Question about Dance

[lydy]

So, recently a friend showed me this video.  It is Vienna Teng's "Level Up".  www.youtube.com/watch

(I have no idea how to embed, sorry.)



It's a stunning video, and it reminded me of how much I love this kind of dance, and how much I don't know about dance.  As in, I have no idea what style(s) the dance in this video is/are.  I see some breakdance moves, but that's not the only thing going on here.  Does this fall under the rubric of "modern dance"?  Is is something more specific?

More importantly, where can I see more of this?  Especially, where in the Twin Cities can I see this live?  I don't even know what to search for, so impoverished is my vocabulary.  

Anybody have any good pointers?  

Thanks.  

Comments

[ritaxis]

I think it's regular "modern dance."

[lydy]

Others agree! Hey, I have a new thing I like, how cool is that?

[calimac]

My crack would be that it can't be "modern dance," as it's far too beautiful. But then my idea of modern dance comes from Martha Graham and Agnes DeMille, so it may be too limited. When the entire cast unites in front of the blank white background, I see echoes of Twyla Tharp, for what that's worth.

The breakdance moves are only the guy in the gymnasium. The scene of the couple behind the fixer-upper house borrows something from classical ballet. (e.g. how the man fixes his arm around the woman's waist and swings her around while she raises her feet off the floor.)

I also like the song.

The way I embed a video is to click on the "share" button on the video, then choose the "embed" option, and copy and paste the result.

[lydy]

Thanks for the embed information.

I don't like classical ballet. While bits of it are beautiful, I find much of it tedious. Too stylized, and I worry about the ballerinas' feet.

[calimac]

The bit in this video isn't classical ballet, just in the style of, and it isn't en pointe, which is the thing with the toes. (They wear reinforced shoes to do that, by the way, so it's a little less hideous than it looks.)

My point is that there's multiple types of dance going on in there. If there's a form of modern dance which includes an eclectic mix of everything else, then that's what this is. But it's not the original high modern form of modern dance, which is what I know.

[lydy]

Only slightly less hideous. Have you ever seen x-rays of a working ballerina's feet?

I really like the interactions between the dancers in this video. I worry that really abstract dance will not have the emotional kick that the dance in this video has for me. But, well, some exploration would be good, I think.

[calimac]

Found this article about the video. Take-away quote: "Teng ... half-jokingly told director Lawrence Chen she wanted to someday dance in a video, even though she knew she'd have to dance badly, since she didn't know how to dance."

[lydy]

Obviously, I have an unpracticed eye, but she looked fine, to me. On the other hand, she was also doing fairly simple stuff, even I could see that. But it integrated so well with the actual dancers.

[dancing_crow]

If you look around on Youtube you can find people dancing to unexpected songs and in unexpected places, and those kinds of things strongly resemble the video (which IS gorgeous, thank you finding it).

This is one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-tW0CkvdDI

[lydy]

Well, that was a very pretty boy. There's a fair amount of classical ballet, there, I think. I like the video, but I miss interactions between dancers, the sense that they borrow each other's movement. My favorite ice dance choreographer is Christopher Dean (of Torville and Dean) who will often design moves that literally transfer momentum from one skater to another. (Easier to do on ice, of course.)

[dancing_crow]

more like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk00gbDwGqM

I understand what you mean about sharing movement and momentum. There is a Sia song with (Channing Tatum dancing, and the tiny dancing girl who stands in for Sia) that is far more about opposition and aggression than anything else I can see.

[mrissa]

Yep, congrats, you like modern dance.

Like liking science fiction, it doesn't mean that every performance of modern dance out there will be to your taste. But you can see this kind of performance at the Northrup nearly whenever you like, sometimes at the O'Shag etc.

[lydy]

So, um, like sff there'll be dozens of sub-genres, and I'll adore some of them and hate others, and it'll all be edge cases in the end, and hard to find what I love? Excellent!

I shall investigate Northrup's schedule.

[thewayne]

All you need to do to embed a YouTube clip is look for the Share button, it's on the line below the title of the vid. Click on Embed, then Copy, and it'll copy the code to your clipboard. Create your post, then paste the code into your message. It's fairly simple.

[lydy]

Silly me, I was looking for a button that said "embed." Sigh. Thanks for the info.

[thewayne]

No problems!  You were just off by one level of abstraction. :-)

[bibliofile]

Definitely modern dance! Which can borrow from many traditions and styles, or not.

dancemn.org seems to be a local clearinhouse of info, including performances.

You might want to look for MOMIX. They are interesting and cool, though they're not always representing humans. Interacting, yes.

[ashnistrike]

FWIW, www.stuartpimsler.com is the Twin Cities-based modern dance-ish company my mother works for. Some of their stuff gets pretty weird, but the dancing is very good.

-Nameseeker