color persuasion
April 7, 2008
Believe the hype. Cult of Color: Call to Color really is that good, and this is coming from someone who is generally not much of a performance person. Trenton Doyle Hancock, Graham Reynolds, and Steven Mills have put together a fantastic piece of work that is well worth going to see. Hancock’s narrative is perfect fodder for the stage, and allows for some amazing costumes, stage pieces, and movement on the part of the dancers. Story aside, Cult of Color is simply enjoyable to watch and listen to. I cant say enough about Reynold’s score. It is a beautiful blend of jazz, rock, manipulated sound, and orchestration that fits perfectly with Hancock’s quirky characters and mystical narrative. Often there is too much ado about collaboration, with the results never quite living up to the potential of its parts, but this is definitely not the case here.
April 7, 2008 at 11:52 am
I agree, the story must be put aside for “Cult of Color” to be enjoyable.
April 7, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I am not suggesting that the story be put aside, only that there are aspects of the performance that you can appreciate without knowing every detail of Trent’s mythology. The ballet could not exist without the narrative’s complexity, humor, and character.
April 7, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I like the ending.
April 7, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Eric: My point, which is argued in detail in the post I linked to above, is that for me the story’s conceptual problems impeded enjoyment of the work as a whole.
April 7, 2008 at 6:57 pm
I understand, i just want to be clear about my P.O.V.
April 7, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I was hoping you might engage my argument, since you seem to disagree.
April 7, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Give me some time, it’s tax season and i am still processing the performance.
April 8, 2008 at 11:47 am
Fight, Fight.
Call to Color, Amazing (music, costumes, story) like E said
Believe the hype.
April 8, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Monkey: I don’t consider a reasoned debate to be a “fight,” and I doubt Eric does either. On the contrary, I consider rational argumentation to be among the most interesting and productive uses of a forum such as this one. It’s far too rare that anyone disagrees with anyone on these blogs; disagreement is a precursor to learning and to expanding one’s consciousness. It’s a shame that some people consider any and all disagreement to be negative; this attitude yields boring dead-end discussions.
April 8, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Fight, Fight.
San Vs Monkey
Dude, I like people to debate or disagree makes it fun.
We learn form each other, boring world if we just kiss each others ass.
Fight, Fight.
is just a funny, no disrespect.
April 12, 2008 at 5:12 pm
well , where do i start. love the austin ballet and enjoyed the cult of color. was not impressed with the parking situation as was told parking was in adjacent garage and or lots across street. non of which were available. parked 5 blocks away and was lucky to get that on friday evening. said be there by 8 or wouldnt get in. rushed to get there just to find out they delayed production anyways. no water fountain available inside. seats are very narrow and long rows. think they need to redesign. will go to long center from now on to see ballet productions.
April 14, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Welcome to Austin George. :)
April 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Have to say, hype or not, I left about 70% disappointed, 30% bored. This is probably the last thing to bring up, because I know they’re not throwing money at these guys (although I dropped $125 for me and my wife, which is no small sum for us), I was really put off by the low production value. It’s hard to focus on this imaginary world in front of you when you can’t help but notice you can see backstage, most of the lights, and have sunlight streaming in from partially covered windows. Even if the side curtains had been just a few feet taller it would have hid the huge white backstage walls from view. Basically, I felt like I was at a decently put together high-school production. The few options they had to really go after something (like the mound or the bone-throne) were so poorly done they screamed ‘last minute’, and I know that can’t be the case because they’ve been working on this for years. And this on top of all the real problems concerning the story and concept that Sam voiced better than I could. It sure was zany though.
April 16, 2008 at 8:44 am
“If it is art, it is not for all, and if it is for all, it is not art.”
-Arnold Schoenberg
April 16, 2008 at 4:12 pm
[...] discussions on Cult of Color. I wasn’t sure where I should add my thoughts; Sanford’s, Zimmerman’s, Fitzgerald’s, Lozano’s or Austinist’s or the Chronicle’s comment section. [...]