Modern Dance

Sophia and I stumbled upon- ok, well more like snuck our way into- the most amazing dance performance I have seen in a while.

Part of the Uitmarkt, we saw a breathtaking, raw, modern dance performance by a large group of young people. I still can't find the name of the piece or the choreographer, but I stopped one of the dancers after the performance to ask who they were. He said they were all first year students at some university or another that I couldn't quite understand. I was shocked to hear that they were so young/early on in their training! The pure energy running through their movement and collective body was amazing.

The performance was in a small room in Paradiso, a famous nightclub/cultural venue in Amsterdam. They weren't letting anyone else in, but Sophia and I snuck in when one of the guards left. The room was absolutely jam packed, as well as nice and hot and sweaty. I climbed up onto a small table with some other random girl to be able to see the dancers.

The music was blasting from one corner of the room and the audience was shoved to the walls to make room for the dancers. From the silence and stillness of the crowd, I could tell that everyone was captivated. If not by their movement (some of which reminded me of the vibratory movement from the Seán Curran Company performance I saw at ND last year), by their energy and dedication to the performance.

It was awesome. I felt like I had fallen into a room with a wonderful secret to share. It's that moment when you're not sure if something so captivating really happened or not.