Let Me Down Easy: Anna Deavere Smith Totally Lives in Her Vagina
Ana Billingsley
CHC Arts in NYC
October 27, 2009
Anna Deavere Smith’s one woman show, Let Me Down Easy, explores interpretations of death and dying through personal interviews. The complexity of the issue is apparent in the varying responses provided by Smith’s subjects, and yet the most moving aspect of the play is the actual portrayals. Smith’s talent as an astute observer and a skilled performer create an original representation that allows the audience to view the intense dialogue of death through windows of personal experience.
While the structure of Smith’s work is a documentary at its core, I think her portrayal of subjects through her own eyes creates an entirely new and original work. Her play is as much about the interviews themselves as it is about the responses. In each vignette, Smith effortlessly embodies a new person. These transformations are captivating not just because of the differing opinions presented by each subject, but also because of how Smith depicts them. Lauren Hutton, the supermodel, sits on the floor leaning casually against the couch completely comfortable in her own skin, taking long drags of a cigarette as she speaks of receiving the best health care. Michael Bentt, the heavyweight champion boxer, moves constantly, preparing to clean his shoes, shoulders hunched aggressively as he speaks of the last fight of his career. The details of Smith’s portrayals give life to each subject. By acting as her subjects did in their particular environment, through their particular body gestures, sitting posture, vowel pronunciation, pauses in speaking, and beverage choice; Smith introduces the audience to the subjects as people who live in the stories they’re telling. Smith’s incredible body language speaks for each of her subjects as convincingly as the actual dialogue, and makes the performance so much more than just a documentary.
Dying and death are neither simple subjects nor comfortable ones. The phrase Let Me Down Easy, that Smith pitches to her subjects, only temporarily distracts them from the gravity and finality of discussing death. And yet, all of them relate very different thoughts on death and dying based on personal experience. Smith provides a fascinating mosaic of opinions on body image, danger, health care, social status, professional responsibility, determination, failure, family, and terminal illness. The result is a truly open dialogue on the subject. This is both refreshing and informative because it allows the audience to come away with their own opinion on the subject. At times the subjects’ responses appear to be so off track that the audience forgets what the central theme of the play is. Smith does several things, however, that cleverly connect the vignettes. As she uses different props and clothing items, she leaves them on stage and throughout the entire play works her way around them; finding new spaces and aspects of the stage to portray each subject. The result is a constant reminder of each vignette and a fascinating collection of objects left on stage at the end of the performance. As Smith sheds a layer or prop and leaves it on stage, she pieces together the lives of the subjects she has interviewed. Its as if their varying thoughts create an audible dialogue throughout the play and their physical baggage creates a visual one. Smith reminds the audience that she is again telling the stories of real people, and that their collective voices create a thorough discussion of a complicated subject rather than a specific conclusion or answer.
Let Me Down Easy is an outstanding play that is both amazingly crafted and beautifully performed. Although I’ve seen one person plays before, Smith blew me away with her performance. It made no difference that none of the dialogue was her own, her eye for choosing questions and answers to portray was entirely original and strikingly honest, not to mention her choice of subjects widespread and strangely relatable. In addition, I think Smith’s depiction of death and dying as an open dialogue is a very true and poignant way to handle such a complex issue. Needless to say, I loved every minute of it.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (1)Fall for Dance: Intro to Great Modern 101
Ana Billingsley
September 28, 2009
CHC Sect. 001, Felner
The Fall for Dance Festival featuring the Boston Ballet, Paul Taylor’s Dance Company, Batsheva Dance Company, and Savion Glover and the OtheRz, was an unforgettable display of much more than just talented dancing. In the New York Times review of the performance, the writer adequately addressed the individual pieces and popularity of the festival, but made few comments on the overall show. While I too enjoyed some pieces more than others, I thought the effect of viewing the four dances as a set was an integral part of the evenings performance. The success of the performance was in the selection and placement of the pieces in a way that allowed the audience to come away with an appreciation of the many forms and interpretations of modern dance and the progression of the style as a movement.
Each of the four pieces captured different moments in dance history from the birth of modernism to its influence on evolving styles today. It began with Afternoon of a Faun, a relatively shocking and outrageous piece when premiered in 1912. However, to today’s audience, this early example of modern dance wasn’t as dramatic because of the setting it appeared in. The only distinctly modern elements of the piece were the costuming, several gestures, and of course the sexual undertones. Everything else about the piece: the full lighting, classical music, simple storyline, and serene backdrop, were all very traditional. This gave the audience a taste of modern dance in a relatively classical setting and provided an excellent basis for the rest of the show.
Offenbach Overtures took the presentation of modern dance to the next level by mocking the classical setting. The over-exaggerated, awkwardly executed ballet movements, brightly colored costuming contrasting the white marley, and literal gesturing and facial expression, were all elements used to separate the piece from a traditional ballet. And yet because it was presented as such an obvious joke, the audience could clearly pick up the modern elements in contrast to the classical ones. Taylor’s well crafted piece set the audience up for the more abstract forms of modernism to come.
By the time B/olero appeared, the audience was prepped in the evolution of modernism and able to enjoy the beauty of modern dance within its own setting. While for all the other pieces the music proceeded the curtain rising, in this piece the dancing and music began simultaneously. This formed a connection between the dancers manipulating and being manipulated by the steady rhythm of the beat creating a surreal atmosphere. In addition, the complexity and momentum of the movement left the audience no time to mourn the lack of direct plot or familiar setting. They were instead thrust into the world of modern dance at its best: displaying movement out of context, using abstract gestures to create theme, and challenging predictable timing and tempo. These are all elements of modern dance that allow the audience to think for themselves and view dance less as a story and more as an art.
Last but not least was The StaRz and StRiPes 4EvEr for NoW. Besides being an awesome display of talent, this piece applied the freedom of modern dance to tap dance in a way that encompassed much of what the audience learned throughout the evening. While there was a definite relationship between the music and the dances of the previous pieces, here the dance and music were one and the same. The integration of music and dance is an ultimate display of modernism because it disregards traditional boundaries. Savion Glover, the King of modern tap dance, effortlessly played off the sounds and beats of the accompanying instruments, his whole body hunched in anticipation of the movement. His style and creation were entirely original and yet reminiscent of several elements of modern dance seen throughout the evening. The steady percussion of his taps, stomps, slides, and shifts were all classical tap movements but without being constricted by a traditional sequence or matched perfectly to a plot or setting. The audience could appreciate the integrated art form without a classical constructs to help them understand the performance. I would say that this piece was an expression of today’s values in its application of modernism to other types of dance, allowing the modern audience to view multiple styles at once.
Not one of the evening’s pieces portrayed the same message or displayed the same style. Yet they all fit together in a way that not only represented the versatility of modern dance, but also made logical sense to the audience. To me this was the most impressive aspect of the evening’s performance and the New York Times review’s failure to address that was a disappointment. I thought the festival provided a thorough selection of good modern dance and enlightened the audience with a terrific display of talent and creativity. Bravo!
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