“& swan song” will leave you emotionally breathless

Last night, dance-enthusiast and Staff Writer Jennie Nugent has the distinct pleasure of attending “& swan song,” a dance composition of five dancers produced through the CoLab Performing Arts Collective. Navigating the heavy emotional themes of the performance, here are Jennie’s thoughts on the dance.

After attending “& swan song” last night in the Glicker-Milstein Theatre, it took a while to sort through the emotions brought out by the evocative dance performance. The performance is described as looking at “violence and death as juxtaposed next to that of tenderness and intimacy,” and in its attempt to explore those weighty themes, the show completely delivered. The performers carefully treaded the line between brilliant and bizarre, and the performance called upon the audience to tap into their own experiences and emotions to engage with the themes of the dances.

Following the performance, the audience gave the performers a true standing ovation, and snippets of high praise were heard from the majority of the audience on their way out of the doors. Personally, I thought the performance was thoroughly fantastic, and I would highly recommend it to anyone willing to face some heavy themes and their own emotions. In order to help future viewers prepare for the ultra-modernism they are about to enjoy at this performance, I want to address four points regarding elements of the performance and how to get the most out of attending the show:

1. Take the themes as both literal and figurative: The performance starts with all five dancers laying on the ground and moving one limb at a time, leading into an uncanny imitation of actual swans. Swans are known for being incredibly violent in real life, but surprisingly, swans also mate for life. With this theme, the subject matter explored in the performance is perfectly captured by the physical and emotional representations of a swan, as in the title of the performance.
2. Enjoy the funny moments: The dance, despite addressing some fairly dark themes in violence and death, managed to incorporate plenty of humor and levity. At points, dancers demonstrated the swagger and physicality of stereotypical males, establishing a sense of hilarity. Later in the show, the dancers created a silent, slow-motion laugh track that had the audience providing the sound, tying together even more actual audience involvement.
3. Dive-in and go deep: In this type of performance, the audience has to buy into the narrative in order to get anything out of the show. Each dance is crafted with a specific theme in mind, one that investigates an aspect of the tense relationships shown onstage, and each point of view requires viewer participation. At one point, an audience member was pulled into the show to receive an extended hug.
4. Recognize the dancers’ experience: Each of the performers clearly has great training and great experience. The choreographers are twins India and Ananda Gonzalez, and the movements they choreographed for the dancers were by no means classical, but still exhibited each performer’s technical ability.

“& swan song” is an incredibly complex and amazingly performed piece, and I highly recommend taking the time to attend one of the remaining performances on April 29th or April 30th, both at 7:00 PM. While there are many Columbia dance groups that do more traditional styles, this is a truly unique experience and an emotionally-provocative performance that is absolutely worth attending and appreciating.

“& swan song” promotional photo via Facebook by Reva Santo