Radio and Juliet

Well I guess I am going to jump on the Radio and Juliet bandwagon. It was, without a doubt, one of the best shows I have ever seen. It contained all of the elements necessary to make a great dance show. The progression of the story was present, but in a much more abstract way then I am used to seeing with Romeo and Juliet, and it was very interesting to be able to interpret which dancer was which character, how exactly the story was progressing, and what each symbol meant. There was a lemon used as a prop, which was very interesting, and could be interpreted in many different ways, and I liked the ambiguity of it. Another aspect of the performance that added to the story was the use of the projections. The first projection used showed the ending of the story, and from there the rest of the story seemed to be told as a look back at what had happened, which gave the dance and story a new twist. I was also amazed at how well the music matched the dance and how it gave new meaning to the story.

Although all these aspects gave the dance a new perspective, the part that made it stand out in my mind was the dancing itself. It was great how precise the dancers were with their movement. The muscularity of the dancers' movement was really amazing and the movement appeared very strong because of it. This made me think about how we have been talking about using our muscles correctly in class and in the dance it really showed how important it is to be constantly thinking about engaging muscles. It was clear that the dancers were always using their muscles in their rotation, extension, and generally all of their movements. They were so committed to the movement and the performance that their confidence really helped make the dance such a success.