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AUDIENCE REVIEW: 8 in A Show Opener

Company:
Vanessa Long Dance Company

Performance Date:
February 24th 2016

Freeform Review:

This was my first time attending a performance at Dixon Place and my first time seeing this company. I usually stay away from dance shows and lean more towards plays and musicals. I find them easier to understand and less abstract then most dance works I have seen. Although I was pleasantly surprised by the first piece in the 8 in a show performance. It was completely engaging and told a story I all too well identified with. The work entitled "Girls Will Be Girls" told a story of harassment that I and many others so often experience on the streets. It even shows the agony over picking an outfit to avoid unwanted attention and needing to be seen with a member of the opposite sex in order to avoid harassment. What I found particularly interesting was the choreographers choice in gender roles. This issue is usually viewed as a female issue yet The choreographer used a cast of females and one male to tell the story. The roles were reversed with a female being the harasser and the male being the harassed. At first I saw this as silly, but as the work progressed I found it interesting that how we view these gender roles in our current society. Parts that I found funny with the male character, if the characters gender was reversed I would have found horrifying. The movement of the piece was engaging and ever changing. The entire piece heavily involved interactions between the characters, which as a fan of plays I deeply enjoyed. The rest of the show and the other choreographers work was beautiful and all different in its own way. I had an overall wonderful time at the show but I was deeply effected by The Vanessa Long Dance Company's work and I hope to see more of their work in the future.