Ballet

Another check box in life - i watched a live ballet performance yesterday.
It was Mountain view center for performing arts (mvcpa.com) - it is right opposite my office and i had never been there. Kind of shameful but as they say - "better late than never".

The group performing was Contemporary C ballet - http://www.companycballet.org/ . I thought that the event would be sold out but it wasn't, infact the auditorium was 60% empty. The group's artistic director - Charles Anderson in his introduction said - "I have a dream that one day you will come here to buy a ticket and you will say what? sold out?" I liked his confidence :)

The performance had 4 pieces -
(a) Beautiful maladies - two couples dancing on about 6 songs - all jazz songs. Songs started with each couple knowing their partner as friends, then valentine, then married, then marriage gone sour and lastly - i can live without you. Their site describes this piece as "an emotional journey through the complexities of love". Music was quite good. It was by Richard Rodgers. I have check him out.
(b) Nine person ball precision - This was my fav. I will write about it in detail below.
(c) Cavalcade - 7 person dance. I am sorry that i didn't get the story here. I give this link which explains this piece - http://www.companycballet.org/popup_2010_winter.html
(d) Last was Charles Anderson's directed piece - Dreams to remember. I think this review covers my thoughts as well - http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_10/mar10/rr_rev_company_c_contemporary_ballet_0210.htm

All in all, a delightful experience. One thing that i notices was the lack of symmetry in the performances. Of all the shows that i have seen on television like those olympic opening ceremonies with huge groups, one thing that stands out in all of them is the symmetry and coordinated moments. And it is a joy to watch a group of people performing same moves at the same time and symmetry comes from their coordinates. But in all the performances above (Except ofcourse the nine precision ball passing) both symmetry and coordinated moves were ignored and i think intentionally. It was great to watch a group of people (esp in cavalcade) dancing in their own rhythm, with their own moves yet there was a coherency in the group. "The group as a collection of individuals with each individual a part of the group" - group and individual dynamics coming together. Also noteworthy was that the number of female members and male members were also not the same. Maybe it was due to some members being injured but it was interesting to watch the performance.

And now the Nine precision ball passing - It was directed by Charles Moulton and apparently there is a whole project called ball passing. Do check it out at - http://ballpassing.com/ . What it is at the end is that there are 9 people standing in a grid like fashion 3 rows, 3 cols each holding a ball and then as the music begins, they all start passing balls. And it is the coordination in which they pass balls makes all the difference. And what makes it more interesting is the combinations in which ball can be passed from one person to another. If you have ever solved a sudoku and have tried to fill numbers in that 3x3 grid, you may get some idea on the different combinations. It was exactly the same thing here. Do watch the documentary/video on ballpassing.com, as Charled Moulton explains it, this simple thing is probably one of the best things to foster group dynamics. Since there are so many moves and so synchronization, dropping of balls is inevitable and the smooth in which the contemporary c artists recovered was a delight to watch.