Bolero and Other Works

Twelve Classmates and I attended a dance show called Bolero and Other Works, at the Victory Gardens Theatre on Sunday, March 15^th. Though the show was not ostensibly about countries relating to one another, I was amazed by how relevant to my inquiry strand this event managed to feel. Through 6 separate acts, this show introduced tons of interesting themes, from environmentalism, to body image, to cultural relations.  Each separate act was directed by a different person, but they all featured the same cast of dancers. It was amazing to see these dancers transform. One program, they would be up beat and moving with incredible power and grace, and the next they would be moving slowly and out of sync to dystopian music.  This juxtaposition made the viewing experience much more powerful, and I was captivated throughout the show.  The program that affected me most personally, and also applied most directly to my inquiry strand, was a piece that featured a strange industrial beat, and was overlaid with occasional words in many different languages.  The dancers pulsated slowly, at first in unison, but over time they grew apart, as if representing the riff between different languages and cultures.  It is interesting to think about Global Affairs in this artistic medium, rather than the academic medium I have been presented it before.  All the presentations I have been to and lectures I’ve heard have been specifically designed so that their meaning was easily and precisely understood by the audience. On the other hand, this show obscured its message, and did not have a slide featuring the take aways from the afternoon. It allowed room for personal interpretation, and was more about self expression than about general understanding. I took away a message which was deeply cynical about our ability to communicate and maintain separate cultures thanks to the influx of world dominating technology, but I could imagine how one might take away a message almost exactly opposite to that. At the end of the day, I left with more questions than answers, but I felt fulfilled while grappling.