Fringe Festival – Day 7
Let me tell you what drives me nuts about modern dance.
It isn’t the dancing. I love the dancing. It isn’t even the fact most of it is movement for the sake of movement and being a writer, I’m always looking for the story.
No, what really drives me nuts about modern dance is the music. I understand why most dance troupes select boring, repetitious music that may or may not be Philip Glass. I get it. I’m supposed to be watching the dancers.
Personally, though, I prefer a soundtrack that sounds like more than a keyboardist who only knows three chords. I like the interaction of sight and sound.
Most modern dance leaves me wanting more. And it isn’t the dancing. It is the fact my eyes are excited and my ears are bored.
Here’s some notes on the shows I saw Wednesday! They were all quite good!
Friend a Day – Phillip Andrew Bennett Low
Photo by Anastacia Bolkwazde
Fringe week continues until I’m no longer focused on Fringe week!
Back in 2007, Phillip was a blogger for the Fringe Festival and he wrote about a particularly bad preview we did for Vilification Tennis. I wrote back.
And now we are friends. The end.
Our exchange was actually fairly boring, which may come as something of a surprise given how some people react to Vilification Tennis. Phillip was smart, articulate, and raised good points. I was polite, non-combative, and listened.
He came to our show at the Fringe that year and gave us a positive review. I went to his show that year and really enjoyed it.
See? Being nice to people actually works.
Phillip is a lover of words and language. His shows are frequently solo shows that explore his personal journey, his personal opinions, and his personal passions. He has a complex sense of humor that ranges from geeky to angry to political. Sometimes in the same sentence.
His writing is challenging and I mean that in the best possible way. He challenges his audiences to think. His work is dense and thoughtful. It is not impenetrable but nor is it for those who are unwilling to pay attention.
That said, he can produce work that is startling in its simplicity. His “Improv Comedy Duo” with Ben San Del was one of the funniest short works I’ve ever seen at the Fringe. They took an idea and carried it to a brilliantly absurd extreme.
Because of his passion for words, he is one of the people I look forward to seeing at the Fringe. Conversation is lively and interesting. He can see the best in just about any show while still recognizing that the best is not always good enough.
He’s also always willing to take a chance. As with many years, Phillip is involved with more than one show at the Fringe Festival. One of them is a dance show. I’m in it too.
I don’t know if Phillip is a better dancer than me (probably), but I do know he’ll give it everything he has. Because that is the kind of person he is.
Grail Diary 