Kiss
Kill
Tango and Halloween, tragic love and sentimental killers
The Scorpion Queen reigns in the month of October
Kiss or Kill, when the cords are out, fate decides
Passion Play, Dance of Death, Ropes and Chains
The Red Room of Pain awaits.
Step up Revolution (2012) is a well made dance movie with amazing choreography, contemporary a mercian dance moves and an underlying theme – that dance is a unspoken universal language which can be used to communicate to the public and gain the support of the masses. Dance, as we know it, is just, well, some motions on the body moving to some rhythm or beat. In this movie, they have elevated dance as a communication device – using modern technology such as YouTube, to gain popularity and support for their message.
This means that these flash mobbers – or political villgenttes, can use these skills for the good of the masses, or their own individual selfish egotistical needs. Initially, they wanted to gain over 10 million hits on YouTube to be qualified to win a grand prize of $10 million dollars. For these youngsters working as waiters in the day, this means a new start to their lives – money to go to college, to move to other cities, to travel. As flash mobbers, they risk getting arrested for public disturbance or injury from dancing on dangerously on cars or cargo containers. However, they are willing to risk it all for the one best shot at the grand prize.
After trying several attempts and falling short of first place on Youtube (almost losing to a singing cat), they decide to use dance as a protest against destroying their neighborhood – slums to be converted to luxury skyscrapers. The main character – Emily, daughter of the Anderson property group, falls in love with one of the lead male dancers, who encourages her to “break the rules” and be free of her father’s control. Naturally, as she is the sole heir to the property empire, her father is against her desire to pursue a dance career and join him in his mega property redevelopment venture. In defiance to his wishes, she joins the flash mobbers as lead dancer to protest against her father’s property development plans.
This conflict leads to the question – where does her loyalty lies? With her father or new lover?
This movie is about the transformation of Emily – the narrative – to achieve her own independence, free of her father’s control. She loves how life is like in the slums; dancing in a local latin club, taking a river ride down in a old motor boat, their lives free of society expectations and rules to upkeep. In her luxurious penthouse overlooking Miami beach, with the latest iPhone deck and silver Macbook for company, she ponders if her life has been an illusion of greed and overindulgence.
Tango is a male dominated dance, and naturally, ladies will have to follow in the footsteps of their male counterparts, without any signals, she can’t move. Only when he leads, she follows. When he stops, she stops. The mixture of signals to go forward or backward is provocative, yet alluring.
It is a dance that lures you forward, but pushes you backwards unexpectedly. It is the thrill of the chase, the thrill of seduction and romanticism, and the fear of rejection and abandonment by your lover. Will he proceed? Or will he go backwards? That constant fear will never leave the viewers, that is why the atmosphere in Milonga’s are solemn… to the point that the question of happiness is abated.
I have an issue when dancing tango, that is to give up my control to the male leading the dance. It is something I find very difficult to do, that level of submission is beyond me. In my daily life, I always have to feel in control, and that causes my anxiety levels to soar (especially during work). The gift of submission to the dance partner, causes a fear, what if, he does not lead properly and causes me to sprain my ankle? What if, he directs me to an incoming path of a train? (crazy thoughts, but yes, they go through my mind)
In my view, submission is a gift, and can be achieved through partner dancing. When I was learning Modern Jive while in Melbourne, I noticed a woman who had serious issues with the male leading the dance, her resentment is so strong in her expression, that I could feel her mistrust and disassociation. Her dance was rough and unforgiving, her movements tough and unmoving. That was the ugliest dance I ever seen, and from that, I realised that feminism is not the answer to partner dancing.
There is a fine line between masculinity and femininity for women. If a woman is too masculine, she would be viewed as too tough, if she is to soft, she will be viewed as vulnerable. It is that conflict every woman in the 21st century has to face – to embrace or disgrace feminism, to be independent or dependent. That constant conflict is the source of many martial disputes and – divorce – for when a woman is unable to resolve her inner conflicts – she is unable to dance smoothly with her life partner – and that leads to seperation.
Dance is after all, an expression of life, and life is an expression of dance.
