Ornate Rituals for Absurd Worlds
The title for this evening of dance is a dead giveaway: we’re in the domain of absurdism, a theatrical movement based in existentialism, which holds that we live in an absurd world in which life is meaningless and from which God is absent. The theatrical response to this absurd world is to throw absurdity back in the world’s face, through fantastical plots and impossible characters. Absurdism is in many ways a magical device for keeping absurdity at bay: by reflecting an absurd world back to itself, the artist acts only as a mirror, purging himself of absurdity and making himself whole again.
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Theatrical absurdism is an aggressive, self-assertive strategy, but it’s not intellectually honest or consistent. If the world is absurd and I live in the world, then I too am absurd–and there’s nothing I can do about it. My actions are necessarily meaningless. I am isolated. I may still want to assert the meaningfulness of my life, and I may create something like a dance as an act of meaning. But since no one understands anyone else, my dance will not be understood; my “meaningful” actions are merely the rituals through which I assert my existence. Living a genuinely absurd life, my only possible recourse is more and more ornate rituals.
The women’s duet is by far the better dance. The men’s duet has an unpleasant aura of self-pity. The women’s dance opens up possibilities, while the men’s closes them down. The men’s dance is about finding oneself in a cul-de-sac, about performing ornate rituals in absurd worlds. The women’s dance finds a way out of the cul-de-sac, not through logic but by simply walking through walls.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Hijack photo by Donna Kelly.
