Skip to main content

Review: Liz Lerman Dance Project - Ferocious Beauty: Genome

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the chance on a free evening during my GBCS meeting to attend a dance performance. I love dance. And every time I'm in DC, I try to see the Washington Ballet, but they are always between shows. This time around, the situation was the same, but I did discover that it was "Dance is the Answer" week in DC, which meant that there were several options related to dance.

I went to see a production from the Liz Lerman Dance Project called Ferocious Beauty: Genome. I thought it was pretty cool, and certainly one of the most unique dance productions I've been to. I have been having a hard time summarizing the performance, so here's an excerpt from the company website:

"Genetic research raises prospects that previous generations may scarcely have imagined: of prolonging life and maintaining youth indefinitely, of replicating an individual, of choosing the bodies and brains of our children, and of creating new species to feed and serve us. How we heal, age, procreate, and eat may all be altered in the next years by scientific research happening right now.

In Ferocious Beauty: Genome Liz Lerman Dance Exchange explores the current historic moment of revelation and questioning in genetic research. Under the artistic direction of choreographer Liz Lerman the subject is represented through a plurality of viewpoints, mirroring a dialogue among multiple voices -- artistic, scientific, and scholarly -- in all their varied perspectives."

The production was quite unique - the dancers were of different ages - some older than the typical company with all 20/30-something dancers - there were two dancers (out of 8?) who were gray-haired, and they impressively kept up with their younger company members. There was also one dancer, a local woman named Suzanne Richard (according to this Washington Post review), who has a genetic bone condition, and she used a combination of wheelchair and crutches to dance.

The production was also unique because it included a lot of spoken word - the dancers would occasionally narrate segments/vignettes. For example, when Richard first took the stage, the dance was narrated by a dancer talking about how there used to be so many types of apples, but that they have disappeared, in exchange for the perfect but less tasty Red Delicious.

Especially cool, I thought, was the incorporation of interviews with scientists into the pieces, with a large screen at the back of the stage showing different geneticists, biologists, etc., responding to questions - what is DNA? What does DNA look like? What are genes? And in one especially great segment, the scientists tried to describe what all this would look like in a dance, as the dancers on stage literally played out the words from the interviews. This was not too much of a stretch, when you consider that genetic language actually includes phrases like "hormone drift" and "genetic shuffle."

The whole production was funny and serious, educational and whimsical, and a thought-provoking mix. And I do love dance - the way dancers can use the human body in artistic expression is always amazing to me. Would that I could dance in my 20s as some of these dancers are in their 50s and 60s. Anyway, the company seems like they consistently do unique things - they have dance classes geared for those over 50, for at-risk teens, and for "artists-as-activists", so next time you are in the DC area, you might want to check them out.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, "Hope: A Thrill of Hope," Mark 1:1-8

Sermon 11/26/17 Mark 1:1-8 Hope: A Thrill of Hope             Are you a pessimist or an optimist? Is the glass of life half empty, or half full? My mom and I have gone back and forth about this a bit over the years. She’s wildly optimistic about most things, and sometimes I would say her optimism, her hopefulness borders on the irrational. If the weather forecast says there’s a 70% chance of a snowstorm coming, my mom will focus very seriously on that 30% chance that it is going to be a nice day after all. I, meanwhile, will begin adjusting my travel plans and making a backup plan for the day. My mom says I’m a pessimist, but I would argue that I’m simply a realist , trying to prepare for the thing that is most likely to happen, whether I like that thing or not. My mom, however, says she doesn’t want to be disappointed twice, both by thinking something bad is going to happen, and then by having the bad thing actually happen. She’d rather be hopeful, and enjoy her state of

Sermon for First Sunday in Lent, Year B, "Jesus in the Wilderness," Mark 1:1-4, 9-15

Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness             You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my favorite gospel. Part of the reason I love it is because of Mark’s brevity. I don’t love that he’s short on details, exactly. I love that he seems practically breathless in getting the good news of Jesus to us, and that he seems to believe that the news is so good it isn’t even going to take very many words to convince you of his message! His frantic style strikes me as showing both how important and how convincing he believes Jesus’s message to be.             But, then we arrive at a Sunday like today, and I find myself a little frustrated perhaps, or at least a little challenged by Mark. In the lectionary, the series of the first Sunday in the season of Lent always focuses on the temptation of Jesus – his time in the wilderness, where he confronts Satan, and commits to God’s path rather than the flashy alternative Satan presents. This is the fo

Sermon for Second Sunday in Advent, "Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright," Isaiah 11:1-10, Mark 13:24-37

Sermon 12/3/17 Mark 13:24-37, Isaiah 11:1-10 Peace: All Is Calm, All Is Bright             “Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon’ virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace.”             This week, I read news stories about North Korea testing a missile that perhaps could reach across the whole of the United States.             This week, I spoke with a colleague in ministry who had, like all churches in our conference, received from our church insurance company information about how to respond in an active shooter situation. She was trying to figure out how to respond to anxious parishioners and yet not get caught up in spending all of their ministry time on creating safety plans.             This week, we’ve continued to hear stories from people who have experienced sexual assault and harassment, as the actions, sometimes over decades, of men in positions of power have been