Los Angeles, Oct 20-21, 2007
Mark Morris Dance Group - Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
The Mark Morris Dance Group makes its Music Center debut with the critically-acclaimed presentation of Mozart Dances. Pronounced by The Washington Post as "our Mozart of modern dance," Mark Morris' work is often celebrated for its musicality and innovation. Set to music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart Dances offers a visually stimulating, elegant, and often tender display of movement and technique. The piece blends folk dances, balletic lifts, pose and ensemble sculptures in a way in which each dancer exudes the beauty and emotion of Mozart's masterpieces and Morris' skillful and innovative choreography. Mozart Dances was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York), New Crowned Hope (Vienna), and the Barbican Centre (London).
News Source: http://www.musiccenter.org/dance_0708_moris.html
This show not only touches, but also catches my eyes, my ears, my breath, and my heart. The dance here is way more than the flow of movement, it is the circulation of magic. New York Times’ headline says “Morris Meets Amadeus: Odd, Elective Affinities”, but I am NEVER a big fan of Mozart. Actually, listening to his “influential work of the classical era” almost always gives me headache, I mean literally, the real, physical pain without any reasonable explanation. It is, however, due to this fact, I appreciate this show even more. How can I forget this once a life moment that I am enjoying the rhythms of the Mozart’s work along with Mark Morris’ work?
This show is conducted of three sessions, which are quite different in the lighting, dancer arrangement, and music selection, but consistent in the intensity of emotion. At every moment, there are always the meeting of the opposites. Enormous flow of paints as the background companies the waves of small human figures on the playground. Someone bends like he has no bones, while someone stands still like his flesh is of stones. No matter how isolated the positions are, the bound between the dancers are so strong such that they are like the extension of each other, so even in a solo, the dancer is alone, but not lonely. When dancers are divided into groups, motion patterns are perfectly reproduced, while the number of people in each group is never the same. Mark successfully constructs similarity out of difference. He makes every ending a new beginning, so though the curtains eventually fall, the passion and excitement passed on from Mark to the audience shine like crystal, pure, simple, and imperishable.
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Homework submission to THTR#181A, Fall, 2007
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