Theatre: Contact (October 2001)



Contact is a musical "dance play" that was developed by Susan Stroman. It ran both off-Broadway and on Broadway in from 1999 until 2002. It consists of three separate one-act dance plays. It premiered in 1999 and played for 1,010 performances. The show won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Musical (among others). The award was controversial because Contact contains no original music or live singing, and in response, a new award for Best Special Theatrical Event was introduced the following year.

The musical was inspired by an experience that Stroman had "... when she visited a dance club in the Meat Market district. There she witnessed a fascinating woman in a yellow dress (it was a very bold color to wear at night—lemon yellow—the same color you find on a traffic light) who took turns dancing with different partners throughout the night. Watching from the sidelines, Stroman thought, 'she's going to change someone's life tonight'”. "The woman would step up to the dance floor as a song was beginning and nod or shake her head at the various men asking to be her partner. Then, after holding everyone's attention with her nervy grace, she would disappear into the crowd. What came out of this was Contact...

Contact is made up of three separate dance pieces, each set to pre-recorded music, including from Tchaikovsky, Stéphane Grappelli, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Royal Crown Revue, and The Beach Boys. In each story, the central character expresses a longing to make a romantic connection. All three stories concern "contact", or its lack.

Part One - "Swinging"

"Swinging", set in an 18th-century French forest clearing, can be described as a contact improvisation on Fragonard's The Swing, a print of which is displayed on an easel when the audience arrives. Sex and concealed identity are involved in this piece of amoral intrigue - a servant and his master each seeks the young lady's affection. Much of the action takes place on a moving swing.

Part Two - "Did You Move?"

"Did You Move?", set in circa 1954 in Queens, New York, takes place in an Italian restaurant, focusing on the empty marriage of a small-time gangster and his wife. The wife has extensive dance sequences as she fantasizes about escaping her verbally abusive spouse, but each time is returned rudely to reality. Set to recorded orchestral music of Tchaikovsky and Grieg.

Part Three - "Contact"

"Contact" is set in contemporary time, and explores the emptiness of the career-driven lives of Manhattan apartment dwellers. A lonely advertising executive on the brink of suicide is somehow transported to a bar, where he encounters a stunning woman in a yellow dress. To win her and take control of his life, he must gain the confidence to make contact with another human being. It helped to create a surge of interest in acrobatic and rock and roll swing dancing.


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