9/11: In the face of evil, art endures: Paul Taylor's Promethean Fire, Big Dance Theater's Shunkin, Mark Morris' V, Salvador Tavora's Carmen.
http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/911-in-the-face-of-evil-art-endures/1644/
Paul Taylor Dance Company in Promethean Fire; featuring Michael Trusnovec and Annmaria Mazzini. Photographer: Paul B.
Facing an impending wave of cultural tributes to 9/11, I think back on the days following the attack. The entire city reeked of that acrid burning smell that we suspected was the entire contents of the Twin Towers, people included, that would last for months. But New York being New York, life went on, if not with more urgency than before the attack. I went ahead and attended an interpretation by Salvador Távora of Carmen at City Center the next night, where the smoky haze that pervaded the auditorium remains, sadly, the most prominent memory I have of that show, other than how brave the company was merely to go on. (They did not charge for tickets, amazingly.) In the days following, I saw Big Dance Theater’s Shunkin at The Kitchen, and by then the undying smoke smell had yielded somewhat to the powerful imagery and skilled alchemy of the company’s mixed media productions.
In the months that followed, the cultural calendar that had been fixed in place months or years before marched on inexorably, but the content had suddently been charged with monumental purpose. Had we lost entirely our sense of humor or irony? Could we focus on lighter topics without seeming brusque? Even the random fluttering paper or flailing limb had taken on gut-wrenching allusions.
