The Rise of the Art Form Known as Dance Theatre

This past Wednesday, I was fortunate to attend two NYMF press events. The first was in the morning, and featured performers from several shows performing a song from their show. Three of the other interns were there, so I won’t touch much on that, only will mention that my favorite performance was from The Yellow Wood, and I also really liked the performance of Tully (in no particular order).

But I lucked out that my afternoon class was cancelled this past Wednesday, due to Rosh Hashanah, so I was able to event the afternoon event, where I got to watch three dance performances from three heavy-dance musicals. Or, you could say, examples of “dance theatre.”

Now, the integration of dance to the story being told by a musical has been slowly increasing since the debut of the American musical. In the early twentieth century, when American musicals featured flimsy plots, and shows seemed to be more like different Vaudeville acts performed in succession, dance did not have a heavy part in telling the “story.” Usually, characters would randomly burst into dance, and then the show would continue as if the dance had never happened. It was seen strictly as entertainment, and not something that had to be perfectly integrated into the rest of the show.

Of course, that has changed drastically over the years. The first person to recognize that dance can have an affect on the overall story was Agnes de Mille, choreographer of Oklahoma! She conceived of a dream ballet for Laurie that would illustrate her dilemma and fears of having to choose between Jud and Curly. By showcasing her deeper fears about Jud, the ballet clearly showed audiences that Laurie preferred Curly, and so the dance became a part of the story.

Jerome Robbins took the idea of dance as a storytelling form to another level in most of his shows, but particularly in West Side Story. The entire first ten minutes or so of the musical are told strictly through dance and non-vocal music. The dance told audiences everything that they needed to know about the feuding of the gangs. Similarly, many important moments of the show are told through dance: Tony and Maria’s first meeting, and the dual killing of Riff and Bernardo, for instance. Bob Fosse’s choreography became so integral to his musicals that several dance moves are now associated as a Fosse move. His choreography conveyed the moods of his shows – the kind of dark, tempting mood that shapes such shows as Chicago and Pippin. Michael Bennett took it a step further, as not only did dance tell the story in A Chorus Line, but the story of A Chorus Line was dance. And then all-dance shows began coming to Broadway, such as Contact and Movin’ Out.

Still, there is something that separates even the most recent dance shows from some of the shows that will be premiering at the NYMF. The pieces known as examples of “dance theatre” tend to feature hardly any words, either in dialogue or lyrics. The story is told entirely through dance. The first piece of dance theatre that I saw was Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands at BAM, which was essentially a ballet. Composers expanded the score of the movie, but no songs were sung, yet the story was very easy to follow, even to those who had not seen the movie.

Which brings me back to the NYMF press event. Three shows offered performances, and then cast and the creative team spoke about each show’s particular story, and what story they were trying to convey through the dance.

The first performance came from Platforms, and their main form of dance was tap. But this wasn’t tap that came from the days of Vaudeville; this was intense, emotion-bearing tap dance. The theme of Platforms is life in New York City – the sounds, the environment, what New Yorkers dream of doing every day, and what some actually do every day.

The excerpt that I watched took place in Washington Square Park. There was a sort of “lady of the park,” and the piece explored her relationship with an ex-boyfriend. Several dance-offs took place, as if each person was trying to get the other on their side. There was an appropriate tension in the tapping, and it really did illustrate the sounds of New York. Exploring New York City platforms is a fascinating choice, as it is the one place where people from every different background and personal history are forced to come together. The piece in fact has five different choreographers, and I’m very interested to see how all of their work integrates into a cohesive whole.

The next performance came from Step. In theory, Step does not match the criteria that I have set forth for dance theatre, as there is a speaker/reader in addition to a step dancer. Even so, the words spoken added very much to the actual step dancing. The excerpt I watched was about connecting the art to its people -- step dancing with its African heritage, and also communication of the moving body. Though there was no music in the excerpt, the combination of the rhythm-speaking, and the noise of step-dancing created an appropriate score. Step dancing has been sort of an underground art form, and this is an opportunity to bring it “above ground,” so to speak. There is already wonderful buzz surrounding Step, as both of its performances are already entirely sold out.

But my favorite performance of the afternoon came from Freshly Tossed, for it introduced a form that I, at least, had never seen before: dance theatre comedy. Dance is often used as an expression as drama, so it was great seeing it used in comedic form. This excerpt featured two air guitarists falling in love. At first, there was just a male air guitarist, fooling around -- dropping the guitar, fitting it into his pants, etc. Then when he meets the female air guitarist, they try every which way to air guitar off of each other, and even while they’re dancing. The actors’ facial expressions made the whole dance hysterical, and it was well received by those in the audience. It was as if the excerpt had its own laugh track.

I was never a huge fan of dance for its own sake, but I am beginning to feel differently about dance theatre. It’s fascinating the way the creators are able to use dance to tell the story, and how original each piece that does it feels. Anyone that is interested in exploring new art forms, including dance theatre, should definitely check out some shows at NYMF.