Review: "The Spinsters Almanac"

Firstly, I must admit that I am not an individual that has been highly exposed to the genre of Contemporary Dance, but attending this performance was not only a visual pleasure, but also a marvelous journey. I will admit that I easily get bored if I do not enjoy a performance, I just can’t fake it! Though my girlfriend was quick to point out that I remained silent during the entire performance, a rarity for ThunderpussGeisha!

This is the first full-length production of innovative and homegrown visionary, Susie Burpee (running time: 1hr 15 mins). What can I say kids, besides praising the integrity, honesty and humanity that Burpee captured in her Spinster. I willingly submitted myself to the Spinster, immediately following her powerful and alluring entrance; it demanded my attention.

A simple set, consisting of a small rise that housed a window that was draped in yellow curtains, and an empty coup, where chicks had once lives, but now only a few ruminants of feathers lay scattered. Center stage, is an open space with only a piano. Nothing fancy, just a piano. And to stage-left, a small rise that holds a wired wall of feathers and a telephone that hangs in a way that may reflect misplacement, an inability to connect with the outside. Often the phone rings and the Spinster is unable to reach it in time to answer. The wired wall is explained to be a pillar to protect her chicks from being attacked from the outside. The environment is intelligently created to be a reflection of the Spinster herself.

For me the performance was melancholic. I both sympathized and empathized with this character that Burpee created. The Spinster is a woman who has become unattached to any sense of worldly reality. She simply exists to redundantly play out her ritualistic days, and her loneliness is overwhelming, her alienation haunting. Through a few simple narrations by the talent, Burpee, and a most-effective original song cycle by Christine Fellowes, we learn, she has the same desires and passions as you and I.

The music vocals were sweet, depicting a world suspended in the colourful and floweful, whether fantasy/dream, or just painted reality. The assortment of noises were throbbingly captivating, and Burpee's body was a mirror of its effect and reaction. Essentially, the bleakness of her ritualistic behaviour is merely a result of the external forces, that have penetrated her life most personally. Cruelty, abandonment and isolation, she is a victim of life.

I was a mess kids. I was so touched by this performance. I was engrossed by Burpee’s presence, but it was the Spinster that I developed a relationship with.

Burpee’s movements remained swift and committed, and I could not help but admire her force as a performer. In fact, even her few spoken lines were communicated to us with a quirky sense of humour. It was gratifying to see Burpee maintain her character, as her mannerisms were manipuled into the molding of this character. This achievement is complimented by the tone and conviction in her spoken lines. The Spinter was talking to me.

Burpee's success to connect to her viewer through dialogue was especially refreshing. From my experience with the dance productions that I have previously attended, dancers are often exposed to be better seen and not heard!

The moral of the story for me, that passion is infinite and cruelty is tolerable. Life is diminishing, sad and hopeful all at once. The Spinster leads her life in such a way that she is fulfilled with emotional and physical energy, but her past still leaves her body to be a reflection of the damages she has sustained over time. It is a constant battle to remember to submit ourselves to the pleasures of life. We all wear the scars of our past. No matter where we go, whatever we do, however we feel, we must not forget where we came from, or what we have been through.

Praises to Burpee. I look forward to your next vision.

(thanks to Karmacake for the great pic of moi!) http://www.karmacake.blogspot.com