Last weekend I saw Miguel Gutierrez and The Powerful People at the MCA. They performed And Lose the Name of Action to a bemused, stunned and sage crowd. As I sat there with my old Milwaukee friend that just moved to something like 30 different states and then to Chicago within a year, I pointed out no less than 10 Chicago dance makers that I could name. There were more dancers that I recognized from classes, but you get it. Sage crowd.
Then I read this review by Laura Molzahn for See Chicago Dance... that was less than enthusiastic. I was instantly reminded of the kerfuffle over Macaulay's review of Tere O'Connor. Why do things have to "develop", have to elicit emotion?
I thought the piece was brilliant and that the performers were so amazing I kept staring at each of them in turn and re-reading their bios because their performances were so unaffected. And for this reason alone I could call the performance brilliant, but there was much more.
Yes, it was 10 minutes too long, but that could've been because I was on a completely unforgiving metal chair. The rest of the experience was a breath of fresh air in a town full of high legs and pointed toes.
This is a blog about what it's like to find Contemporary Dance in a new community. I have lived, taught and danced in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Miami, Chicago and now Washington D.C. As a teacher and performer I am always interested in finding out what people are interested in artistically and technically. Follow me as I discover Contemporary Dance performance, writing, critique and pedagogy in the various places I travel and teach. Aaaaand, I'm sure I'll let you know what I'm up to too.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Miguel Gutierrez and The Powerful People
Labels:
dance,
MCA,
Miguel Gutierrez,
Modern,
modern dance,
performance,
review,
The Powerful People
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