Is Dance Movement? Is Movement Dance?
My interest in Dance as an art form has long been lacking. That interest has grown a bit in recent years, but I always felt that I was shortchanging the form. Dance to me was more personal, more interactive. It was something you did with your date at Prom or at a wedding. Pones, Inc's production of That One Show taps into the meaning of Dance/Movement with many perspectives of what the art form is, and is not. It looks at what it means to everyone, individually from childhood to the more formal adult expression.
They ask the question: What is Dance. They literally ask the question to the audience and seek answers, to the point of volunteering friends to answer if the don't get a quick response.
The show is a true interdisciplinary production that merges video, music, dance/movement, with acting into a well done theme that drives to the audience to come up with an answer. The video piece is the star of show and include portions of many dozens of interviews done with people answering various questions about their views or memories of dance. The construct of the film is the backbone of the production. The movement/dance was a supporting element to the show.
"Dancers" will relate to this show, especially dancers who love to dance, but are not going to be asked to be a principle with the Russian Ballet. I was most interested, as a "non-dancer," in how interested the performers were in understanding what everyone things about Dance/Movement. The only element of the show I wish for more was that their theme was so open ended. Yes, that is a position, that Dance/Movement can mean anything, but that is a point of view that I think is unattainable. There are limits. I would agree with a point of view that the boundaries of Dance/Movement should be both wide and open to evolution, but at any point in time there are still boundaries of what make sense. That One Show makes sense, they could be more direct about it. I would have like to have seen them invite someone from the audience on stage to dance. I was actually waiting for that to happen and worried that I might be asked. That tension illustrates part of the history of Dance to me, one with tension, but that is what feel the message ultimately was for That One Show, let go of the fear and just Dance/Move. I'm going to break out the Footloose Soundtrack and put this idea to work.