Silent soliloquy
I saw Alvin Ailey ADT tonight. I’ve been wanting to see them ever since Boston. I loved the acts that matched the pictures above in form and in content. The human body is matchless. As for the rest of the acts: I appreciate the athleticism, the incredible expression possible to the human body, and the effects only possible in a group. But it doesn’t help when the entire last third is based on psalms, old gospels, and the religious south.
The act that surprised me was Sinner Man. With red flames on the wall and green light from above, the three guilty men looked like monsters in irons. Watching them enter I felt a hardening and sinking inside: this is what men do to each other, what men do to themselves. Each had his turn reacting to his fate, and leapt into dance. Terror graded to triumph in silent soliloquy, and in a tour de force each showcased his talents in floating leaps and mind-boggling spins, indominable spirits drinking in freedom again. In moments the air of doom had turned to mockery, for only a farce is possible when the devil relies on volunteers.
I noticed I laughed only after the fact. In relief and affirmation and complete happiness. There is no finer tangible thing than a human body coupled with an unharnessed human spirit. It knocks my socks off every time.
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“There is no finer tangible thing than a human body coupled with an unharnessed human spirit. It knocks my socks off every time.”
Well stated! I know about the dance thing– having a mother who loves and lives dance allows me to see a lot of it.
Such expression… it not only knocks my socks off, I actually get tears in my eyes. One thing I’m aware of in seeing Rach 3 played is that I might just cry from happiness because at some point, deep emotive-intellectual happiness response just overflows overwhelmingly. I was sort of close to that crying-point listening to Itzhak Perlman last night, which kind of undid me for a bit. :)
Comment by Jenna — March 6, 2006 @ 8:23 pm
Yes, overwhelming sometimes. I have an inclination to dodge it, but the mental control to wade steadily in. So what if two girls come undone up in the far balcony at the Rach 3? It’s a tremendous tribute to the artists and to Rachmaninoff, and a thing shared with those who know. Aside from that, it’ll be indistinguishable from an empty concert hall. I can’t wait. I’ve never been to a concert with someone who gets it the way I do. I have a kind of nervous anticipation with that concert as I do with my exam. I like that both will test me well.
Comment by praxical — March 6, 2006 @ 11:26 pm