Critical Evaluation
Dance Review
As I stood waiting in the big, open space of New York City’s Daryl Roth Theatre for the show Fuerza Bruta: LOOK UP to begin, I hadn’t a clue as to the riveting experience I was to embark upon that evening, the 14th of March, 2009. The visual effects were absolutely phenomenal, and aside from being in complete awe of how they even came up with the ideas for the show, and of its set pieces, I wondered how in the world they even got a “45-foot clear-bottom tilting pool, hung from the ceiling and only partly filled; flying, building-size Mylar curtains; and the moving treadmill” into that space to begin with. (Ryzik) I absolutely agree with what’s stated on its New York City website, “FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP is a non-stop collision of dynamic music, visceral emotion, and kinetic aerial imagery…a theatrical experience that floods the senses.”(“FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP”)
The room was almost in complete darkness until a beaming light shinned in my eyes. The audience grew silent and a man dressed in a white suit appeared, walking against a black backdrop, and on what seemed to be a very large, moving treadmill. He went from walking to running, being shot at, and rained on, then joined by others, walking his opposite as he struggled to get through them. I was soon to find out that at various times through out the entire performance, the ushers guided the audience to move around the square space in a certain direction as the stage/treadmill was changing its position. Also, music of sounds, and vocals without words were played, creating a rhythmic pattern intertwined with the movements, and speed of the dancers and the lighting, along with its intensity. It ranged from a soft, almost dreamy-like mellowness, to one of wild extremity. The lights went out, and the performance ran through nine different pieces before returning to its initial scene, which closed the performance. Some of which were repetitions used more for fun fillers like dancers performing a unified routine and breaking pieces of cardboard foam, then throwing it into the audience in between the more complex scenes that were to follow.
Although all of the performances were invigorating, the ones that captivated me the most were the reappearing man from the opening and closing, the water shows, and the two girls that chased each other in mid-air. The man who we repeatedly saw walking at times alone, with, or in between people and running eventually through brick walls made of cardboard, was intriguing. I wondered what his purpose was and who, if anybody, he was running away from. Talk about visual stimulation, this scene definitely had that and then some. Long silver looking sheets circled the audience as we’re told to move closer into the middle of the space. Two women in white flowing dresses were suspended in mid-air from the ceiling dancing along the sheets, which flowed like their dresses. The lighting changed from blue to pinks and yellows, as had the music. Simultaneously dancing, both took big leaps, skipping and flipping their bodies delicately accompanied by the mellow music. The music stopped, lights went out, and then suddenly it returned with a blast of intensity. Sounds of drums being pounded, and strobe light effects were created with the flashing of yellows and pinks. As the dancers chased each other vigorously along this sheet, which was now flowing as if someone was on its end fiercely yanking it up and down causing a visual imbalance, intensified the overall dramatics of the scene. Everything was happening so fast, and all at the same time that one only hoped they weren’t missing out on something. It was absolutely amazing, and if I were to watch it twenty more times, I would probably find something new in each one.
One of the smaller water scenes was when a yellow and red-lit boxed pool with a woman on its inside and a man on the outside hung from the ceiling. The suspension was lowered about halfway between the audience and the ceiling. The two mimicked one another with slow hand gestures, changing to full-bodied radical, circular spinning, returning to the initial slow hand gestures, until they were lifted back up, and the lights went from dim to dark again. It felt like an intimate scene of courting. The much larger water show was beyond magnificent. The room was entirely dark, and the only light came from behind the dancers, who were in an enormous pool set above the audience. The light went from purple to red, as the set was lowered, and came down almost touching the heads of some in the crowd below it, allowing them the element of touch if they pleased. The figures moved in a sway-like motion, back and forth, and from side to side. The music was calm, and the gentle movements of the dancers, along with the water, made for a serene and peaceful atmosphere. The music stopped, and there was a sudden bang coming from a body that had just flown in the air, and fell into the pool sliding across it. This was followed by sounds of laughter, and other dancers repeating the same action. It began to rain, and they carried on with more enthusiasm. Even though at first it scared the living daylights out of me, watching them made me smile. An overwhelming feeling of warmth grew within me as thoughts of my childhood began to flood my mind, memories of summertime, waiting for my turn to slide across the slip and slide, and laughing hysterically once I got to the end of it, completely carefree, a child. It was a nice feeling to remember. The dancers movements were again subtle, as the set was lifted back up. The lighting transitioned to yellowish white in color, and took on a moon-like shape the further away it was.
Being that the reappearing man followed this scene, led me into thinking that maybe he represented adult life full of worries, struggles of trying to get by, or falling in love and trying to keep it. That maybe him breaking through the wall, which was followed by the large water scene, was to show us that sometimes we may need to revert to our childhood, to let go, and just be. “The language is abstract, each one thinks what they want. Absolutely abstract. Since the creation. No one knows the meaning of the work, because it doesn’t have one…Fuerzabruta doesn’t have a purpose. It is.” (“FueRZabRuTa”) Diqui James, the Creator/Artistic Director and Gaby Kerpel, the Musical Director/Composer created Fuerza Bruta in hopes “to continue creating, reinventing oneself to oneself and transforming oneself in an experience that is unique and unrepeatable…The theatre is creation in space…We want to break intellectual submission of the language…A space where the pressure of the senses affect the mind. Where the speed of the stimuli that the spectator receives, supersedes the intellectual reation. That the emotion arrives before, always before…Without translation. Without anesthesia. Brutally happy.” (“FueRZabRuTa”) One must go and see this show for themselves, in order to truly understand and feel any of these experiences.
Please click here to view images from the show.
Works Cited
Ryzik. Melena. “Hoist the Curtain, Prepare the Pool, It’s Almost Showtime,” The New
York Times 22 October 2007. Web.12 Apr 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/
2007/10/22/arts/22fuer.html>.
“About.” FUERZA BRUTA: LOOK UP. 12 Apr 2009
<http://www.fuerzabrutanyc.com/about.html>.
“Concepts.” FueRZabRuTa. 12 Apr 2009 <http://www.fuerzabruta.net/website/
fuerza_eng.html>.
