I’m not going to pretend I understand dance for this review. While watching the different ways that the body can move is entertaining enough, I have no idea what they’re trying to do unless it’s fully written out for me. So while watching “Water Stains on the Wall” performed by the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, I was confused, but ultimately entranced. This was the first contemporary dance company that I’ve ever seen, and it was definitely something I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing again.
Choreographed by Lin Hwai-min, founder of the dance troupe, “Water Stains on the Wall” is a visual interpretation into the aesthetics of calligraphy. Throughout the performance, projections of continually moving clouds float across the stark white stage. According to my program, it’s to represent Chinese landscape paintings on an immense rice paper backdrop. It’s not something I would have picked up on without a written description, but now that I think back on it, the technique is nice. Because it’s a fairly constant motion throughout the production, it doesn’t feel distracting in any way. The costumes are likewise, very plain and the dancers never change throughout the performance. From the waist up, they are either shirtless or with a nude color top on. It’s almost like the canvas needed to be bare on the upper half of the body for the giant puffy pants. Seriously, the pants are the same design that we saw out of “Aladdin” during the 90’s, only in a more white and sheer fabric.
Like I said before, I don’t understand dance. On the other hand, I do know design and visuals, and, despite its simplicity of set and costumes, “Water Stains” was captivating to watch. The dancers motions were always fluid, one circular motion flowing direction into another. I studied calligraphy a little bit, and you could almost see the same flicks of the wrist and pressure put down on the brush in the actions of the dancers. Although I’m sure it’s a bit of a stretch for the everyday audience, “Water Stains” is a bizarrely good representation of the process of calligraphy into a large stage. The action is very minimal, and it feels like no movement is wasted.
The other main portion to any dance routine is the music. “Water Stains” has a soundtrack by Toshio Hosokawa that sounds sort of like an adventure video game that I’ve never played before. The soundtrack is somewhat subdued and haunting for the most part, with a Zen-like feeling that relaxes you, and still manages to keep you interested instead of falling asleep. When the music picks up in speed, it also picks up in volume, and starts to sound like I should prepare for battle instead of just sitting around. I didn’t walk away with a certain number stuck in my head, but it was a nice backdrop to the dancers in front of me.
I think my main problem with “Water Stains” is that I was looking for a story. I was looking for that backdrop to tell me the story of the Chinese landscape or the story that the calligraphy was supposed to be telling me. And from what I can tell, there was no story. I don’t think it’s a detriment to the production whatsoever, it’s just a personal preference that I had a hard time looking past.
The all-around production of “Water Stains” feels dynamic and different. I think some of the point of contemporary dance is to feel different, and this show pulls it off wonderfully. From the clouds rolling by in the background, to the peaceful, yet powerful score that keeps me entertained, the entire production is something to behold. Unfortunately, the only performances in Chicago were on October 28/29, but when you see the Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan name, it’s definitely something to check out in the future.
I enjoyed your review and thought it was well put together. There was one thing however. Perhaps instead of saying you know nothing about dance you could do a little research. I’m not talking know every little detail about dance, but maybe how dance is meant to be read or what some moves generally mean. That way you can give more of a description of what the show was trying to tell you, and not just how you felt about the costumes and music.
ReplyDeleteYour descriptions were very helpful. I watched the video after reading and already felt like I knew what I was going to see. Nice work :) I agree that it might not be the best idea to say you are completely clueless. It will help your credibility as a reviewer if you say, "I'm just a casual viewer of dance" or something that lets the reader know you are not an expert, but your opinion is still valid.
ReplyDeleteYou describe the show and paint the picture as if I were a member of the audience seeing it for myself. This is your greatest strength as a reviewer, describing the quirks and quips. I wish I could have seen this show. For you to enjoy it so much as a non-dancer with no prior knowledge of dance, it seems like a very enjoyable performance. If there's anything I would argue with, it'd be your formatting, which is the general - Intro, description, opinion, criticism, outro-. Sometimes playing around with it can spark some extra wisdom. Great work though.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you can use your prior knowledge of calligraphy and use that basis to support your credibility where knowledge of dance lacks. Like "I don't know much about dance, but I do know about calligraphy ...." I felt as if that was a very strong, interesting point you made, that many would not have. It's in this where you may find some depth into the relation of such art forms to those who are not well-read in such fields.
ReplyDeleteThis will be in little chunks:
ReplyDelete-With such a strong author, the line “The technique is nice”, seemed like a bit of a cop-out. Everything leading up to that was so informative, so personal, that I was legitimately tied up at that line.
-Third paragraph is really strong and ties together what makes the dance work—even for someone who knows little to nothing about dance (like myself). It also helps a non-dancer visualize what’s going on, even if they’re not seeing it—unless they don’t know what calligraphy is—in which case a tiny blurb could help.
-I also liked the reference to Aladdin, something that our generation would recognize in the description.
-“ The action is very minimal, and it feels like no movement is wasted.”—so strong! You may not even need the “it feels like”—stand tall in your eloquent descriptive statements.
-Until the second to last ‘graph I had no idea there was an element you didn’t enjoy—I like this format because I drew my own conclusions/opinions before coming upon that—and then that line had me consider my opinions and also consider what dance usually entailed. Which happen to be very different to that of a play—sometimes concept/design/dance/music can stand alone without story in the field.
-This wasn’t a Columbia event was it? Besides that, fantastic review!
Incredible details made me envision your experience and I feel the same way about dance. I felt a connection with your apprehensions and knew exactly what you were talking about. i like that you mentioned your struggle for interpretation and once you figured it out, you interpret what you saw. Not only do you figure it out for yourself, but you also do it for us too, which helps out a lot! You get a bit repetitive on your lack of knowledge on dance and your need for a description, so you might want to cut those mentions down to one or two, but over all I really liked it.
ReplyDeleteI think the structuring of your review is very nice. You hit all the important points you need to hit naturally and easily. You paint an effective picture of what you saw and how you felt about it. I would avoid saying “my main problem with it was…” and try to more naturally signal your criticisms though. I’m sometimes irked by the tendency to qualify a review of something you’re unfamiliar with by talking about how unfamiliar with it you are, but I liked that you admit you know very little about dance but connect elements of the production to things you do know a lot about. That being said, I always prefer seeing a reviewer speak with some amount of authority about what they’re reviewing, even if it’s completely imagined. A part of reviewing is not just knowing what you’re talking about but convincing the reader that you do know what you’re talking about. If you don’t have the first part, you should work even harder on the second.
ReplyDeleteOverall great review. Very well put together and had a great structure. I love how you described the event, it was very well done. It almost felt like I was watching it, before the posted video. Now I actually want to go see and experience the live performance for myself; I’m the same way as you, I don’t really understand dance. I believe there isn’t anything much to express within your piece, you painted a great picture of what it was and your personal thoughts about it. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThis was a pretty good review. I got the feeling that you liked it for the most part but there were a few things about the performance that you did not like or understand. I think that opening is a little rough. I don't think it is a very good idea to start the first sentence off with "I’m not going to pretend I understand dance for this review." This statement kind of turned me off and made me think, ok then why am I reading about something that you yourself do not understand. I do think it needs to be stated, just maybe not so boldly. I also loved how you did not just go on writing about the dancing, but you also talked about the music and the stage as well. I also thought your closing was effective.
ReplyDeleteJessica, I think you can see that it's easy to overplay the "I don't know anything" card--but I sort of like the angle. Maybe that's just because, as I've confessed before, I know very little about dance. But you have a useful impulse here to make the essay about how you appreciated the performance -despite- your lack of personal knowledge. You might hedge that claim a little bit (as Stacy suggests) but here it serves as a sort of added compliment to the performers that their work requires no technical knowledge to be appreciated--a factor that often scares people away from contemporary artwork of all kinds.
ReplyDeleteYour use of video here is really strong--your written descriptions are very effective, and you don't use video to substitute for that but to enhance it, since readers can see that your descriptions are not only evocative but accurate.