Saturday, February 10, 2007

They're doin' choreography

If you're in New York City today, can you do me a favor? Can you go see Big Dance Theater and tell me how it is? Because today's the last day for their new work based in part on the language of corporate meetings: "Layered with the company's fearless fusion of dance, music and visual design,...[a] beautiful projected carp leads the audience through...the Million Dollar Round Table--the global conference of life insurance salespeople." Well, who doesn't appreciate a carp? And motivational speeches -- re-purposed for the arts? Seriously now, I would love to see that.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

By the time I saw this post. It was too late. Sadly, the time had passed.

However, after reading a review in the link:

"A reviewer ...insisted it's all about the importance of taking passionate risks, whether you're selling insurance or caring for a carp."

I feel less ashamed for not going now. It’s obvious now that my attendance of the performance would never match the experience of reading those words.

And I'm ok with that. I really am.

Irene Done said...

Hilarious! The thing that interested me is that all the text is lifted from everyday sources -- sometimes traffic signs and sometimes corporate meetings. So the performers constantly repeat phrases like "There is so much magic in what we do," and "Risks must be taken." I could almost swear those are slogans from actual client-agency meetings I've attended.

But as you say, maybe the story behind the performance is more compelling than the performance. Who knows? The Japan Society certainly looks cool though.

By the way, I heard about this on Bloomberg News. If you tune in on Saturday mornings, there's a show called Muse that's a survey of new museum/gallery exhibits, music and theater performances and architecture. It's actually quite well-done. And you have the advantage of being close to a lot of the events they feature. (At least, I think you're close -- you seem to pop up in strange midwestern locales sometimes, so I've no idea.)

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