Our show opens with a dance piece set to 'Love Can't Turn Around' by Jesse Saunders based on the movement and dance routines of the 1989 rave scene. The style was very free and careless, and emanated the passion and love for the music, often vigorous and violent. The scene was linked closely with the discovery of the new party drug MDMA or 'Ecstasy', therefore it was also important to include this in our piece. As well as adding to the loving, carefree, "ecstatic" feelings experience while raving, ecstasy has an effect on the face and body, making everything feel lighter and making the jaw and tongue swing uncontrollably and widening the eyes. I incorporated this into the dance routine and physicality of the opening, meaning the style of the dance was far more accurate. Ben, our movement director, taught us a few basic movements, including the 'Running Man' and a basic side step, then got us to experiment with moving our bodies and practice capturing that raw feeling. He showed us videos of some of the raves so that we had some idea of what we were emulating, including the one below:
I felt confident doing these movements, so as well as just copying the dance moves Ben taught us I also tried to copy a few of the moves from the videos and improvise with some movements that fit the style. Overall the piece was high energy and opened our show in a dynamic way, designed to draw the audiences attention and really wake them up before the opening scenes, as well as establish the world the play lives in.
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