Batsheva's Deca Dance

Imagine for while a bald lady in goth and four feet red heels; six men in Egyptian-looking linen skirts splashing themselves with black milk; and then you -- center stage at Jackson Hall dancing like crazy with dancers in Hassidic-style coats and hats and perhaps me laughing my guts out watching you, and that every time you eat pizza you are reminded that god is just like it. Sounds all surreal but it happened during the night the Batsheva performed the Deca Dance!

Sometimes, when I watch modern dance, in fact anything modern, some of the messages seem a little too esoteric for me. Hey, I am just a lowly grad student stuck in my lab most of the times (Or perhaps I’m just old fashioned). Anyway, whenever I think this way, I just watch the performances at face value and decide if they are entertaining for me. During the show, I thought there were a lot of fun and interesting vignettes with the Batsheva’s performance. For example, during the Black Milk dance, a bald woman in four feet high heels --sort of Tim Burton-ish type character walked across the stage. I thought that the seemingly ancient feeling, ritualistic Black Milk routine for a while had a gothic/vaudeville feel to it. Later on, she did a lip sync-- that was fun too. What made it even more memorable was because it was unexpected. Another memorable line during the show was that “God is an invention, just like pizza’. Eating pizza now has become a contemplative ritual!

The opening dance begun with a line of dancers which I thought seemed like a barrier on the stage. My notion of a wall in was reinforced when they begun to dance in unison and then some danced on their own. The movements were free flowing but they were also controlled and sharp. To me, it felt like they wanted to break free. It was a powerful message of struggling to break down walls or at least trying to break free from it. This dance was actually Naharin’s Virus. I guess, I can see that everyone was infected with the virus- that includes me. This was powerful and resonating. Similarly, the other dances have profound messages. I even think that there are definitely political messages. For example, I am sure that the Black Milk routine has political messages that centers on issues of isolationism and international interferences to name a few.

I’ve always thought that dance is the most intimate and powerful means of artistic expression simply because of its visceral nature. There is something universal about the movements in a dance that appeal to our gut senses, an unspoken language that everyone understands. It is difficult to put into words - how dance affects us. I hope my attempt to put it into writing gives it justice. I guess, it’s just like seeing a shooting star –watching a dance performance. The feeling of wonder and excitement ends just as it starts and in those fleeting moments, you just get it. Every now and then though, we get treated with the passing of a comet. It’s much brighter and it stays in the sky longer. We get just the right amount of time needed to fully appreciate it. The Batsheva dance company’s Deca Dance is just like this. I thought that each of the dance sequence had their own poignant message but they are nonetheless very entertaining as well. By far, the first four dances affected me the most. This was my first time to watch the Batsheva dance company. The Deca dance is supposed to be a re-mix of Naharin’s best choreographies. Honestly, I don’t know any of them. So instead of thinking what Naharin wanted to get across, I decided to take its meaning as how I perceived it to be. Needless to say, it made a lasting impression.