KVT – Dementia and Abandonment
The second European offering was choreographed by another famous dance icon, Helena Waldmann who is internationally renowned for her works that question political and social conventions. She is not shy of tackling sensitive subjects and her Ectopia Dance Productions are cutting edge in dance, staging and use of props.
We saw ‘Get a Revolver’ which is dedicated to people with dementia and was brilliantly danced by Brit Rodemund who was awarded Dancer of the Year 2011, in Germany, for her performance in this dance.
Rodemund portrays a woman who was a classical ballet dancer, now slipping in and out of the madness that is dementia. It’s funny, grotesque, painfully sad, and presents a mental deterioration that eventually confronts a lot of us. And as the character scales heights of ridiculousness, moments of lucidity, complete blankness, a return to childishness, a desire to discover as much as possible about the everyday objects around her that become endowed with special qualities and meanings, she seems to realize that her only escape from the pain of knowing that you are slipping away from reality is the freedom that comes when you no longer remember anything.
Although many may make a living will and be able to have life support systems turned off and medicines to sustain life withdrawn, the demented slip slowly and in mental anguish from being in control to being controlled by loose bladders and bowels, uncontrolled dribbling (poignantly portrayed by the dancer), and sexual actions once private and now exhibited publicly, and with a brain that just won’t work coherently.
The choreographer and dancer continually re-inforce the dignity of the human that once was and the dignity inherent in the caricature it has become.
Through it all I felt the pain of the unseen carer, the guilt and pain of divorcement by family and friends, and the fear of the people like me who know that perhaps it’s an inevitability and that when It creeps up the mind will not have the self control, or even the desire to get the revolver and end it all sooner.
I had an Anselm Keiffer moment when the dancer knelt in front of the rusted metal colored backdrop. Perhaps it represented the demented becoming for ever separated by a metaphoric barrier of impenetrable lead from what was once lucid and meaningful.
The final descent into madness and being enveloped – or eaten – by a pile of red and gold plastic bags, is a stage moment to remember forever.
One of Mahler’s songs (was it a song of a wayfarer?), Straus waltzes, and Nat King Cole’s ‘Unforgettable’ were part of a stunning music score…and once again, those eloquent moments of silence!
