This past Sunday I had the pleasure of attending the Merce Cunningham performance of Crisis (John Cage 1960) & Split Sides (Radiohead/Sigur Ros 2003). This was part of the finale for the Merce in Miami production that took place at the Miami Performing Arts Center.
The evening began with Crisis, a piece composed by John Cage and choreographed by Cunningham. These two were partners in many productions during their lifetimes. Once the performance began one could see why they worked so well together. Cage's dissonant piano cords accompanied some of the dancers sporadic movements. The vibe was that of complete tension and hardly any resolution in the music or dance. The stage was simple, black with a light fog. The lighting was spare. The audience's response to this piece (from the few that I spoke to) was disappointing. I believe it may be because of the music. Cage is a challenge. His pieces are highly conceptual in some cases and for the casual listener too much tension in music can be uncomfortable (for an example of tension and release listen to "A Day In The Life" by The Beatles and pay attention to the last part of the song).
The dancing regardless was interesting. I appreciate human body-kinesthesis, and these dancers were incredibly in tune with themselves. They train without musical accompaniment so the relationship to the music is an instant interaction. I think this is an odd dynamic; a freestyle dance to a rigid syle of music is such a stark contrast.
On to
Split Sides: To begin, chosen audience members employed Cage's intermediary technique and rolled dice to determine the type of music (Radiohead or Sigur Ros), lighting, costumes and visuals. Like with the previous Cunningham technique all items are interchangeable.
Sigur Ros ended up first. The four members were in attendance for the performance (they were in the orchestra pit). Most of the music was prerecorded. The band members added various percussive elements on top of the piece. Two elements of the musical performance are worth noting: one of the instruments were ballet slippers used for creating rubbing and smacking sounds, and the other was a classical music box, played backwards to create clicking sounds. The piece reminded me of Aphex Twin's track "
Nannou." It was called "Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do
" after the only word spoken during the piece. It is available on CD and 12" (ask
Lolo of
Sweat Records for it!). The engineer panned different parts of the sound around the opera house so noises were coming from almost a 360 degree radius. Incredible! The dancing was free-form and subtle. The costumes were colorful, the lighting not too interesting, and stage design almost absent save a screen and a cardboard moon. Overall I was impressed sonicly but only slightly entertained visually.
The next piece was a
Radiohead contribution written right after their
Amnesiac session. This was the strangest Radiohead piece I have ever heard. It was something the
Schematic Music Co. would have released. Same idea, based on Cage's aleatoric style the sounds were almost thrown together by chance. The dancing was more of the same. Modern dance arises no feeling in me whatsoever as a cohesive form of expression. I only enjoy specific movements. It seems the entire night was that of chance: from the lights, to the dance, to the music, and ultimately to the pleasure or approval of the audience in attendance.
BRAVO.
