Saturday Matinee

Fall For Dance, Orange County CA

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Last week, I got an opportunity to fly down to southern California for my dad’s 58th birthday, and while I was there, I finally got to experience Fall For Dance, which took place in Orange County. After hearing about raves of how cool the New York Fall For Dance was, I had somewhat high expectations about the show I was going to see. Overall – it was a tad disappointing. Apparently, pointe shoes in ballet companies is so yesterday, while dancing in complete silence is (I think almost every contemporary piece started out with dancers starting in complete silence.) After a while, I actually wanted to see a sequined tutu. But in the midst of contemporary experimentation, there were some gems, and it really was a great way for audiences to see many dance companies in one sitting, like a dessert sampler at a restaurant. I got to see the Martha Graham Dance Company for the first time as well. A personal highlight was meeting Miki Orihara, who is a phenomenal dancer.

For this entry, I wanted to focus on Project Bandaloop, a dance troupe that ended the night at Fall for Dance.

I first heard about this dance company as an undergrad in college, when our dance history professor asked the question, “What makes dance, dance?” If you see a rockclimber rappeling down a mountain cliff, that is not dance. But if the rockclimber is rappeling down a mountain cliff incorporating choreographed swinging movements perfectly in tune with music, with a streamer trailing their every move… that is dance. What aspects of a dance, makes it a dance? What are the elements that make up dance? If you take out one element, when would a dance not become a dance? Our prof’s example of this was to show us some video footage of Project Bandaloop, the first time I heard about this troupe. They looked like rockclimbers climbing down the face of the El Capitan, except they were dancing.

There are so many breathtaking photos on their website, this is one of them. Elephant Rock, Yosemite

This groundbreaking troupe is really redefining dance, and makes me rethink what dance really is in such a creative way. They ended the show at Fall for Dance, with an announcement that encouraged the audience to walk outside for the final performance. As you can see from the video footage, their performance was absolutely mesmerizing. First of all, their choreography had evolved so much from the footage I saw of them on El Capitan (I’m sure on the El Capitan, their biggest priority was to get down safely, more importantly than pointing their toe). This troupe really uses its differing center of gravity to further its musicality in its dancing, in effortless lifts and movements in which time seems to slow down.

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Love in a different dimension, and yet just as intense and moving

The music was perfect as well, with a primitive touch that made everything more elemental and open and austere, which complemented the floating choreography perfectly. It sounds stupid to say this, but I was delighted to be presented with a true dance performance that was creative and new.

Just because I can’t stop from watching these vids over and over again, here are some more I took. Enjoy, and be sure to check to see if Project Bandaloop is coming to your neighborhood. (They performed at the Exploratorium in San Francisco earlier this year, how cool is that??)

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1322800808529014203]

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Project Bandaloop website