Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY.
September 10, 2024.
What occurs if you take membership dancing, flip it into choreography, after which put it again in a membership you created completely for the efficiency? For the NYC audiences fortunate sufficient to snag a ticket to R.O.S.E. by Sharon Eyal + Gai Behar on the Park Ave Armory, it was a journey of discovery, uncovering layers {of professional} dance, pedestrian dance, surprise, inclusivity, music and lights. It was nothing like I’d seen earlier than. It was…a vibe.
The Park Avenue Armory is a grand constructing used for a wide range of performances, using its vastness to supply efficiency areas of atypical capability. For this present, visitors enter by means of a wall of heavy velvet curtains (after overlaying telephone digicam lenses with customized stickers to implement a strict rule towards pictures), and discover themselves in a correct membership with fog, lights and the pulsing music of DJ Ben UFO. The present began at 7:30pm, however no dancers appeared till 8:15pm. That’s, until you rely the viewers as dancers – which it is best to, since ’90s membership dancing is the inspiration for this work, and since the sold-out viewers was, the truth is, dancing.
Clearly, one of the best ways to eat this work was to right away immerse oneself into the scene, and this author shortly jumped into her 18-year-old self’s dream of being a ’90s European membership child as a substitute of a ballet pupil in a small city in New England. I wasn’t alone on this strategy. When the skilled dancers did enter the area, they did so quietly because the music and lights modified a bit, with many individuals unaware of the change till the dancers have been upon them.
The artists wore nude coloured, lace costumes with ornate make-up and snaked expressionless by means of the group, nearly alien-like in tone. Eyal spent a few years dancing for Batsheva Dance Firm and the Gaga affect of the corporate permeates her motion in its curious and seamless qualities.
Because the night time wore on, the viewers was extra performative with the expertise, whether or not persevering with to bop and transfer because the dancers carried out, or clamoring by means of the darkish when the tell-tale signal of the performers getting into the area occurred – an simple fragrance that preceded every entrance. The principles of decorum slipped away with every minute, and by the tip, some viewers members sat on the ground, slapping it with their fingers.
Everybody can have their very own expertise with this present. Being tall is an enormous benefit, as attempting to look at dance from six rows deep of individuals in case you are quick is inconceivable. Others have written about components to this present I couldn’t see in any respect, and that side was irritating – having to decide on between preventing for a spot or being totally shut out. In that sense, observing human conduct was fascinating to look at, however left me questioning if I ought to go away since I couldn’t see something. Ultimately, I discovered myself completely located to see the ultimate quantity, simply by likelihood. The finale was a gorgeous amalgamation of the dancers and the viewers with power flowing between the 2 powerfully, respectfully, and honoring the curiosity that’s human motion.
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
