(Harbourfront Centre, 5 October 2014)
Watching a new dance is akin to travelling to a country whose tongue one does not understand. One builds a narrative from one's latent thoughts triggered by the witnessed scenes. One identifies with the detected lives of others. The lack of comprehension prunes the superfluous and deepens the connection.
ProArte Danza celebrate civilisation without diminishing the individual. Civilisation empowers the individual by providing continuity, through conversations and shared beauty.
31 October 2014
6 September 2014
Magic in the Moonlight (2014)
Woody Allen is getting subtler and surer with age. He is also more impatient to derive the truth, without fretting about its ethical consequences. There aren't any.
Mind betrays man. The capacity to change one's mind in the light of evidence betrays youth in a man. Youth and good posture betray youth in a woman. Man worships youth because everything else he can derive.
Mind betrays man. The capacity to change one's mind in the light of evidence betrays youth in a man. Youth and good posture betray youth in a woman. Man worships youth because everything else he can derive.
29 August 2014
Club Villa Malcolm in Córdoba
Stilettos are indispensable for gliding backwards---reluctantly, pointedly, delicately. Long flowing hair does not belong; it suggests gravitation. The function, communication, dictates shape.
Common to both dance and architecture is the principle that what looks better feels better. Dancing is an inherently urban activity. A choreographed ballet is an exercise in urban planning. A social dance is an evolving medieval city. Awareness of, and merging with, others is an urban pursuit.
One experiences oneself through others, who motivate one to be, to change---or to have the others replaced. The gratification from enlisting (with) others merges the selfish and the selfless. It is an evolved stimulus for social learning.
Common to both dance and architecture is the principle that what looks better feels better. Dancing is an inherently urban activity. A choreographed ballet is an exercise in urban planning. A social dance is an evolving medieval city. Awareness of, and merging with, others is an urban pursuit.
One experiences oneself through others, who motivate one to be, to change---or to have the others replaced. The gratification from enlisting (with) others merges the selfish and the selfless. It is an evolved stimulus for social learning.
25 August 2014
Sheldon in Honduras
The music is just a bit too loud. The cigarette smoke is just a bit too thick. The place is just a bit too perfect. One can think in silence, in shorthand, and breathe the pure oxygen of civilisation.
Enveloped in the bossa nova rhythm, the girls kiss, audibly, with a cigarette tucked between two fingers. The lighting is cinematic, the smoke natural, the red deep and soft, the blue distant, the soundtrack muted orange. The patrons traverse; ever polite, the waiters manoeuvre, assist, never serve.
Enveloped in the bossa nova rhythm, the girls kiss, audibly, with a cigarette tucked between two fingers. The lighting is cinematic, the smoke natural, the red deep and soft, the blue distant, the soundtrack muted orange. The patrons traverse; ever polite, the waiters manoeuvre, assist, never serve.
29 July 2014
Rojo Tango
(Faena Hotel, 27 July 2014)
Just like all social dances, tango has evolved to please the dancers, not the audience. To convert such a dance into a show, one must mix it with ballet, which has evolved to please the audience, not the dancers. Lyrical and adaptable to any tempo---within a phrase---tango is uniquely suited for such a cross.
Tango has evolved to court the female spirit, intensely and desperately---not a particular woman. Restrained, tango loses its soul.
Whether created with prostitutes in mind, tango is rather suited for brothels. It can strip the parties of their anonymity or confer upon them anonymising rôles---whichever they choose---thereby elevating the transaction above consensual mutual rape.
Just like all social dances, tango has evolved to please the dancers, not the audience. To convert such a dance into a show, one must mix it with ballet, which has evolved to please the audience, not the dancers. Lyrical and adaptable to any tempo---within a phrase---tango is uniquely suited for such a cross.
Tango has evolved to court the female spirit, intensely and desperately---not a particular woman. Restrained, tango loses its soul.
Whether created with prostitutes in mind, tango is rather suited for brothels. It can strip the parties of their anonymity or confer upon them anonymising rôles---whichever they choose---thereby elevating the transaction above consensual mutual rape.
14 July 2014
The World Cup Final
(Le Pain Quotidian in Armenia, 13 July 2014)
The defeat in the Falklands conflict has put an end to the dictatorship that bet on the success of its military campaign. Lives improved.
The defeat in the World Cup Final is not an analogous blessing in disguise. However much governments may wish to deploy football as the opium of the people, national teams are not government-led. A national team is an enterprise of a couple of dozen of Everyman capable of rallying near-universal support. A national team gives its people the confidence that they are substantial enough to make democracy work.
Football is a zero-sum game most of the time; it indulges the instinct not only to do well, but also to crush others. Art may directly or indirectly cater to the desire to crush in its narrative. If the high from the crush is sought also in art creation, art becomes sport. If a player plays a game that is richer than the one narrowly prescribed by the rules, his sport becomes art. When guided by intelligence and the passion to create---not the mere instinct to crush---a sport acquires a narrative and becomes positive-sum.
Sport is not about learning to lose. Life delivers numerous opportunities to practice that. (Besides, winning is the hard part.) Sport teaches how to take responsibility while the game is still being played.
The defeat in the Falklands conflict has put an end to the dictatorship that bet on the success of its military campaign. Lives improved.
The defeat in the World Cup Final is not an analogous blessing in disguise. However much governments may wish to deploy football as the opium of the people, national teams are not government-led. A national team is an enterprise of a couple of dozen of Everyman capable of rallying near-universal support. A national team gives its people the confidence that they are substantial enough to make democracy work.
Football is a zero-sum game most of the time; it indulges the instinct not only to do well, but also to crush others. Art may directly or indirectly cater to the desire to crush in its narrative. If the high from the crush is sought also in art creation, art becomes sport. If a player plays a game that is richer than the one narrowly prescribed by the rules, his sport becomes art. When guided by intelligence and the passion to create---not the mere instinct to crush---a sport acquires a narrative and becomes positive-sum.
Sport is not about learning to lose. Life delivers numerous opportunities to practice that. (Besides, winning is the hard part.) Sport teaches how to take responsibility while the game is still being played.
7 July 2014
Tango Porteño
(Tango Porteño, 6 July 2014)
Life's autonomy makes living beautiful. One cannot subjugate the events; one is manipulated by them. One is surprised; relieved of responsibility. One learns.
The exercise of basic liberties confirms one's existence. The exercise of power---physical, emotional, intellectual---in various proportions---multiplies this existence. So does trust.
One may seek balance. Or one may assimilate the extremes and tango: not dejected-apparatchik tango, but unleashed ballet-deity tango, as in the blindfold dance, spoken as if one has been given but a single chance to speak. One has.
Life's autonomy makes living beautiful. One cannot subjugate the events; one is manipulated by them. One is surprised; relieved of responsibility. One learns.
The exercise of basic liberties confirms one's existence. The exercise of power---physical, emotional, intellectual---in various proportions---multiplies this existence. So does trust.
One may seek balance. Or one may assimilate the extremes and tango: not dejected-apparatchik tango, but unleashed ballet-deity tango, as in the blindfold dance, spoken as if one has been given but a single chance to speak. One has.
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