artful weekend, part one

Last night, Robert and I went to a dance performance. That's not atypical -- we try to catch a handful of modern dance events over the course of the year. Someone asked before we went what we were seeing, and I couldn't remember. I just knew we had tickets and I knew where and when to show up.

We went to see Denizen by Kinodance. When we got there, I figured out why I couldn't remember what it was all about. (And no, my alias is not Alberto Gonzalez.) I'm not even sure why we signed up, and neither is Robert. Still, it was fairly intriguing. This morning, I wrote to a friend --

Part of it involved a film that a cinematographer made in homage to another film made about Armenia. Part of it involved dancers in the film who also appeared live on stage with other dancers, sometimes interacting with the film. There was also a soundscape, partly filled with Aremenian sounds, some interesting lighting, and a spare but beautiful set, and costumes. Afterwards, all the creative collaborators had a Q&A session. The dancing was intriguing, the Q&A a lot of fun. So no wonder I couldn't remember what it was going to be! It's just that I'm not sure I've completely figured it out yet, not that I'm unhappy to have seen it!

And then this morning, I read the thoughts of another blogger on the same piece. The other blogger felt that it was one of the most boring things he'd ever seen, and that it was repetitive. We wrote a couple of comments back and forth, I saying that the Q&A was helpful and he saying that a piece of art should stand on its own and not need any explication, that the creators essentially failed in not being able to convey their intent (or possibly *an* intent) to their audience through the piece alone. Good stuff.

Tonight, we're seeing Chita Rivera. It might be horrible (the Boston run was cut from three weeks to one) but it could be fun. Tomorrow, we're dancing, and Sunday, we're seeing the final concert in our BSO Chamber Players series. I'm sure there will be time for sleep somewhere in there.