Merce!

Well, I got to see the Merce Cunningham Dance Company on Friday night which was awesome. His style of choreography is so different from the style I like to perform (not to mention the fact that I most likely could never dance with such extreme technical precision!) Maybe part of it is that I know when I watch a Cunningham piece I don't have to concern myself with interpreting a meaning or a concept but rather I can enjoy the movement for movement's sake. I love the randomness of his work and the way he music and sets he uses seem to float in and out of the choreography but never overshadow it. Plus it doesn't hurt that his dancers are so detailed and precise with their movements that it makes me insane with jealousy. I've always been involved in dance pieces where the choreography is very passionate and theme-oriented so it's so interesting to see dancers that move with such efficiency yet also remain so detached. I tend to get very involved and attached to choreogrpahy when I'm dancing where Merce's dancers keep their distance.

I also got great amusement out of listening to someone sitting nearby get completely frustrated with the performance. Apparently she came with a friend and I got to listen to her complain about what is and isn't art all through the intermission. I believe she likened modern dance to "eating boogers": meaning that just because a room full of pretentious people say that something is good art doesn't make it true. I found that tidbit quite hilarious. Color me pretentious I guess... :-)