May 4, 2006

Meg Stuart @ DTW: maybe it had something to do with the fact that I pitched in to unload the massive truck that carried the thing, or maybe it was the 90 long minutes of standing room goodness, but I gotta say: the scenery completely stole the show. About an hour in, I realized that (a) my back was killing me and (b) I'd been so transfixed by the undulating brown fur that most of the dancing crept by unnoticed. And because the character relationships were deliberately vague, and because it lacked the other building blocks of a consistent imaginary world (you can make a good argument for the "empty stage" convention in dance) I was unable to see past the overwhelming specificity of the set. And of course, its size. That fucker was big. And it told a story of its own. The set was so imbued with its own internal logic, its own meaning, that as a spectator it was more or less impossible to invest it with your own. You couldn't read into it, you couldn't flip it on its head. That said, I was happy to see a dance piece engage theatrical conventions in an informed and skillful way. 'Cause I've been missing that a lot these days. At the very least, it was a masterful design. And the performer's use of conversational dialogue displayed a respect for and facility with theatrical & performance art conventions. Why is this surprising? Maybe it's my own naivete around this subject, but in my limited experience most dance artists seem to think that theater acting technique is easily acquired because it isn't always rigorously physical (Ursula is a refreshing exception to this "rule" I suppose). They also tend to co-opt old hat theatrical conventions in a really glib way, because they think it's innovative - and they think this only because they can't bear the inconvenience of of looking outside the boundaries of their own discipline and are loathe to acknowledging their forebears. I know, I know - let the sweeping generalizations commence. And who am I to judge. Now: I know nothing about Meg Stuart or her work beyond this particular show, but in my opinion the theatrical conceits she put into motion were well executed and well earned. There were 2 or 3 images in there that made the whole thing worthwhile. And of course, that music - holy shit. That guy Hahn Rowe must be from another planet or something. Really really great.

There's a really long conversation to be had on the relationship between the dance and theater worlds, and this seemingly willful distancing that happens. But I'm too tired for that now, and besides, it's nothing we don't already know.

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