Jesus Christ. I just got an email from a dance space here about a new work coming up soon. It's by a certain choreographer whose work I can't stand. Granted I've only seen one of his pieces but I so vehemently hated it that I can't even think about seeing something of his again. I can't stress enough how unpleasant an evening that was. Here's a blurb from the email about the new piece, undoubtedly written by the choreographer himself. The piece is called Everyone.
Everyone is about the world right now and right now and right now. Nothing is interesting. Everything is interesting. This is a huge failure. Nothing works. Nothing is going anywhere. There is nowhere to go. Everything is perfect. Everything is a perfect mess. I know now. I know who this is for. This is for us. This is for me. This is for everyone.
Don't you want to go? Doesn't it sound like a lot of thought was put into this piece? Doesn't that make you think it won't be a complete waste of time?
"This is a huge failure." Thanks for the warning. How considerate.
Even if I didn't already have opinions about this choreographer I still wouldn't be interested in this show. This blurb encapsulates much that I dislike about "progressive" contemporary dance. There's this kind of blase attitude infecting the dance scene where shows no longer have to have any sort of entertainment value but can merely exist as the creators' exploration of themselves. Cohesive themes? Who needs 'em! I'm certainly not saying that all theater must only be entertainment, that usually ends up being awful. But the beauty of art is that it can be entertaining and educational, often in unexpected and unique ways.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
why oh why?
4 comments:
Seeing how you have been running into some strange and pretty self-diluted art, you should do a performance piece about strange and self-diluted art. You can call it "Nothing...and everything"
I agree that most artists severely overestimate how interesting their personal revelations are to other people. Although I like storytellers and writers who use memoir...I don't know. Maybe it's better to make art about your journey and questions rather than about the vague conclusions you draw. This is for you, ipj. This is for no one. This is emptiness.
Well, I can tell you that I'll be hearing a lot about this performance, as it is taking place at the place where I intern. I'll be sure to give you updates regularly.
Can I just say, therapy is very important and very valuable, but you DO NOT CHARGE MONEY FOR STRANGERS TO WATCH IT. Here's a clue of how unpleasant it was - we could barely speak afterward, even to bitch about its terribleness (and when we did I couldn't keep my voice down), you had a minor argument about it with my roommate afterward, because she liked it (and yeah in that case her opinion WAS wrong), and we couldn't keep the hateful disdain from our faces during the show--though you did better than I--even when the performers were about 7 feet away and looking directly at us.
Fuck. the only reason I would see this person's work again is if there's a whole lot more self-inflicted pain involved. S/he won't be getting away with just candle flames again.
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