In most every art form there is always room for viewer interpretation. Dance is as complex as it is alluring. Incorporating satire into any creative endeavor requires its producers to be adroit and witty in presentation and timing. To its credit, The Doorknob Company executes its multifaceted performance masterfully. 

As a part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s 2008 Siteline Series, The Doorknob Company presents its wryly momentous dance performance titled The Miracle Show and the Death of Optimism.  Comprised of an all female troupe of six, the group explores the interdiction and façade of optimism in culture. Moving swiftly through the most dramatic and curiously staged funeral, the performance incorporates spoken word, text, and theatrics into the dance.  It is interactive and engaging and at times the dancers will interject dialogue by beckoning the audience with questions such as “Do you feel optimism coming back? Do you feel it in your bones?!”  

Without being preachy, the piece addresses the gestures, symbols, words, and even personal status that humans use to represent optimism, hope in hopelessness, humility. The work questions the duplicitous nature of optimism.  
 
Take for instance the universal “thumbs up!” with a smile recently seen in the post-surgery photograph of Senator Edward Kennedy. While we applaud his gesture of hope against all odds we know the outlook is grim.  The troupe encourages “pure” optimism while moving deftly about Bowling Green park stating a voice blended with hope and demand (directly in heart of the financial district) “Forget about you, forget about your GPA, your IRA and your rent” 
 
The performance moved gracefully through the unstated societal norms that frown upon the notion of joy for no reason; favoring the rat race of work and rote activities that alleviate the cultivation of feelings or relationships.  To wake the crowd up to these ideas one of the performers engaged in a call and response by first stating “Apathy does not make you cool! Apathy makes you lazy!” To the crowd she stated “Can I get an A-HA?” and the crowd responded with an affirmative “A-HA”!  
 
The Doorknob Company has produced a body of work that is unique, captivating, and humorous. For just a few moments this piece disrupts the day to day and injects a bit of hope into our banal lives where it is often squelched by working just to exist. 
 
THE DOORKNOB COMPANY will perform as a part of the LMCC SITELINES 2008 Series 

Dates: Mon-Thurs, June 16-19 & 23-26, 12:30pm at  Bowling Green Park

Presented as part of the River To River® Festival

 

- Una-Kariim A. Cross