Saturday, March 8, 2008

A Nightmare In Red

Last night I went to the Faculty Dance Concert because my friend Christian was performing in it. He had mentioned that at the end was a thirty minute tribute to Queen, so I was more than willing to sit through a bunch of dances that would undoubtedly make no sense to my poor mind just to party out at the end. What I wasn't expecting, though, was to understand more than I expected to.

The first dance of the night was a ballet that told the story of two young people as they fought, wooed, and ended up together. That I understood this was amazing in and of itself, but during the dance I was...horribly distracted. Because of a set of red tights. Let's just say the lead male in the dance was wearing tight red tights and had way too much junk in his trunk. We came to the conclusion that his vanity got the better of him and that he stuffed. I don't think I will ever, and I mean ever, be able to think of that kid the same way ever again.

After that came a dance all about the different games people play. My favorite part was the Simon Says portion. Kara and Matt played Simon Says with Matt actually calling out commands and Kara dancing them. It made me happy. Oh, and the Red Light, Green Light portion made me pretty happy, too. Some of the dancing was a bit shotty in the beginning--something I notice because I am OCD about having everything perfectly timed--and I was afraid that I was going to have to suffer through the rest of the show.

And then in the second act a dance came along that fit one of the characters in my book's relationship with his first girlfriend so perfectly it hurt. The first time through the choreography they danced to words on the screen that displayed the girl's thoughts and the occasional speaking of certain phrases, and I noticed how she was constantly going off about loving him but he never really mentioning it. As her portion came to an end she got up and left, but the guy stayed. When they repeated the choreography it was to music, and it reflected the guys thoughts. At the end he left and walked out of the side door that is backstage. It was called Untitled (Regret) for a reason.

After that, of course, came awesome on a stick as we came to the last piece. Five Queen songs in a row with some of the silliest choreography made me happy enough that there weren't words. I wanted to get up and dance along, but figured they might have an issue with that so I stayed seated. The best laugh, though, was right at the beginning. Christian and all of the guys in the show came out in white tank tops, black spandex pants, and red sarongs and danced to "I Want To Break Free." Holy. Crap. Right at the end they were rolling over the floor trying to be sexyfine, and with the last notes of the song ripped off their tanktops. Amberle and I were laughing so hard it was difficult to pay attention to "Bicycle Race." Oh, and "Love of My Life" featured a point ballet piece that was absolutely gorgeous. I know the girl who did the dance because of Costume Construction Lab, and she's an amazing dancer. Even Laura, who could have danced with Ballet West if she dropped twenty pounds, said she did an absolutely fantastic job.

So even thought the night started out shaky with missed cues and dancers who couldn't seem to remember their choreography by the end of the night I was enchanted. Just, please, don't mention red tights near me or I might cry.

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