La MaMa, New York, NY.
October 25, 2025.
Drop Lifeless…Attractive, the multi-media dance-theater manufacturing from Tamar Rogoff, takes the viewers on a visit by a deranged TV present because it affords ladies (presumably males, too, though there have been no male contestants) the alternatives to vary something they need about their physique. There’s a nice absurdity to the premise that somebody may and would change out the legs they’ve for a brand new set or buy again the 40 earlier years to be youthful once more – besides there isn’t. The notion of physique augmentation is as previous as humanity itself, however sooner or later in historical past, we’ve gone off the rails in how we take into consideration the physique we inhibit and a few search extraordinary measures to search out an inside peace by way of outward look. Maybe generally it really works? Spoiler alert: on this present, it doesn’t.
It’s a present inside a present. We’re the studio viewers, kind of. However we additionally see behind the scenes. We watch because the contestants compete for fantastical perfection: first, they attempt to oust one another in an exhilarating spherical of freeze dance after which they carry out their particular skills…the latter reveals deep inventive reverence, the worth of which is dismissed when pit in opposition to the atrocities of bodily imperfection.
An excessive amount of symbolism permeates the manufacturing, maintaining the viewers on our toes: the host displayed his excessive peak by way of stilts, towering over the ladies, maybe a illustration of the patriarchal overloads who demand and decide the value of ladies; there may be additionally the apathy of the stagehand to the entire torrid affair, maybe representing the apathy of the final inhabitants to how ladies are handled; and at last, the shared meal between the three feminine contestants as soon as they be part of collectively and resist the vapid advances of consumerism and sweetness in any respect prices – a meal symbolizing true nourishment and care.
Finally, the ladies resolve they maintain worth as they’re, and are available collectively as a trio in peace. The final a part of the present transitions into a relaxed dance with the three ladies, a salve from the unequivocal insanity of the story. After the brief, punchy scenes from the remainder of the present, nevertheless, the dance on the finish felt a bit lengthy and took away from the sturdy factors made all through the piece – though it resolved the jarring and uncomfortable points of the story in a nice method. The relationships we’ve with our our bodies are advanced recipes full of the components from our previous, of our desires, however not often from our sense of oneness with our spirit. Drop Lifeless…Attractive asks us to unite our bodily types with the inherent purity of our souls, and to do not forget that kindness to ourselves is all the time the successful prize.
By Emily Sarkissian of Dance Informa.
