Dance Review: 1, 2, 3, 4, — Go Beowulf!
April 14, 2009 by iDANZ Today
Filed under iDANZ Critix Corner -Dance Reviews, Performance Art - Dance, Reviews, Theater Dance
Beowulf: “This is how tough I am: 1, 2, 3, 4” – break into campy rock and roll.
Storytelling transfers from the academics’ narration to the actors’ illustration, with various intermediary relationships. In a very fun scene, the battle between Beowulf and Grendel’s mother (Beowulf has previously slain Grendel), aquariums are pulled onstage to symbolize the sea. The academics get into a water fight and spray the audience. But, with the potential to be thought provoking and illuminating, too often the academics’ dialogue feels geared to an elementary school audience.
Grendel’s mother, Jessica Jelliff, is intensely engaging with her bent-over stance and fierce voice in mourning her lost son and then attacking Beowulf. Throughout the show there is recurrence of eating/consumption and the graphic description of violence. As physical theater moments resonate, sometimes parody manifests as a mockery or lack of physicalization. The first fight, between Beowulf and Grendel, is acted in a pretending manner. This nonchalance comes up in the words as well; in the final battle between academic/dragon and Beowulf, the academic casually repeats, “That’s just not cool” at the heat of an argument.
The experimentation with a nonchalant manner in telling the story presents an interesting concept, but it proves too easy to undercut the story. Regardless, Beowulf is entertaining, and who would have thought it could be a fun Rock’n’Roll musical?
iDANZ Critix Corner
Official Dance Review by Leah Schrager
Performance: Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage
Choreographer(s): Banana Bag & Bodice
Venue: Abrons Art Center, New York City
Date: April 12, 2009
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