PUSH Physical Theater

Dracula

When I sat down to watch Dracula, I was prepared for a frightful night of entertainment. The combination of two of my favorite things, dance and Halloween, seemed like the perfect evening. Anticipation turned into confusion when the opening scene showed the dancers moving to what sounded like track and field commentary. The performers were dressed in running suits. My immediate thought was, “This is a modern-day version of Dracula.” Much like the re-creations of Shakespeare. Soon, I realized they were performing short skits of physical theater. I enjoyed these small performances; I was just confused as to what was happening at first. I kept waiting for Dracula.

I thought I knew every kind of dance genre there was… Until I watched PUSH perform. I was expecting modern dancing, but I had never seen what they call “physical theater.” It’s a physically challenging style, but without any basic ballet fundamentals that most forms of dance are centered around. I could tell through the positioning of feet and postures, that most of the dancers didn’t have ballet training. It appeared that the main objective of physical theater is to tell a story through body movement. This goal is not achieved through the feminine and traditional dance steps of ballet, modern or jazz. There was not always music, and choreography didn’t follow the typical 4/4 timing. The stories can be told through literal physical representation, like in The Visit, or through abstract performances, like Galileo. The miming elements to the performances I found fascinating. I had never realized what an art form mime is, until I watched the stories being told. Mime forms a special connection with the audience because it’s asking us to use more imagination than we typically do during performances.

In many cases, the positioning of the dancers was just as important as their movements. The lines, circles, and scattered positions were beautifully incorporated as an important element of the choreography. The physical strength and ability to balance appeared effortless, and left the audience gasping at their incredible maneuvers.

During a small intermission, the owner and principal performer, Darren Stevenson, came center stage and spoke to the audience. He gave a brief introduction of himself, told a humorous story about a recent bout in the emergency room, and even joked about the audience wondering where Dracula was. This quick stand-up comedy routine was most likely a moment of stalling to provide time for costume changes. Sadly, this action was detrimental to the performance to come. When the “evil” Dracula took stage with his snarling fangs, I wasn’t scared. I couldn’t think of him as Dracula- just as Darren, the funny British guy who’s married with a son. He even talked about how his fangs were ready to be worn backstage. That just left me thinking about how he gets the fangs to stay on! The scary mystery of the story was lost for me, once we got to know the actor performing. Humanizing himself left me with no room for imagination with the character, and unfortunately affected the quality of the show.

I enjoyed my first experience of physical theater. The ability to send messages with the raw body movement and strength, without the help of rhythmic music and traditional dance moves was impressive. I would have preferred either a collection of short skits, or only Dracula. Not both, and certainly no personal introduction from Darren.