Strikes Your Fancy

Last night a friend and I saw Flight of Fancy with the DC Fringe Fest. It was billed as a steampunk ballet. I loved it. If ballet is always this cool, I need to start going more. 

All of the songs were alt-rock type of songs which gave the show a much more contemporary feel. It made ballet much more accessible. A lot of younger people think of ballet as something formal and culturally distant. This made it feel fresh and fun.

It starts with the aviator visiting a world where everyone is the same. The aviator comes and changes all that. People awaken their imagination and feel alive. There was one scene where the dancers had small flashlights strapped to their bodies that I thought was just brilliant.

You saw the steampunk in the costumes but it was understated. I have friends who cosplay steampunk and it can be very other the top. Here, the costumes fit the art forms.

I’m sure reviewers complain about some of the little stuff that goes wrong in some of the smaller productions you see in fringe but that means you’re not seeing the forest for the trees. I thought this show was excellent in concept and execution and will definitely be looking into more shows from this company.

Chilling to: Abraham's Daughter by Arcade Fire

iConfess

This past Friday I saw iConfess part of DC Fringe Fest. The audience takes pieces of paper, writes a secret on them and places it in a basket at the front the stage. When the show starts the cast comes out one by one and selects a secret. The show started with a cast member reading a secret and playing off it. As the show went on, some of the secrets got worked into the show.

Unfortunately not all the secrets got worked into the show. There were seven cast members but only revealed five secrets. Despite a sold-out show, one of them was mine.

-I dated a married man.

-When I was married I figured out my husband’s password and found everything.

-I believe love is something that happens to other people.

-I embezzled money when I was 4^th grade class president.

-I’m too scared to call for the HIV test results.

The love secret made the entire audience go ‘aw’ like their hearts just broke a little bit. The HIV secret made the entire audience go ‘oh’ like on a sitcom.

The popular theory is that I embezzled in 4^th grade. My BFF maintains that it was the password one despite my very single status. Some of my friends suspect that it’s the love one since my relationships were portraits of dysfunction. Most people wisely rule out the last one because  safe sex + uber-nerds + difficult to find veins makes the password one a more likely candidate.

Which one is it? I’ll never tell. A girl’s got to have some secrets ; )

I’m definitely going back and to see this again. Since it’s improvised each time based on the secrets, it’s a new show each time. The cast was very creative and the show was very funny. One of the reviewers complained about the quality of the improvised song but if you’re making it up as you go, I can see where you wouldn’t be pitch perfect.

Now what secret should iConfess next time…

Currently rocking out to: Bleed Me Dry by The Murder of My Sweet