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Tuesday, August 12, 2003 What is Jazz dance? Jazz dance is interesting. There is this international jazz dance world congress hold in UB last week. We watched one of the 4 shows on Friday. A performance of top dancing companies nationwide, it is really amazing. I used to equalize jazz dance to tap dance, or it is, in my mind, no more than something like “Fosse”. But the variety of dance numbers presented at that night makes me realize it is actually embracing any type of modern dance, anything but classical. And all music but classical: Pop, new age, jazz (of course), Samba, African drums, Peking Opera all sound fine with the modern choreography. The distinction between male and female are faded in this kind of dance, men should be as soft and flexible as women, and women should not be less strong and dominant than men. And that’s the essential of modernism. In classical ballet, woman is the lightless object that is heaved and tossed exquisitely by muscular man. I don’t see much of this lifting in this jazz dancing. Male and female dance in the exact same movements most of time, and I did not realize the presence of male dancers for quite a while. It is pleasant to see the women of modern dance are generally tall and curvy, opposed to those skinny and frail ballerinas in my memory (I don’t see much ballet in my adulthood) . The subjects are quite fascinating. The first number by 5 pairs of men and women seemed depicting night dating rituals in metropolis. The second is a solo tap dance and monologue of a man in military suit. He occasionally cursing war and politics in brief words while he pose from a long tip-tap; the third number was my favorite. Eight girls dress like a burning phoenix, bouncing and gamboling at mysterious drumbeat. The way they skipped was so swift and lightsome, shoot from one side of stage to the other, like flying birds. Ephemeral birds. Then there was this number called “moon over the great wall”. Against all my imagination, it was presenting various forms of animals’ night life. Five girls in dark dress rolling and twisting themselves violently on the floor to mimic insect’s or reptile, and then creep like wolf or cats, and finally they can stand on their foot and seemed they evolve into mankind. I guess "evolution in the moonlight" will be a better fit. Final number was called “rain”, and consisted of three Jewel’s songs about raining. Maybe it was because the group is from Utah, the choreography was elegant, balance but conventional. However, it has its moment: at the end, artificial rain poring down on the stage, and the dancers get all wet and stomping crazily, so went the audience. Clapping, screaming and stomping together. When we walk out of the theater, it was really raining cats and dogs. posted by lmeimei @12:02 AM| permanent link| | |
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