16 August 2001
I Want to be Mikhail Baryshnikov

PastForward
International Festival
White Oak Dance Project, Playhouse
13-16 August 2001
I want to be Mikhail Baryshnikov. No, I don't want my feet to be so deformed I can't walk without soaking them in hot water. Neither does being a Latvian 53-year-old man do much for me. What I want is his name, his status and his presence.

I went to see Past Forward yesterday, a White Oak Dance Project, with Baryshnikov as part of the ensemble and I will admit it right now, I was there to see the star. I watched the two-and-a-half-hour performance and just had to wonder why this ensemble had the ability to put on something that no nameless dancers could pull off. Don't get me wrong, what they are doing, easy as it may look, is not. The technique is no doubt complicated, the repetitive choreography straining, and the performers are very skillful, but in my opinion something was missing. It just wasn't what I wanted to see.

Let me explain. What would Swan Lake have been without the music? What if "Singing in the Rain" had just been "In the Rain"? Gene Kelly's career would probably not have been of quite the same calibre, and those poor swans would just have got bored.

I wanted to see these people fly through the air! I wanted fast-paced numbers that would engage me, and the fact that it was modern dance should have made it less restricted, not more so. I know it is wrong, and just because The Man is famous for his leaps I should not expect him to do them. But I did. So when I finally got what I wanted to see in the last number, I went home with a big smile on my face.

And I am positive I wasn't alone. The audience, polite as they may be, must have been there for the same reasons as me, and the reasons I know this are the two dance numbers, "Foray Foret" and "Concerto", that received rapturous applause. Movement and music – that's all we need. I know, I know, it's so mainstream. But my point is, The White Oak Dance Project can get away with people simply walking across the stage in a long row for 5 minutes – and I couldn't.

But ignore my whininess. It is the inexperienced performer in me, the one who has to work hard for her audience, talking. Past Forward was a fabulous event, and Baryshnikov does live up to his reputation. What I found most surprising is that he is a part of the ensemble, nothing more, nothing less. When dancing with the rest of the group all eyes start off being fixed on him, as he gracefully performs the moves, yet he doesn't take over the show, something he could easily do with the name, status and presence I so desire. Instead he becomes one with the rest of the graceful performers and they form an entity, sometimes synchronised, sometimes not, and slowly people's gazes fall on the entire ensemble, not just "the star". In this case he wasn't, and I admire him for that.

So let me say it again: I want to be Mikhail Baryshnikov, or at least have him on stage with me!

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