I was down in Calgary on July 2nd watching
Senses The Show and it was quite good! I didn't know what to expect from this show other than it was about the celebration of women's beauty. I searched on the internet for a better description but every site was vague and rightly so! There really is no story to the show - it truly is a celebration of women's beauty particularly chinese women. The show is broken into 4 acts with each act depicting chinese women during a time period. The 4 periods are (in order) Tang Dynasty, Modern Period, Qing Dynasty, and the Future of Women. In each act, there are about four to five songs chosen to represent that period. I'm not sure why they ordered the acts in such a way but in the Tang and Qing dynasty, the dancers were wearing simple and elegant silk clothing that was not revealing. The clothing weren't flashy and the colors were gentle with the music matching with slow and melodic tunes. In the modern period, the women were much more bold. Colors ranged from black to red and were a little more revealing. Some of the dances were fast with a mix of styles from the Western world with a twist of Asian choreography. In the futuristic period (last act), the women wore high heels and bizarre clothing. At one point, the clothing was virtually..literally see through (at least for the top half). Women were depicted to be much bolder, confident (hence the partial nakedness) without losing the elegance of traditional Chinese culture. The choreopgrahy and costumes were very creative and the music were well chosen tunes ranging from Mongolian folk dances, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini, Chopin's famous Etude No.3 to Meditation from Thais. The two singers, a soprano and tenor, also did a very good job with much emotion in their performances.
However, there were parts of it I didn't like. I didn't like how the director chose songs from his previous productions of Heaven and Earth and Terrocotta Warriors (which I saw in Vancouver) and sold cds of those productions during the intermission. Definitely felt like the songs were chosen as a marketing scheme rather than to fit the dance. Also, I felt the main theme song for the show could have been a little more redundant, especially when throughout their advertisements they would always showcase that song. The tune is quite catchy (and perhaps the only original composition) but during the 1.5 hr show, perhaps only 2-3 minutes of it was the main theme. Lastly, at the beginning of each act, one of the lead dancers or singers would come up on stage to introduce themselves and chat interactively with the audience with music playing in the background to create that philosophical effect but it didn't quite work that way. The big reason is they need to work on what they are planning to say or it could end up being comedy!! For example: Singer: "Are you guys enjoying the show?"
*Audience claps*
Singer: "I'm from Beijing and this is my first time in Calgary. I've been to many cities but I think Calgary is the best city out of all of them"
*Audience initially laughs but eventually turns into applause*
That was definitely hilarious! Anyways, it was a good performance and I even got a picture with the lead dancer. I think she is quite pretty!
Tags:
Calgary senses