Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Dance Salad 2011

Greetings LIFEers! Today's class got off to a rough start as the LIFE classroom has all new technological thing-a-ma-jiggys that took four librarians to get working. But late starts are nothing new to theater audiences. We were just trying to make you feel like you were actually there....

Houston's Dance Salad brings dancers together from all over the world to perform unique pieces never seen before. As always, Dance Salad reminds audiences that dance is not just about ballet, ladies in tutus and men in tights, but about storytelling through movement, light, sound and costume. This year we saw a piece called "Fawnee" about how knowledge passes from one generation to the next. An older dancer taught the younger dancer how to live and how to be, while the younger imitated and played throughout the scene. Another story called "Return of Ulysses" told the emotional story of Penelope, Ulysses' forgotten wife who is trying to hold her kingdom together until her husband returns from war, but is threatened by the numerous suitors trying to force her to marry. The piece at some places almost seemed violent and upsetting, but we must remember the dance is representing Penelope's feelings and inner struggle, and at times she feels attacked. The last piece was called "Orchestra of Wolves" and was set to Beethoven's famous 5th symphony. A conductor tried to lead an orchestra of wolves to play, but wolves being wolves weren't interested in playing, and after much fighting between the two sides, the wolves attacked and comically ended the conductor and the dance.

We always appreciate getting to see highlights of the dances from Dance Salad. Alas, we cannot show you any of the dances here, but for season highlights or for information on next year's dances, please check the links below.

See you next week!

2011 Dance Salad review - http://www.dancesalad.org/previous_concert.html
2012 Dance Salad times/dates - http://www.dancesalad.org/index.html

No comments: