(Alas, I could not fully) Fall For Dance

For purposes of full disclosure, it should first be mentioned that I have never been to a professional dance performance before, it also should be noted that I have never had that high of a perception of the art. Yet, as I took my seat at the NY City Center last Wednesday night, I was willing to set all my prejudices aside and was hoping, nay praying that the performances would somehow surpass the minimal expectations that I had set for them in the moments before the curtain rose.

Sadly, it was not meant to be. As the first performance Xover took to the stage, I quickly realized that this would not be the fun-loving highly synchronized dance routine that I had hoped against hope for. Instead, we were greeted with what sounded to be an incomprehensible muddle of mixed vocal and sounds, which one might expect to come from a garbage disposal, certainly not a professional stage. To each their own, but to me the sound only detracted from what was going on onstage, but perhaps this is partly due to my fledgling flavor for dance. As I overheard someone state on the way out: “it seemed they needed to fill every second with some sort of sound,” I couldn’t have agreed more; but it was a dance that I had attended, not merely a musical performance and the unorthodox soundtrack forced me to realize the importance of the two running hand-in-hand. With the wildness of the sounds, it was impossible to expect the performance onstage to somehow flow with the music, it didn’t. Not to discredit the hard work of the performance of Xover over the past three years, the dancers undoubtedly put a concerted effort in, but in no way did I feel it warranted ‘opening’ this year’s Fall For Dance program.

If my expectations were low going into the first act, they only dropped further during the break that preceded the second. Fortunately, the two dances that followed not only were a change of pace, but much more enjoyable as well. The second, I Can See Myself in Your Pupil was in an entirely different league than the dance that had come before it. Set to upbeat and carefree music from Israeli group, Balkan Beat Box, Gallim Dance Company’s performance was inventive and enthusiastic, and utilized music to their advantage as it was inextricably weaved into their routine. Compared to the drab white garb of Xover’s dancers, Gallim’s crew was refreshingly colorful in both appearance and attitude. Following them came the dance: Vistaar, which was a take on the traditional Oddisi movement. While the dance style itself may be customary, the performance was enjoyable in not only its synchronicity but its constant movement and rhythm created bells worn by the dancers. Also worth pointing out were the live musicians for the act, which were a major and important component of the performance. The final dance featured a much more technical yet modern ballet performance, which as far as I could tell went along very smoothly.

It is a shame that the night had to be dampened by the show’s opening act, which unfortunately took away from the show as a whole. Yet the dance that followed the first (I Can See Myself in Your Pupil) did its best to redeem the night, and for the most part, it did a good job in doing so. While in no circumstance would I recommend the viewing of Xover again, the poor choice in opening act should in no way affect one’s enjoyment of the other performances; unfortunately however it has undeniably affected my memory of the night as a whole.