When contemporary dance gets ruined

So Miss C and I went to watch the Short+Sweet Dance Gala that was happening at KLPac tonight. Short+Sweet dance had been going on for 2 weeks. Essentially showcasing 10 contemporary dances for week 1 and the more senior choreographers for week 2 (again 10 contemporary dances). Top 5 for each week were then invited back for the gala tonight.

I watched week 1, and it was so good that Miss C and I decided to go back for the gala night. We were deffinitely not disappointed. In fact Im proud to say that contemporary dance is alive and well in Malaysia. Dances are strong with meaning, good structure and story line and executed beautifully with plays on music, lighting, and picture slides. It seriously put a huge smile on my face and reminded me of that longing to start dancing again.

My favourite piece from Week 1 and again showcased tonight was Mirrors. There were 2 regular dancers and 2 handicapped dancers in this piece. It.was.amazing.

At times so painful that it breaks your heart and makes you just want to cry and say enough! but then at other times it just makes you think... wow... just wow... and how we always feel bad for the handicapped, but yet, here they are, just as well as we are.

I prolly am not doing it justice, but trust me, it was amazing. As were some other dances (personal favs; passive, nunuk ragang (THIS is how you turn a traditional dance contemporary), walking with angels (for its beautiful choreography) and Hungry for Hope (refreshing fusion of traditional indian dance elements with modern messages)

Now here is where the show gets RUINED. During Diaries '09, the line of their supporters sitting behind us started CHEERING! like SCREAMING! during their show. Seems like the performers were trained in wushu or a similar martial arts background. The guys were doing jumps and some flips, and these few stupid girls behind us started CHEERING. The entire audience was just quiet... and appaled! I mean, come on! did you think this was a CHEERLEADING CONTEST? Its a freaking contemporary dance SHOWCASE. Have you NEVER seen any jumps or flips? You OBVIOUSLY have no idea how to behave in such a setting. It was pretty sad, because while the dance itself was quite good, the crowd was far too distracted and appaled by these few idiots who insisted to keep on screaming (think theatre setting ok where everyone is sitting quietly and trying to enjoy the show. And maybe with 100 people in there only). So people were shifting focus between the dance and shooting dagger looks at the line of idiots. Part of me wanted them to LOSE the showcase because I was so pissed at them.

Then of course there was the Zapin Berangin. Wth? We watched them during Week 1 and already thought that this was seriously out of context. It was obvious that the dancers were VERY schooled in traditional zapin (Malay) dancing. Its the kind of performance that you expect at Colors of Malaysia or at some Sultan show or something.

Not.at.a.CONTEMPORARY.dance.show.

Miss C and I were EVEN MORE surprised when we found out that they made it to gala night. wth? obviously political was my guess. We tried to dechiper it and see if there was ANYTHING contemporary at all. Nothing. Not like Nunuk Ragang which succesfully fused and interpreted traditional into contemporary with messages, Zapin Berangin was just that... Zapin dancing. Good Zapin dance sure, but not CONTEMPORARY dancing.

AAARRRGGHHHH

Miss C and I were so pissed we left the show before they announced the winner. Who knows, those idiots fans of Diary '09 would prolly be screaming for their team to win or something

*PHEW* I feel a bit better getting that off my chest

But lets take away the good. Like I said, the dances... amazing, interesting and refreshing. Makes me look forward to the next round of Short+Sweet Dance