Analyzing Contemporary Ballet: A Cal State Show Review

Concert Critique Assignment

I attended the Cal State University Long Beach student performance on Saturday, April 23rd. I stayed from opening to closing act, all together there were seven acts performed. Although all of them were intriguing in their own way, act three was the one that was most impressive to me because of the choreography, the performance, and the costumes that went along with the incredible dancers. Act three consisted of a contemporary/ modern ballet show. The nature of this artwork was a solid medium paced performance that sped up with occasion. The dancers were mostly female with the acceptance of one main lead who was the sharpest in her movements. The space was well used because the dancers never stood in place, they

The main character had a nervous facial expression that never left and she played the worried role very well. I couldn't really read into the play enough to see why she felt that way because I felt it was more of an abstract performance so in my own interpretation I sensed she was lost and indifferent from the rest of the crowd, as she was the main focus. She was almost like an animal after it is taken from it’s home and left to tend to itself. The reason I say an animal is because the colors of the costumes each character was wearing were earth tones, it reminded me of something you would see in the forest, they were much more modern style than a leotard and tu tu. The outfits were also raggedy so they were not precise like we see in classical ballet but that just enhanced the forest- vibe I received from the act. I couldn’t help but notice that the dancers also had such muscular bodies rather than being small and proportioned, this is something I am not used to seeing but appreciate because you can just take a single look at their bodies and instantly see how much time and effort goes into their performances which I can relate too. The music also played a huge role because it wasn’t light music meaning that it sounded most familiar to the music that plays when something not so good is about to happen, it had a heavy tempo that was persistent throughout the