i don't know where to start.

went for the Colours of Life dance performance at the esplanade by the SDT. mom's idea of getting us to be 'more cultured' and 'less lethargic'. felt completely out of place because it was filled with expats [the tea sipping, 'but of course, my dear' kind] and non-expats who hoped to be like them. there i was with my four brothers who wished they were in macdonalds and my grandparents who chaperoned us.

anyway. i was very amused during the whole thing - okay half of it - because grammy, the seven year old, sat sullenly in the seat next to me and - and well, isn't it funny to see a seven year old try to understand this dance? he should be at a hi-5 concert. during the intermission, my brothers came out half-dead saying, 'i can't take it anymore...' and really, who could expect them to, so we went off with grandparents for supper. i think we were the only crowd complaining loudly and in a very unsophisticated manner about 'dance crap', to quote my bro.

actually, i kind of liked it. i'm not a dance person, but i spent some of the time in the dark thinking as the figures crept across the stage. you know, dance seems to mainly be an expression of the clear distinction between femininity and masculinity. not that the dancers themselves are representative of that; but the choreography plays that up a lot. the men are always carrying and lifting the women. it is as though they are saying while sweeping her onto their shoulders that, 'she is mine, i'm carrying her home on my back like a bag that belongs to me.' and they play up a lot on the romance - holding the waist, twirling them around, catching them as they fall, the bodies close together. perhaps dance seems to be a celebration of male-female romantic love. i mean, you never do see women carrying and lifting other women up in such a way or men doing so do you? perhaps one day there will be gay or lesbian themed ballet - or maybe there already are but i haven't seen them. not that i am interested, but it just clicked today that dance was mainly about heterosexual attraction. or so it seemed to me.

it's quite a beautiful thing, the human body. twirling, and spinning under total control - fluid movements like the stroke of paint on a canvas.

+ posted by M @ 12:12 AM