Author Archive
Correction: ‘Dancing to Ancient Rhythms’
Two major components of my review of Dancing to Ancient Rhythms were that it featured mostly white female dancers performing cultural tourism, and that it looked like a dance recital for a dance class. Karen McLane, the head of the Ancient Rhythms dancce company, responded to my criticism in the comments, but seeing as she also pointed out two errors, I think that her remarks deserve their own post.
McLane writes: “The ladies performing were Indian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese rather than “mostly Caucasian”, and the company is most certainly not comprised of my students. Rather, they are performers with extensive professional performance background coming from ballet, modern, and Georgian dance companies, and we perform regularly for corporate, embassy, and special events. I am loath to categorize these women as students performing in a recital (ouch). Finally, the majority of the choreography is a far cry from “belly dance”, but rather a fuller fusion of many dance forms.”
I stand by my initial assessment that it looked like a recital (though not a bad one: In my review I wrote, “the costumes are exquisite, the performers are elegant and seductive, and the dancing is very, very good.”) I also stand by my criticism that it lacked a compelling narrative or sense of plot, to which McLane also responded in her comment.
Hip Shot: ‘Dancing to Ancient Rhythms’
Dancing to Ancient Rhythms
The Apothecary at the Trading Post
Remaining Performances:
Saturday, July 25 @ 2:30 p.m.
They say: “Visually stunning vignettes of the sacred and profane, the transcendent and mundane. Theatrical dance inspired by the wisdom of the East in a captivating first Fringe Festival performance by the critically acclaimed Ancient Rhythms Dance Company.”
Mike says: Before I rip into this show as a terrible, terrible fit for Fringe, let me just say that the costumes are exquisite, the performers are elegant and seductive, and the dancing is very, very good. Despite all that, this show is the worst Fringe has to offer.
Why? Because Dancing to Ancient Rhythms is an hour of belly dances performed by students of the Ancient Rhythms Dance Company, some of whom are still in high school. In other words, it’s a dance recital. On top of that, it’s located in the Apothecary, which is poorly insulated for temperature and sound—the latter so much so that last night’s dance routines were frequently interrupted by what sounded like a much more interesting show next door.
Hip Shot: ‘Bare Breasted Women Sword Fighting’
Bare Breasted Women Sword Fighting
Source
Remaining Performances:
Jul 17th at 10:30 p.m.
Jul 18th at 10:30 p.m.
Jul 19th at 8 p.m.
Jul 22nd at 8 p.m.
Jul 23rd at 8 p.m.
Jul 24th at 10:30 p.m.
Jul 25th at 10:30 p.m.
Jul 26th at 6 p.m.
They say: “A scintillating spectacular, this vaudeville unleashes the feminine mystique in a whirl of petticoats and a dazzling display of strength, swords, and skin. Behold brutal buxom beauties! Take in tantalizing ta-ta titans! Look-don’t touch-the titillating, tangoing Bare Breasted Women.”
Mike says: I stayed up past my bedtime last night, pondering what Dog & Pony DC’s cabaret-cum-cotton-candied-snuff show owes Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. The production felt like a visual and textual celebration of negative female stereotypes: The tough warrior princess vs. the over-sexed, daddy-issue-riddled damsel in distress; the “Amazing Rubber Woman” who can bounce back from (see: rationalize and forgive) countless acts of domestic violence; androgynous and uncivilized Amazons who battle for their mistress’ pleasure while hunched over and smeared with chocolate syrup; the beautiful but modestly dressed mute helpers who close the show by playing strip Tango with rapiers instead of playing cards.
Hip Shot: “Headscarf and the Angry Bitch”
Headscarf and the Angry Bitch by Zehra Fazal
Warehouse – Next Door
Remaining Performances:
Jul 17th at 8:30 p.m.
Jul 18th at 3:30 p.m.
They say: “Join Zed Headscarf on a tongue-in-cheek romp through faith and growing up Muslim in America. Featuring hits like ‘The Only Thing I’ll Do Five Times a Day is You’ and ‘I Lost My Virginity During Ramadan.’ This beef ain’t halal!”
Mike’s take: The future of American-Islamic relations could hinge on this one-woman show. Before Muslim folk-rocker Zed Headscarf (Zehra Fazal) got involved, America’s most memorable depictions of Islam were a.) Lil Kim sporting a hijab and not much else on the cover of One World and b.) that episode of Southpark wherein the boys travel to Afghanistan to return a mail-order goat to its starving family. (And to kill Osama bin Laden, who, in the words of Cartman, “has a small penis.”) No wonder those pious clerics up and declared America’s objectification of women and obsession with dick jokes as deserving of–dare I say it?–jihad! Zed Headscarf, infidel-licking lesbian though she be, really could change all that.
