My history considered, it’s more than a little strange that I don’t go to see live dance or theatre very often– a problem I’m trying very consciously to redress, starting rightnow.
This Tuesday, I had a chance to see Montreal-based break-fusion company, RubberBanDance’s Punto Ciego. The comany’s director, Victor Quijada has described their work as “the essence of Hip Hop filtered through the aesthetics of contemporary dance.” (paraphrased)
The show I saw on Tuesday incorporated film and theatrical elements, and revolved around a great many grappling, combative, inescapably unhappy pas de deux, and desperately beautiful intertwining ensemble compositions in which dancers used each other as props, only to ultimately relate more to actual props than each other. This could have been mortally depressing but for the introduction of an audience-participation movement, which encouraged us to modify our breathing, focus and attention while watching, which was totally fascinating and for me, unprecedented. I think it would have been more conclusively uplifting, had there been an illustrative final dance sequence after the urging to go forth and enjoy meaningful human contact, but overall it was a very worthwhile experience. I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for their next project.
To find out more about the RubberBanDance, you can check out their web site (tons o’ video, good audio), and read this interesting 2004 Hour Magazine profile of LA-born, Montreal-based, b-boy-turned-ballet-dancer-turned-contemporary choreographer, Victor Quijada .
