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Re: “White Bird Dance presents: Hofesh Shechter”
I write from a somewhat privileged position of having studied much the same as M. Shechter and also having a great deal of exposure to most forms of western dance, as audience, student, dancer, teacher and choreographer. However, this is neither about me, nor about the many grammatically questionable phrase that may come tumbling out of my word processor as i hurry to write of the topical and remain in the nearness of time to an event some readers may have an interest in-
That this was a powerful piece, there is no doubt. That it could have been more meaningfully directed, there is no less doubt in my mind. While the movement is inventive, the piece was long enough for said movement/phrases to be re-invented several times, thus, rather than relying on what initially bursts forth to convey by repetition a sense of development, that we experience a transformation of the movement and the progress of its various meanings, to some endpoint. It may be that i expect some dramatic movement through the piece as a whole, and i think it was set up for that, but did not achieve the sort of progress, intellectual progress, that the mind desires, indeed for some of us, we crave it - for this was a dramatic situation, but dramatic phrases repeated is more like a chorus than a leading character - so, are we in a time of the chorus as our driving force? or do we produce leaders to guide us though our mistakes toward a new dawn, rather than another dawn, which always arrives on its own, whether we are here or not? Theatre is, and always is, a story of us in the world, dually - The moon will always come and go, but the suddenness of human active presence - this is the story of us, and this is what we learn from and form our character through - the moon will always come back, no matter how lazy we are - this could also be our story - but not a very hopeful one.
Some greater message is the duty of higher art. It is for drugs and pop culture to lull us with mere spectacle. M. Shechter is still young, and hopefully as he matures he will struggle mightily with questions greater than which movement comes after which, and rather gain more sensitivity to which meaning arises from that which comes before it, is demanded by that which comes after it - thus as an artist, an educator of the sensibilities, he may guide us along a part of the path to becoming the greater human, rather than the entertained and pacified human.
Do i fault him? Not much, only that he could be better. Would I go see this same piece again? You bet your old grey donkey i would! Would I say this is a masterpiece? Certainly not. This piece doesn’t hold a candle to great dancetheatre, but is instead up there with Cirque du Soleil, et al. But with our support along the way, and our educated critique, he, and our culture, will continue to grow and mature. Lavish praise for the unripe is no praise at all. Dance is NOT merely entertainment, regardless of what you think of the Nutcracker, sweetie. Dance is a physical language of the heart, soul, mind, spirit; and the body expresses this cogently when it is arrived at this pinnacle, this poetic expression of body/mind. That dance is often pretty as well is merely a byproduct, and not the greater use of this important cultural attribute. Dance IS a language (whether you understand it yet or not), and this artist friend stuttered only a few interesting phrases but did not meaningfully extend them with heart and mind. He is certainly talented and deserves the support he receives, but he needs to continue consideration of life’s greater meaning rather than concentrating so much on the movements of life.
five stars for being young and energetic, two stars as a mature and meaningful artist -
for comparison, someone like B. Spears gets a minus 1000 in both categories -
DY©2009
Recent Comments
Re: “Field Report from the Queer Issue: Radical Faeries.”
it might not be the article, but it is an article, and nothing in it indicates anything more than distaste- for the assignment, for the editor, and really for the effort she has sorta tried to put into it-
some accuracy, eh?
your over-reading hardly correctly places me, but it's nice to know i got under your skin - tight in there isn't it
i did look for some 'cabaret thread', perhaps if you could to be more specific . . .
i might be able to either lampoon or recommend that too
btw how did you manage such a close look at the pubic hair
-and how ashamed of yours are you?
just wanting to know
Re: “Field Report from the Queer Issue: Radical Faeries.”
what a snarky, dismissive, shallow, bigoted, uninformed and uninformative, little piece of gutter-sniping. entertaining as a car wreck or a football game, with it’s commentary and scorekeeping for those who can’t count (and who can, these days?)
Apparently the assignment wasn't up to our author’s whining skills, honed as they are by the writing of . . . what is it she has won awards for? oh, nothing? -hard to believe isn’t it -
The Radical Faeries might not be the center of the mental universe they might like to think they should be, but as far as i know, and i know pretty far, they don't really cast such aspersions, at least in public, upon closed and small-minded nobodies, as our author seems so willing to indulge herself in like bubble-bath and cold duck.
And even while the Faeries work on their own self-worth rather more than their radicalness, perhaps they don't spend nearly enough time cutting down the fools out there who think only their own flavour of saccharine and mapleine is as god wills it - Some just don’t see the satire of Drag, preferring instead the ‘fantasy princess’ rather than a sword wrapped in silk. Well, there is just no accounting for taste - if there were, we’d have some self-control rather than Dream Whip, et al, wouldn’t we.
I do hate to put down a whole city (so I won’t) for one little voice such as our author’s, but my experience here leads me to believe her to be a good fit for waaay too many in this little town - and that is really too bad - Portland as a modern backwater metropolis, the sheen of growth like pond-scum on black-water - maybe those redneck hate mongers really do have a future and welcoming home here - can’t wait for that boot on my neck too- oooo, licky licky
thanks, author, for a really well researched, deeply thoughtful and thought provoking toss-off article - some writers really do reveal more about themselves than they do of their subject, and to be seen as so ungenerous is not really the accomplishment i would have gone for - but then i have an education, one that i sought and cherish, and occasionally flaunt, and i’ve always found more interest in difference, rather than felt threatened by it, and although i know well the feeling of “some things are just beneath me”, as this response surely is, (so i had someone else write it for me, and i just approved it)- so talk to your editor, whine some more, and maybe someday you’ll have that job and the paper will be even more worth burning, i mean recycling, before reading.
OMG can i wait for the whole article to appear
Re: “New Column!”
first, the less than dim-wittedness of it all, from moaning about it afterwards (culpable gullibility), right back to doing it in the first place -
so much less than sophomoric to try to trick someone into revealing what an asshole they are, unless already a public figure- why not leave it to the professionals like, say, Bill Mahr - unoriginal, unprofessional, uncharitable, and pretty much head up the ass - proctology for the masses, anyone? - is that covered by the new 'insurance instead of health' plan, and our author is trying to scam up on the benefits? - hopefully his/her employment is on a volunteer basis and my free time is not being taxed to pay anyone like that
who says civilization is not in steep decline, so why not slide even faster as long as gas prices stay low?
i could go on and on, but i am not not getting paid for this either - send alms to your favorite charity instead
Re: “Savage Love”
most of the letters i see here just have to be made up by drunk/drugged freaks who have no clue, and listen too closely to the various voices in their head-
i wish i had a job doling out advice to the wasted-
- i forgot to include that, if these "dilemmas" are not made up for a lark or a hazing assignment, i want to wear gloves and a surgical mask most everywhere i would go in public
i mean 'ewww!'
most of these symptoms seemed caused by isolation, or having 'parents' instead of a tribe or community - and a healthy dose of republican supported public schools - there is nothing as useful as ignorance or misinformation to put a hex on any good
but since these freaks are out there, and need help, i suppose we might as well have someone trained and empathetic to get them (us) over a hump when it could have been a good fuck
Re: “Bearly Legal”
at last and about time! some real night-life for PDX!
well-fed bears and chastened drunks - who could ask for more?
the taxes this business pays should just about cover the expenses for the building inspection, don't you think?
. . . and that's what you get for living there in the first place
Re: “One Day at a Time”
i am so sorry i read this
i feel dirty and used
Re: “WELCOME TO THE APOCALYPSE!”
one might wonder if this author was writing per a given audience’s expectations, rather than what some public might better chow down upon, our public 'potential, or benefit', as it were -
i mean if those out there on the other side of the page, the the more passive side by convention, the readers, if they/we demonstrated more often our intellectual demands, eventually those who wrote pabulum would be farmed out to the infant and/or senile - and some of us wouldn’t be bored, but others would get ‘left behind’
-and those of substance would flourish among their kind-
aren’t ideals great
with those who believe in zombies and rapturings, it is difficult to reason, having that not in common
there are those who think they could simply close a door and the oncoming -let's say glacial melt- will pass them by, but,
the the winds of dog will come and blow them away and separate them into heaven and hell as sure as the US justice system - and there ain't nothin' you can do about that! -
so you can see the difficulties in presenting reason to that sort of mind
What would a 'really serious' article about the "apocalypse" (the ship Cousteau sailed?) look like, eh?
would it have fold-outs of how the buildings really collapsed and the heavens really opened?
would abandoned underwear be a sign that the rapture was underway?
Then I say - all you who work in multi-story buildings , donate to this worthy cause and throw your underwear out the highest window, let the wind catch it and let it be a sign that the end of the world as we know it has come; let all this liberated underwear be evidence that thousands of us have ascended, leaving behind the predicted empty underwear; and here you are, still here, and look who’s around you?
Is this what you thought the preacher promised you as the collection plate came around?
for this, the expression "You've got another think coming, eh?" serves so well
vocab 6 th grade
style 6 th grade
challenge 6 th grade
statistically, this suits us, the american lcd public
in the right to privacy is included the right to be and to remain, ignorant
ignorance is so much less fuss and bother than tinkering or re-invention-
but i like the graphic for the article - much more informative than any article could be
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