Best performance thus far...

20-06-2006 What a date to watch an almost perfect dance concert...

Thorougly amazed by the choreography, the techniques and totally moved by the music to the point of tears.. But this triple bill has a deeper signifiance.. .. the meaning behind each dance is so subjective. I was beside my dance instructress who told me that the beauty of dance is in how the audience view the meaning... there's no fixed meaning behind each dance... it all depends on how you interpret it and how you are moved by it..

Similarly, life is like that... There's no fixed rule... you just go with the flow.. and interpret what happens in your life as it unfolds.. no point over planning.. no point being bothered by what others say.. some people jus thrive on other's pain...

After each dance, my laoshi n I got into a mini discussion abt the dance.. here's our take on it...

#1 Bella Figura

This piece moved me so much esp the part where the two 'bella figura' (beautiful figures) were seemingly so near yet so far... two figures in their truest and barest form.. face to face.. hands almost touching each other.. yet the avoiding the touch through the undulating curves of their bodies and the sinuous arcs of their arm and torso movements. .. perfect balance.. strong emotions..

#2 Safe as Houses

Best dance performance I've ever seen thus far... It's almost magical.. sets, props, music, costume, and essentially the dance.. the movements..

Can't construct any meaning out of it.. all I could think of was how amazing this piece was as I sat in amazement figuring out how the dancers disappeared behind the 'rotating wall'. It had a 'Matrix' feel to it.. almost surreal too.. I was simply so excited about this and yet all I got was 'Ya Nice'.... Maybe it's just that simple.. It's simply nice.. There's nothing more to say...

#3 Walking Mad

Was tired by the time it reached the third piece... Luckily, this piece was rather entertaining at the beginning.. but in a similar fashion, the joy n fun seem to be just a facade.. behind that energy at the beginning... we slowly see heartaches being revealed.. couldn't make out the meaning behind the ending.. where the man jumps off fr the fence..

*updated 27 jun... The news review (Straits Times 22 Jun 2006 LIFE pg 6) mentioned that "in its last scene, there was a stand-off between the female and male dancer - a salient shorthand for the tight rope of our sanity. The man wound himself around the resistant woman, at times laying his head upon her feet and at others encircling her head and neck with his arms. Dinally he stopped, scrabbled dejectedly up the fence and leapt off into the abyss.. " ~ too profound.. still don't understand...

Whatever it is, this is the best dance concert I've seen thus far. If Nederlands Dans Theater 1 ever comes to Singapore again, I'm sure to watch their performance. And if I were to visit my sis in Netherlands next yr, I'll make sure I catch them there as well.

Photographs by John Ross