Awesome day. I finally saw two great shows. Then headed over to meet Angela at the festival bar, The Works, for some Riot Girl Sing-a-long. The Works is in a very cool old factory. The pic of the dark stage is the pre-show for FOLK-S- you can kind of make out the shapes of the dancers upstage.
Performance Notes:
Holcombe Waller “Requiem Mass:LGBT/Working Title” “A ceremonial choral work invoking remembrance and peace for the dead who have suffered persecution for their sexual orientation or gender expression” Some really beautiful pieces in a variety of canonical styles sung by a choir of largely untrained LGBTQ folks. Interspersed with readings and call and response passages. My favorite was a plainsong chant. There was a heartbreaking section where the names of every single transgender murder victim in the United States in 2015 was read aloud and the audience repeated their names. In line for another show the next day, I heard someone talk about how uncomfortable the piece felt in a religious setting (Trinity Episcopal Church). To me it felt like a pretty sober and hear-wrenching reclamation of space, and a transformation of a church into a space where this community can experience love and acceptance, and also grieve.
Alessandro Sciarroni “FOLK-S Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” Sciarroni practices a sort of post-modern anthropology of ritual dance. It starts with a very accurate, almost mechanical rote of a Bavarian Folk Dance Schuhplatter, which translates to “Shoesplatter”. Its really fucking cool. Its a really complicated sequence you can check out HERE. It is performed by 20-something dancers in non-formal street clothes. The dancers emerge from a dark stage wearing blindfolds, and perform a series of complex routines with stunning accuracy. The blindfolds come off, and a performer addresses the audience: “We will keep doing this dance until you leave the theater, or we leave the stage” So its set up as a contest of stamina. The dance is juxtaposed with music and soundscapes that fluxtuate between total dissonance and disjunctivity with the piece, and a really unexpected harmony with the piece. At one point its ear-splitting white noise, other times ocean waves, other times fat electronic beats. My fav was the fat beats. I did end up leaving before the end because I had to meet a friend and was worried I would be late. It definitely felt weird to leave the show, but Im also glad i experienced what it was like to accept an invitation like that from the performers. A taste of the show HERE.