The Perils Of The Front Row
I almost got sweated on at the Joyce SoHo last week. Dominic Walsh Dance Theater was in town from Houston to perform an eclectic—and taxing—program at the venue, which is extremely intimate. I was sitting in the front row, thus my proximity to the perspiration. But not only that; my location affected my impressions of the performance quite a bit. As companies present their work more frequently in small theaters, I recommend considering seat selection carefully.
Sure, I could see the dancers as clear as day, but I fear I missed several nuances that other viewers probably saw better from further away. For example, during Walsh’s Amadeus for Anita, the dancers line up and bob their heads at different intervals. To me, it looked like a line of people lifting their heads up and down. I am assured that there was a musicality to it that I completely missed. And I believe it because Amadeus was among the best that evening. Also during Walsh’s solo, Double You by Jirí Kylián, I couldn’t stop noticing the squeaking of his jazz shoes on the Marley floor. Perhaps a little distance would have enabled me to concentrate on the dancing more.
All in all, theaters that seat a hundred or fewer are great because they can bring in smaller companies that we might otherwise never see. But from now on, I think I will look for a chair up higher and see what I can see that way. I would advise others to do the same—unless you don’t mind getting a little wet.
