I don't know if anybody saw the dance concert in Rarig Center's Whiting Proscenium Theater this weekend, entitled Dance Revolutions, but it was fantastic. There was one piece, The Bleeding Heart (choreographed by Carl Flink) that was particularly interesting. It was a rather gender nonspecific piece, in which the costumes were the same for both the male and females. The only unusual thing was that the costuming was a dress-type-leotard. It had a turtle neck, gray sleeveless see-through top part that went down into a skirt-type bottom that cut off a little above the knees. The only difference between the male and females costuming was that the women wore black bras under their dress.
At first there was an obviously startling reaction from the audience, including my roomates who both gave me a look of just a light awkward acknowledgment of this GENDER MADNESS that was taking place on stage. But as the piece went on, I think the audience learned to accept it, because the dance was designed to be question raising, and at the same time, proving of society's view on gender specific garb. The piece had no real message (I thought) except to proove that u can put male dancers in skirts and have it be ok. It wasn't an openly gay, transgender, flaboyant or intentionally shocking piece... sometimes boys danced with girls, and since there wre more girls than boys, the girls partnered up with each other. I just thought it was interesting because I had never seen a piece that flipped the roles like that,.