The Martha Graham Dance Company’s performance last Friday night was fantastic. The four pieces which the troupe performed were a fascinating combination of new and old, literal and abstract, light and dark. The first piece was easily my least favorite. It was described as a rare comical piece choreographed by Martha Graham but I just personally didn’t enjoy the narrative which felt a little literal to me, and I will never understand artists’ obsession with Greek mythology and philosophers. However, the second piece was creepy and gripping. I loved the witchy, demonic feel of it all. I could have easily been convinced that I was witnessing a secret, pagan ceremony where the devil was being summoned. The second dance was also supposed to be based on Greek mythology and the story of Persephone, but it was not an obvious or literal translation. Deo was the recently premiered piece which was co-sponsored by UMS and I was quite impressed with it. After the intermission we came back to a similarly interesting and sometimes dark piece. The third dance was creepy in different ways though. The first movement featured three women in bland, grey uniforms which reminded me of communist East Europe dancing in and out of a strip of light. It was such a gripping effect, really displaying the power of lighting. When the women were not in this strip of light they ceased to exist on the pitch black stage. The third movement of this dance was not my cup of tea. It featured the full dance crew in prom dresses or little black dresses and the men in shirts and trousers which instantly set a strange tone to me. My boyfriend best described the dancing itself as being reminiscent of mannequins. However, the fourth piece was another Martha Graham original and it sold the show. The first movement featured a sole dancer in a black and red cape-skirt-thing, reminding me of a witch meets a flamenco dancer. She then danced with various parts of the female part of the dance crew, eventually wearing a black and white dress which had me instantly thinking of stormtroopers from Star Wars. The story behind this piece was interesting. Graham choreographed it after denying the chance to dance for the Third Reich leading up to WWII. It played well with the general theme of the show which was focused on women. Her piece in particular dealt with the consequences of war and the way women play into that narrative. I expected to be able to draw comparisons between this performance at that of Ballet Preljocaj, the modern ballet company. However, I found the two so different in tone that they can’t really be compared. If forced, I think I would end up saying I preferred the ballet, but it didn’t take quite as long for me to get into the Martha Graham performance as it took for me to be convinced that I liked ballet preljocaj.

The Dream the Dreamers Dreamed was a small but impactful exhibit. It’s so easy to overlook GalleryDAAS and I think that’s symbolic of many students with marginalized identities’ experiences on this campus. The exhibit had pieces created by Black undergrad and graduate students here at Umich which symbolized various aspects of their experiences at the university whether it be direct reflections on their time here or the way art helps them process their experiences in this space. The breadth of this theme was evident in the pieces featured in the gallery. Without reading the exhibit description, it would be easy to struggle to find a common narrative. Some pieces were paintings of beautiful scenes while other were multimedia representations of the victims of police brutality. Yet other pieces were more abstract. One piece that caught my particular attention was the Diary of a Daughter in Diaspora. It was a small book of poetry by Bayan Founas on a stand in the middle of the room. I craned my neck to catch a glimpse at the pages without touching it, and there seemed to be print on the pages. I wanted to pick it up and read it but all my instincts tell me touching something in an art gallery is the number one no-no. I probably should have just asked the woman working in the gallery if this was an interactive piece. Now I will be forever curious about the poetry inside that book. What diaspora does the author identify with? How is that represented in their work? As a student at Umich, I’ve definitely been sleeping on GalleryDAAS and I’m a little sad that, as a graduating senior, I won’t be back next Fall to see what new exhibit they have.

This play was a lot darker than I expected, there wasn’t a single moral lesson or redeeming feeling at the end. I thought that at least Johanna and Anthony would have a happy ending together, but they just disappeared and became irrelevant. It is slightly twisted, but the only possible feeling of justice is cold sweet vengeance when Sweeney Todd finally kills the Judge.  I am curious what such an intense feeling of revenge is like, is it more satisfying than uhh chocolate…? Sweeney Todd suffered wrongly for years, and the man at fault for his suffering, Judge Turpin steals his daughter as well. It was clear that Sweeney Todd’s sole purpose became to get revenge on Judge Turpin by killing him, which he finally does. When I get revenge on a sibling or friend for making me angry or upset, it is one of the most satisfying feelings. Revenge to the degree of Sweeney Todd must be the most powerful emotion in the world.

Acting wise, Mrs. Lovett was incredible. Her movements reminded me of Johnny Depp. She was definitely crazy, but a fun whimsical crazy that makes the audience fall in love with the character. Sweeney Todd great job of being pure evil. His face was always grimacing and he had a dark tone to his voice. My favorite interaction between Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney was their waltzing. It was an evil jerky waltz that fit really well. Tobias Ragg played the role of a juxtaposition perfectly. He was an innocent pure kid with a soft voice and blissful demeanor.

Everything seemed to be about being crazy. Every character turns crazy by the end. Sweeney and Mrs.Lovett as murderers,  Judge Tobin who wants to marry his adopted daughter,  Johanna spends time in the insane asylum, the crazy homeless lady is one of the major characters, Tobias goes insane from all the death, there seemed to be no end to the madness. The extras did a great job being very expressive and lively. I would often watch the extras just to see their facial expressions. The extras were very jerky which fit the crazy theme.

Musically I appreciated all the harmonies between characters. Moreso than any other musical I have ever seen, Sweeney Todd is filled with songs where multiple characters sing their own parts in harmony. This is extremely hard to coordinate, so props to all the actors.