Dance Review of The Envelope by David Parsons written by Faith Lawless

The Envelope

Review 

Written by Faith Lawless, Grade Seven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nhJ6dO-v5c

This past Tuesday I watched a dance called The Envelope.  The dance only lasted a mere 12 minutes, but seemed to be longer when you were watching it.  This unique dance was made by David Parsons who choreographed it, Judy Wirkula who created the costumes, Howell Binkley who did the lighting and Gioacchino Rossini who was in charge of the music.

The momentum of this dance was constantly changing, but the setting, lighting and costumes stayed the same.  The only other props besides the envelope were metal, silver trees in front of a backdrop that was completely black.  The lights were focused mainly to the middle of the stage and weren't very bright which set sort of an almost ominous feel for the dance, but it was still bright enough to see clearly.  the costumes, much like the backdrop, were all black.  If you are into very bright and vibrant performances, I'm sorry to tell you, but this play would not be for you.

Unlike the setting and lighting, the dance's pace was always changing, but always kept its focus on the one envelope.  In the beginning, it started out slow.  The dancers were moving with hesitant, slow movements as they passed around the envelope.  At one point they were all huddled around the envelope, each dancer moving closer with jerky movements one at a time and quickly backing awe after closely examining it.  Each dancer seemed to respond differently to the envelope.  Some acted as if it caused them great pain as they hunched over and made slow, injured movements.  Others seemed as though it was very important and seemed to be fighting over it.  That was when the momentum increased.  Two dancers were on stage and each one was grabbing the envelope as soon as the other would take it.  They moved in circles, each taking the envelope back from the other, and soon more dancers were on the stage.  When seven dancers were on stage they began hopping and spinning around with quick, strong motions.  That's another thing I picked up about the choreographer throughout the dance, Parsons seemed to be into circular and jumping movements.

My favorite part of the dance was when one of the dancers held the envelope in his mouth and acted like what appeared to be a frog.  He was squatting and had his hands on his ankles so they looked like legs of a frog.  He even hopped back and forth in that pose to add more of an effect to his frog character.  When he stood up on two legs and was gracefully twirling, he reminded me of a frog leaping out of the water and into the air.  I really enjoyed seeing this dance and know that many others would enjoy it as well.

Faith Lawless, Grade 7.