Temporada Primaveral 2011

I went to watch Temporada Primaveral 2011, a collection of dances choreographed by Jimmy Gammonet. Jimmy was born in Peru, and started dancing here, but then moved to the US. He not only became first dancer in the Teatro Municipal de Lima, but he also became first dancer in the American Ballet Theater. He managed to create his own dance company in Miami called the Gammonet Ballet, and due to economic issues it broke. He came to Peru earlier this year, and a few friends and I took some classes with him over the summer. I know his work, and in my opinion he’s an amazing teacher, so I was really interested in watching his show because after all, it’s the work of one of my teachers. Still, I didn’t enjoy it so much. I knew that since the choreographies were being performed with the National Ballet, they wouldn’t be a hundred percent classical, but though there were some dances that caught my attention, there were others that just lacked something: because ballet is an artistic form of expression in which the dancer can not rely on words, they have to use their face and their body gestures, making it clear to the audience what they’re expressing, but at the same time not making it too exaggerates.
First of all, the way some of the people on stage reacted to what was happening around them, didn’t connect with how the rest of the dances reacted to the same thing. Not only did they not connect with each other, but they also didn’t connect with what the pamphlet said about the piece. For example, there was a holocaust piece, in which there were eight women on stage, the dance was about how one of them lost her son in the camp, and is desperate trying to find the body. Though at times I (as the audience) could feel the anxiety because she was reaching out while the other women were holding her back, other times, it just seemed boring. Every woman on stage was static. Most of the dance they were in the same place, just changing to a different pose. Going back to what I said about not connecting with the theme, if this choreography is about the holocaust, it shouldn’t be so slow, unless they are portraying grief, which is not the case here. And even if they were portraying grief or death, they should be more united in the sense that the dance should have been more of a group dance. Everything seemed like each one of the characters was in her own little world in her own bubble of grief, when they should be suffering together.
Another element that didn’t fit in with some of the dances, were the costumes. The one that seemed the most out of place was the dance about the statues. I get that each of the two girls were representing statues, so the lack of facial expression did help make a point in this dance, but then, why were there cloths transparent? The audience could see everything. If the dance was expressing sexuality for instance, then yes it would be understandable, though it would be very controversial because they were two girls dancing instead of a girl and a guy. Still, the theme of this was statues. The slow movements and the body language fit right in, but the lack of real cloths didn’t. In fact, at times due to the movements and the tremendous elasticity of the dancers, it even made it inappropriate, like the wardrobe choice was being forced to try to make some point. Though the dance was beautiful, the dancers had an excellent technique; sadly the wardrobe choice ruined everything for me.
Though there were things like lack of chemistry between the dancers, lack of attitude, wrong costumes, there were also some good elements to the choreographies. The first thing that I loved was the dancers. The two main dancers each had an excellent technique, and though one of them was able to lift the leg higher, or jump higher, they both looked amazing dancing together because it almost looked like the competition made each of them work harder. Not only the technique was excellent, but on the last dance specifically, the tangos, which they were dancing some tangos that were suppose to reflect the Latin culture, the couples were well chosen. There was one couple that looked like they had some trouble performing certain parts, but in general they were all very well chosen. Finally, the lights were amazing! Something that is not always well done, here they were perfect! They helped set the atmosphere and the mood. For example, the color of the holocaust lights really did help make a more depressing mood, whereas the tango lights really helped illustrated a happier mood.
Though some dances were really hard to interpret, and this is not one of my favorite ballet shows, there are some really good things I saw here, including the dancers, some of the choreographies (more specifically only the first one and the last one) some good chemistry (or acting?) between the dancers, and a fun lights show.

Kevin Hart- Ostrich

Comedy acts are long monologues. The reason why they are so funny is not only because of what the comedian is saying (which is a huge part) but also the way he moves, the way he acts what he's saying. Kevin Hart is an amazing comedian and the reason why I chose this part of his act is because it shows how he acts out the ostrich (and it was the most school-appropriate one I could find)

Lysistrata Act Out

I have to act out the fourth part of the play with Fernanda and Vincenzo. Basically we are dramaturges, so we can change anything we want. We can cut parts, add characters, delete character, re-write the script, as long as it works out with the main idea. The first part is to learn exactly what the fourth part is about. Basically the most important parts of the “Wool Metaphor—Myrrhine’s Seduction” is when the women are escaping from the acropolis to go have sex, and when Myrrhine seduces her husband, Kinesias, preparing him for sex, delaying it, and then leaving him. Now we want to choose which of this two parts to act out, keeping in mind that since we are three people, there can be no more than three characters on stage at the same time.

Monologue

People judge me, every day, every moment, whenever they see me. Something about my hair… maybe that it hasn’t been washed in…..something about my face, my eyes, my mouth. Something about how I smell… I haven’t been in water since days, weeks, moths? But that’s not the worse smell. People are afraid of me. they stare at me funny, but I don’t blame them. When mothers see me, they take their child’s hand and cross the street. Get as far away from me as they can. But they don’t know I won’t hurt them. There is really no point. I’ve lost everything. I’ve lost everyone. I had a husband. I had a child. I’ll never see any of them again. My husband left, my son’s been taken from me. I have no one. I have a home that’s not really a home. There’s nothing in there. I had a car but I had to give it away. I’m alone now. I don’t hurt anyone. I can’t hurt anyone because I can barely walk. So then why are they so mean to me? Why won’t they give me my medicine? I can’t hurt anyone! They hate me. I hate myself! I can’t see myself and the only way to prevent from seeing myself is with my medicine. But they don’t want me to have it! They say it’s bad. They say I’m killing myself. I know I am, I know I’m dying! But what do I want to live for?! I live to drink. If I don’t drink, what is my reason for living? I need a drink.
(I know it might be a little hard to link this to human rights but it has something to do with discrimination)