Friday, June 06, 2014

Modern Dance


The octogenarian U.S. veterans who attended the D-Day memorial service on Sword Beach in Normandy, France today could not figure it all out … nor can I … particularly the slow-motion modern dancers' miming soldiers falling in combat. See the whole sorry show here: C-Span Video (it's a little long).  Even our gum-chewing President seemed bemused.

Interpretative dance has always left me gelid. As a young man, I saw the last ballet personally danced by a creaky old Martha Graham and I could hardly believe what I was seeing. The artsy-fartsy audience was in awe and I was in awful. And I got exactly this same feeling during this dreadful attempt at remembering all the untold sacrifices of D-Day. To me, solemn occasions cannot be prettified. (I think Abraham Lincoln felt the same way.)

Perhaps Japan might next remember Hiroshima with a rock concert?

No comments:

Post a Comment