Dance is for Everyone

As a sort of continuation from my blog post on Ritha Devi titled “A Dance for all Ages,” my interest in dancing and its implications continues.

This weekend my friends and I attended Brooklyn College’s dance show at the Brooklyn Music School Playhouse.  There were ten acts consisting of tap, modern, and ballet.  While I don’t usually enjoy watching modern dance, I was pleasantly surprised by the experience and was excited yet curious to see my boyfriend perform for the first time.

Titled “Choreographers and Composers Collaborate,” Brooklyn College’s dance department partnered with the music department to produce original acts.  Each performance was had a concept, alluded to by its title.  My favorite pieces were “Down the Rabbit Hole” and “Contrast.”  “Down the Rabbit Hole” captured the whimsical nature of Alice in Wonderland with quirky moves and music.  Each tap dancer began the dance seated at a table with a tea cup and managed to focus on both the complicated movement of props and the steps.  There was a circular quality to the performance, where each dancer not only passed their cups down to the dancer behind, but also moved in position.  The speed of the dance was remarkably fast and what I enjoyed most was seeing each dancer’s personalities.  While all the tappers were female, they ranged in age from 20 to 60 years old.  With solos and rotations in staging, each dancer was given an opportunity to show their strengths.

The next dance was “Contrast” and what made this piece successful was its music and lighting.  I don’t usually pay attention to the lighting at a show; however, most of the performances relied solely on lighting as its backdrop.  With a rich blue color contrasted with the hot pink socks of the dancers, their steps were certainly the focus.  The concept presented the dancers as runners with at least one dancer jogging on stage at all times.  The piece ended with a sort of competition among the joggers as some would occasionally be knocked down by another.  I was left with the impression that even after the piece was over, the dancers were still running, as the jogging motion had the effect of never ending.  The music which consisted of different beats in different tones was also minimalist and enhanced the sensation of being on a treadmill.

“Lucid Dreaming”

Considering I was unaware of the amount of talented dancers in Brooklyn College’s community, I was glad to have attended the performance.  The show also raised a very important and personal issue for me, which is how gendered dance actually is.  I know that when I took dance classes at a young age, my school was all girls.  Even at Saturday’s performance, all the tap dancers were female with a handful of male dancers in the modern performances.  When I first met my boyfriend I was surprised that he danced considering I was taught that dancing is for girls.  While I learned it was attractive if a man could dance, somehow if a man took dance classes the opposite was true.  I immediately thought, can a guy be masculine and dance?  What does it mean to be masculine?  These were some questions that were raised as I faced the stigma surrounding dance.  I even realized I was hesitant to call the performance a show rather than a recital, which recalls memories of my dancing school and pink sequin dresses. Seeing diversity on the stage, I realized the ideas surrounding the sport are ridiculous as it takes immense strength, endurance, flexibility, delicacy, and confidence to perform.  None of these qualities should frame a certain gender and yet, dance is questioned as a sport.  Regardless of my previous notions, I was proud to say that my boyfriend was one of the dancers and to see that dance is for everyone.

-Stephanie Montalti