a movie is more entertaining; movies have special effects and multi-million dollar bells and whistles. The beauty of live performance is getting all your effects and bells and whistles without editing. You hear the squeak of bare feet against floor, you see the coordination of dancers in flight and crisp turns, and there is no room for mistakes. It is 3-D without silly glasses and headaches. Every time I see live dance performances, I feel like I’m walking away with a steal. The value of the time spent watching such strength, creativity, and beauty in dances makes me wonder how others live without it.

Butoh, I Think I Love You
I’ve shared with you my recent attention towards Butoh, a form of contemporary dance in Japan that came as a reaction against imitating modern dance of the West and Noh dance in the East. The SIDF featured Katsura Kan (from Kyoto, Japan) in a duet performance as well as a collaboration with Khambatta Dance Company. Butoh is usually performed with a mostly unclothed body dusted with white powder, and involves the artist’s exertion of hyper control over minimal movement.

Butoh can be fused with other forms of dance to create new styles of storytelling and expression. The few times I have ever seen Butoh performed in Seattle, I’ve been deeply impressed. But this time I got thrown for a loop: did you know that Seattle has a Butoh Festival? It’s no coincidence, but the Seattle Butoh Festival runs the same time as the SIDF, and I’ve been fortunate to catch some of these performances.

It’s not too late to catch the action if you live in Seattle. If you don’t, I highly recommend researching where you can find Butoh performances in your city. No matter what your artistic bent, Butoh has something to speak to you about timing, rhythm, space, silence, waiting, joy, starkness, and darkness.

Do Men Dream Of Flesh-Colored Tights?
Clearly, dance gets a bad rap from heterosexual men. We’re past the generation where dance was your only hope of getting women to pay attention to you. Now men have social lubricants like alcohol, cooking, and money to try to impress women. Now, I never say no to a man and his cooking; a man who can cook makes me activate my rubberneck in traffic! But a man who invites me to see a dance performance? Very hawt.

Honestly, most of the dance performances I attend are full of women (many who are present or former dancers), patrons of the arts (in their 50′s, 60′s, and 70′s), and gay men (who are lusting after the male dancer’s physiques as much as I am drooling over the female dancer’s core and leg strength. [Meow meow]. I have to side with the gay men; they have good taste in art. The human body is a poem, and dance is poetry in motion. Thomas Dolby wasn’t the only one who figured that out. If your date is particularly jealous, think if it as the only time you are sanctioned to watch women and men gyrate on a stage with tight-fitting clothing on, and you’ll get thanked and appreciated for it. [WIN].

So here’s a word to the men out there: you don’t need Groupon to take your date, girlfriend, or spouse to a dance performance, nor do you have to plan well ahead of time for a great parking space. Many dance theaters are small, and every seat in the house is good. The event venues don’t require a lot of parking, unlike a baseball game or soccer game. Save the Groupon for your meal or drinks later. You don’t have to trip over your feet to impress her with dance. Just Google for your city’s well-reviewed dance companies and theaters. While you get kudos for taking her to a dance performance, you can educate yourself with music and movement, and figure out your next suave move to sweep her off her feet. [Yow].

Psst: If you live in Seattle, you might want to check out Donald Byrd (choreographer for Spectrum Dance) in a rare solo performance as part of the SIDF. [Woot!].

Posted in: dance, modern dance, music, Seattle

Tagged with: dance, dance appreciation, men and dance, modern dance, money and dance, On the Boards, Seattle International Dance Festival