Posts Tagged ‘yoga and dance’

So you think you can pose

Leslie on 6:05 pm June 14th, 2010 / 3 Comments »

Why are yoga asanas, by and large, discrete? Why are they meant to be held? Who designed and named them and figured out that holding them is a good thing? More than asking what yoga is, I wonder why we do it at all. If you’re drawn to the spiritual aspects, what do you make of the asanas? Why does the larger practice have a physical component, aside from the obvious mind-body aspirations?

What does it all mean?

I was wondering about this while watching the Mark Morris dance company Saturday at George Mason. After the first of the three numbers, I said to my husband, Well, that was nice and all, but did it mean anything? He said, Does it have to?

I imagine the dances mean something to their creator and the performers, but like any art form, dance is subjective and open to interpretation. Morris is known for grounding his works in music, which is its own art form, but in watching the second piece Saturday, I had to scratch my head in wondering how the movement fit with the music (which I wasn’t familiar with) and what the two parts, music and dance, meant together. What were the dancers trying to tell us? Their bright costumes reminded me of a psychedelic marching band that ran off to join the circus … during the Civil War? My husband said it reminded him of Chinese guards (and the piece was called “Empire Garden,” so he might’ve been on to something).

I don’t have the stomach to get all post-modern about anything anymore, so I decided to just let the sounds and movement wash over me, which was easier in the third piece, a lovely and flowing number with blue and green costumes and lighting that made me think of the ocean. Or of flying through the sky, looking down at the earth. I watched as the bodies formed shapes and then joined other bodies to make bigger shapes, using an alphabet of steps and gestures, some of which were repeated in patterns that formed a larger narrative. I’ve no idea what the narrative was supposed to be in any of the pieces (there were no Cliffs notes in the program!), and it doesn’t really matter.

Art, and yoga, can certainly be transcendental, but sometimes a grand jete is just a grand jete, and a down dog is just a down dog. And that’s okay.