To review a dance as a once-professional-dancer-aspirer is tricky business. On one hand, while my wonky spine, full legs and hips, and lack of dedication prevented me from moving too far down the path of a professional dancer, I still gained some semblance of dance literacy. On the other hand, the many years since I danced have left the art form more mysterious than known. Thus, I approach dance with a love and a reverence, rather than a scientific scrutiny.
As a non-expert, I measure the success of a dance by two very unscientific measures. One: does it get me out of my head? And the second: my gut reaction. In my opinion, a good dance is transportive and transcendent—it forces me to leave my ruminating mind and shifting body. As a viewer, I become utterly absorbed in the world, myths, rhythms, and narratives of the dance. The music supports, but does not overshadow the dance. The dance seems to breathe, to reverberate, to fill every corner of the space. That’s a good dance.
And there were two such performances in Accelerate: Pedal to the Metal, the New Movement Project’s Fall Concert at Northwestern University. Accelerate: Pedal to the Metal included seven dances in total, each choreographed and performed by students. Of the seven dances, most of them were “just fine.” They were neither offense nor outstanding. In short, they were pleasant.
As the program explained: “This year’s Fall Dance Concert, produced by the Dance Program’s student-led New Movement Project, features unique explorations of change and movement, with choreographers pushing familiar dance elements to new heights.” Each dance in the series blended a variety of traditional dance movement patterns, to varying degrees of success.
The first two dances included a light playfulness—one included a mix of vaudevillian humor played out in the creation of a four-legged animal with the bodies of two dancers with crooning, sensuous sways and the second included a cheeky mini-play that tied together an enthusiastic tap performance. Then, there were a series of interesting dances. Many used pairings and rhyming sequences, exploring the boundaries between dancers when they were in synchronicity and when they were deliberately in juxtaposition.
Two dances broke out of this realm of pleasantries.
The first of these performances, entitled SHIFT, began with pulsing lights. And then, Ta-Ku’s “We Were in Love” began to fill the space, its rhythmic, pulsating breaths punctuating the room. In the brief moments of light, the audience catches a glimpse of a dancer in the back right corner, standing utterly still. Then as the music starts building the lights come on and the dancer moves towards the front of the stage with a mix of machine-like repetition and fluid, supple body rolling. When she reaches about halfway through the stage, another dancer appears, joining in the first dancer’s sequence. Then a third dancer appears from behind the side-curtains. Throughout the rest of the dance, these three dancers, all dressed in various shades of grey, come together in moments of robotic synchronicity and then fragment, riff, and rhyme with each other. In the blackout that marked the end of the performance, the audience cooed signs of approval.
The second stand-out performance, entitled REDUCE, RECOVER, involved just two dancers. While it began with music reminiscent of the Downton Abbey soundtrack, it evolved into an elegant and chilling narrative. Via concentric-circle walks and the manipulation of objects, one dancer infiltrates the other’s safe space. Then, the dominant dancer begins to manipulate the second dancer’s body. Then, shaking rhythmically to the beat, the second dancer fights back, until she returns to a place of strength—sitting in the spotlight staring back at the audience. The power of the dance was heard after the lights went out. A woman next to me exhaled loudly, while others made similar sounds of cathartic release.
In the end, watching one dance after another, it became clear: you can’t fake good dance. I believe that you can fake good art—not great art, but good art. There are a variety of tricks that add superficial layers to an object. But, for better or worse, you cannot fake good dance. A dance unfolds right in front of the viewer—we catch every movement, from a fumbled step to an elegant flick of the wrist. The so-so dances did not have anything particularly bad or offensive about them. But they lacked a certain je ne sais quoi, an element of catharsis and reverberation—the sense that everything is locked into place, like the transcendence that occurs when disparate voices come together in a perfect harmonious note—the kind of experience that unites the audience with the dance and to which there is truly only one satisfying response after it releases us from its hold: a sound of release. Oh, and a bit of applause.
602 Comments
Though you seem to doubt your expertise in judging dance, after reading this review, it is clear that you have a keen eye for the art form. You validated your “gut reactions” well with fantastic descriptions of the dances you felt were good. I was interested in how you argue it is easier to “fake” good art than it is to “fake” good dance. If art only appears good, is it not actually good? I think what you are saying is that conceptual art can maintain a sort of distance that preserves the possibility that it might be truly good, while dance requires live, moving bodies that are nearby and thus easier to scrutinize. Interesting. Anyway, if the converse of that old adage is true, and writing about dance is like making music about architecture, then I’d say you wrote a pretty good song!
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Beginning your review with your personal connection to the art form gave the rest of the piece an understand that it wouldn’t have otherwise had. I was interested in your two criteria for good dance, especially as the first one comes into contact with the practice of writing critiques; how are you expected to be truly out of your head when watching the dance if you have to constantly note what you’re seeing, its merit, how it’s making you feel, and how it logically relates to its setting? With other forms of criticism, we are able to do this on the second go-round, for example by listening to an album all the way through for a more visceral reaction then listening again, more technically. Maybe this just means that critiquing one-time performances requires more skill. Either way, you’ve done a great job of vividly describing the scene and using the audience’s reactions to judge how effective the piece was. I would’ve loved to hear more about your reactions, but I understand how hard that is while trying to write a critique. Great work!
This is a fantastic and insightful review! Your personal connection sets the stage for a thoughtful analysis.
Strengths of the Analysis:
Personal Connection as Strength: You acknowledge the effectiveness of “beginning the review with your personal connection” to dance. This creates a strong foundation for the analysis.
Two Criteria for Good Dance: You show interest in the writer’s “two criteria for good dance”. Highlighting the “out of your head” aspect is particularly insightful.
Challenge of Live Critique: You effectively raise the challenge of “being out of your head” while “critiquing” a “one-time performance”. This is a crucial point in dance critique.
Comparison to Other Art Forms: The “comparison to other forms of criticism” like music reviews is a great point. It highlights the unique challenges of dance critique.
Effective Techniques: You commend the writer for “vividly describing the scene” and using “audience reactions” to judge effectiveness. These are strong analytical techniques.
Balancing Act: You acknowledge the “challenge” of including personal reactions while critiquing. This demonstrates your understanding of the writing process.
Overall, your comment is insightful and engaging. It highlights the effectiveness of the personal connection, the thought-provoking criteria, the exploration of critique challenges, the use of strong techniques, and your understanding of the balancing act involved in dance critique
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Hi Julia-
Thank you for sharing the experience 🙂
Your opening paragraph reminds me of a question that constantly comes up when I look at pieces of art: how much should we look at it technically/analytically, and how much should we just emerge ourselves into it, and “feel” it, especially when you have professional knowledge/language to describe and think of the art.
I agree that dance (or other performance art) has this quality that pushes us more to the intuitive side, since we have to be in the moment in order to grasp it more fully, and as you point out, have that “je ne sais quoi.” I think that might have something to do with the life/liveliness in the piece, which one cannot fake.
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When one’s history involves aspirations to be a professional dancer, it can be challenging to provide an objective analysis of a dance word finder.
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