Unknown pleasures: do we enjoy art more if it’s anonymous?
What kind of value judgments and viewing habits do we bring to the theatre when we are watching a new piece of dance? It’s a question posed by Dance Umbrella and CCN-Ballet de Lorraine in their new, joint production, Unknown Pleasures. By presenting an evening of five new works, whose choreography, design, lighting and music all remain anonymous, they are inviting audiences to look at the stage with their senses rinsed clean of all preconceptions – and all PR.
It’s a bold and engaging experiment, challenging the roles that reputation, context, gender and age play in our evaluation of dance. But much as I enjoyed the novelty of the concept (and the freedom of arriving at the theatre without making any advance preparation)
Photograph by Tristam Kenton.
(via)
]]>