it sounds like hypnotizing propaganda music

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Further proof arrives (as if any were needed) that I may know what I like, but I may not know art. NYTimes just reviewed Shen Wei's Re:, which they're performing at Lincoln Center and the reviewer Did Not Like It At All. He was not impressed, not happy and overall pretty condescending. I googled around a bit but didn't see any other NYC reviews yet. Not even sure if any papers up there other than the NYTimes even do dance reviews. I think the Village Voice might still. Somehow I don't think the WSJ has a dance critic on staff. So, yeah, it's weird for the first review I read to be so opposed to my experience of seeing the dance. Obviously, I have to grant that he knows what he's talking about -- he's spent a long time reviewing dance. But on the other hand, I don't give a fuck what he thinks. I thought it was wonderful. Easily the best thing I've seen at ADF this year. And I'm not gonna change my mind just cos the NYTimes has rolled w/ a negative review.

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It is so interesting that the movie Bruno and the Shen Wei Dance Arts' RE debuted on the exact same weekend. The pieces of art are so strikingly similar that the NY TImes did not even attempt to contrast them for fear of having to run it on two pages. Both feature artists who leave their homeland in search of the American Dream, express very informed ideas of how the body should move, deal with people not understanding them as an individual in a group, and have a unique fashion sense. They both held sold out audiences rapt as the review of the show panned the art within but in the case of SWDA he fell 30 million dollars short of being the number one piece of culture we have to offer. Both share the title of not being as gay as Transformers while still using lighting and music to create a thought provoking moods. As with the case with all Arts reviews one must keep in mind the subjective nature of work. For heavens sake why was some Ballet buff writing about modern dance? The other great similarity is that no matter what the review is people just want to come. Zat's hot!

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This page contains a single entry by Georg published on July 13, 2009 12:17 AM.

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