"pina" and "Milk Milk Lemonade"
29 January 2012
-- by Therese Ronco. Therese is a Goucher College freshman, spending spring 2012 dancing, reading, and writing around B'more, supported by an internship with Effervescent Collective.
When I went to see the movie "pina," I entered the theatre knowing I was going to see a film tributing the life of the German choreographer Pina Bausch. I knew I was going to see professional dancers dancing. And I did. But you can't just watch "pina." You have to experience "pina," whether you want to or not. (You want to.) Here's just a taste of the other world I think we so often forget:
During the film, Pina Bausch says, "dance, dance otherwise we are lost." I felt the truth in that statement. I thought I felt the truth in it because I am a dancer. But, then I went on an expedition to the Single Carrot Theatre at 120 W. North Avenue Baltimore, MD.
There I met actors and local theatre-goers. The venue was full to bursting with Single Carrot Theatre enthusiasts. Extra chairs were brought in, standing room was offered, and still the theatre had to turn people away. Like how "pina" was supposed to be dance, "Milk Milk Lemonade" was supposed to be acting. it was so much more. The actors communicated. They became their characters. I forgot what was happening outside the black box we, the audience, were conatined in, because it didn't exist. The play left me feeling full and happy, like after a great Thanksgiving dinner. I felt I had witnessed true talent withing those doors. And I had. But, in retrospect, the Single Carrot Thetre actors cracked the egg that Pina Bausch hatched.
Dancing is not a dictionary definition. It shouldn't be labeled or catagorized. Pina's dancers were dancing, but they were dancing through every pore, breathing with their whole bodies, instead of just their lungs and throat. The Single Carrot Theatre actors were not just acting, but being; dancing through the play with a purpose.
I feel that I can safely say that Pina's message was not just to dancers, but to everybody. Because everybody knows what it is to be lost. I just wonder what I'll find when I dance.
-read more about Milk Milk Lmonade and the Single Carrot Theatre on their website:
