Entirely Too Much Boob

As an upfront disclaimer: I know next to nothing about modern dance. Just bear that in mind as you read on here.

On Saturday night the Harvard Dance Program kicked their season off with a concert of short dances called Salad Days. I've never gone to a performance but thought modern dance might appeal to me, as ballet just leaves me cold. As the choreographer said before the concert as she addressed the audience, the title was a play on Shakespeare's reference to salad days, which I think he made in Anthony and Cleopatra, when Cleo refers her affair with Caeser as her "...salad days, when I was green in judgement..." (weird how lines like that stick in your head from high school English). So anyway, these dances were to be reflections on the choreographer's salad days.

Got it. I think.

The first of the dances was all about being patriotic and seemed to have nothing to do with youth (at least it seemed that way to me). The second dance was the first one with boob issues. The dancer had on a white form fitting top and when you put stage lights on white it becomes see through. And when you have no bra on under said top, it becomes a little creepy. In the back of my mind I wondered if this was somehow related to the dance, but if it was it was lost on me.

In the third dance, which had two dancers one of whom was always trying to outdo the other, I liked it until they started moving around madly and their tops, which had crocheted placates in the front...yes, you guessed it, started to show boob. What the hell, I wondered? Why does no one wear a bra in this show? Then, towards the end of the piece, one of the dancers took her shirt off and came to stand bare breasted at the front of the audience. Ummm, WHAT??

It went downhill from there. In the final dance, which was a trio of short performances, a tribute to a German Cabaret performer, the female dancer actually masterbated on stage, stuck her finger into her underwear and then ran said finger under the nose of the guy, took her underwear off and stuffed it in his face and fondled her non-bra covered boobs.

Hmmmm. Was this avant garde in some way that I can't grasp, because it just seemed damn weird to me. I know you'll be surprised by this, but I opted to not stay for the post concert discussion. Somehow the couch and a DVR'd What not to Wear was wayyyy more appealing.